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Key Takeaways
Community Education Profile
In Whapmagoostui, 53% of women and 63% of men have at least one type of diploma. Many adults in the community are also interested in pursuing further education; 89% of community members are interested in going back to school.In fact, even eighty-seven percent (87%) of respondents with a post-secondary diploma or certificate would like to continue their studies, showing strong openness to higher education in the community overall.
Despite these encouraging signs, 58% of adults withdrew from school at least once during their education. Those who experienced one or more interruptions in their educational journey were less likely to have completed a diploma. Drug/alcohol issues, disinterest in school, problems at home, and pregnancy were the most common reasons people withdrew from school in Whapmagoostui.
Overall, Whapmagoostui Eeyouch value education, care about their culture, and are often motivated to pursue further education. However, personal challenges and lack of local opportunities often make it difficult for people to pursue their goals and build the future they desire. The ALNA provides us with a stronger understanding of adult student motivations, interests, and success factors, so we can build an adult education system that better serves the unique needs of this community.
The community education profile shows us where we are. Now, it’s time to find out where we can go from here.
Through our interviews and follow-up questions, we were able to identify success factors which impact current and prospective students in Whapmagoostui. Understanding these factors will help us to set up services and supports that help adults achieve their educational goals.
We also found out community members’ program interests, and discovered how these interests aligned with community/employer needs (by reviewing CENA results from Apatisiiwin Skills Development and interviewing employers). This will help us select and offer programs that will support the community’s future.
It is important to note that any strategy we build must have a strong cultural foundation and a plan for continuous community collaboration.
These all must be considered as we build a local adult education strategy for Whapmagoostui.
All of the Whapmagoostui community members surveyed agreed with the statement that “Education is important.” Despite this fact, 58% of respondents said they withdrew from school at least once. Interestingly, over one third of students said they withdrew in Secondary V, suggesting many students leave school fairly far into their educational journey. In addition, 30% of students say that disinterest and boredom was one of the reasons they left school.
This leads to some important questions about how the school environment could better engage and support students. It is important for Sabtuan Adult Education Services to understand how their teaching, schedules, curriculum and other factors might impact the success of students going back to school. The research revealed several areas of importance for the teaching and school environment in Whapmagoostui:
Inspired teaching. Adult education students reported that their teachers were knowledgeable (97%), easy to communicate with (90%) and understanding of the Cree culture (77%). This plays an important role in their success at every stage in their education:
What I like the most at SAES? The way our teacher put it together it was really easy for us to learn each book.
One of my teachers never gave up on me. Even when I gave him a hard time. He would always push me to do better and to do my work. If I got frustrated and didn’t want to do my work, he would explain everything so well. He didn’t stop encouraging me.
Supportive peers. The attitude and relationship between students proved to be an important success factor in Whapmaoogstui. Small class sizes and positive relationships with other students was seen as a positive element:
I enjoy the small classes. I enjoy that it’s smaller because we get more help.
The support from our teacher and my classmates (is great). We help each other. We give each other rides after classes. And our teacher gives us breaks to go for a coffee run.
However, when other students were not engaged in their schooling, it proved challenging for others:
I thought the teachers were good. I think it was more the other students that were not eager to learn. It was distracting. The students were not engaged to learn, they would distract the teacher.
Students are clearly very influenced by their peers, and encouraging, positive relationships with others made a significant difference in overall success.
Cree language. Students said they enjoyed speaking Cree in class, learning how to type in syllabics, and cultural lessons. Closeness to Cree language and culture can also improve student confidence, peer relationships, and engagement.
The Cree culture and language motivated me, yes, to stay in school… When we are there, we often make each other laugh. That’s what really helps me, that we can all laugh together. Like, we have fun in the class. We speak Cree in class.
Our teacher has said that she would show us how to type in Cree. I really liked that.
By empowering teachers and providing them with cultural resources and programs, we can build on our existing strengths to further engage and interest adult students.
Actions Taken
- Ee-Es-Kwee-Dow (My Learning Plan) course for adult students.
- Began development of Cree-Centric Teaching and Learning Framework.
Next Steps
- Roll out Cree-Centric Teaching and Learning Framework
- Offer more resources to support teachers in culturally relevant, inspired teaching.
Your Response
It’s your turn! What are other ways we work together to improve the learning experience for Whapmagoostui students?
Many potential adult education students in Whapmagoostui are interested in deepening their cultural knowledge and skills, with the majority showing interest in culturally relevant programs. This interest aligns with our internal priorities at Sabtuan Adult Education Services. We are working to offer more culture/language programs and to increase the cultural relevance of all programs and services.
Other top vocational programs included Professional Cooking, Carpentry, Starting a Business, and Early Childhood Educator. Interestingly, many of the most popular programs for community members were also the most in-demand for employers, showing strong alignment between community and employer needs.
By combining community member data with employer feedback from Apatisiiwin Skills Developments’ CENA study, we were able to identify the highest-demand programs in Whapmagoostui at present. This list of programs is by no means comprehensive, nor is it an official list of programs we are committed to offering. Other considerations, like feasibility of offering the program locally and the cultural component, will also be considered.
The Adult Learning Needs Assessment considered data from Apatisiiwin Skills Development (ASD)’s Community Employment Needs Assessment (CENA) in its program analysis. We also interviewed employers to follow up on the data. If you would like further information on the employment outlook in Whapmagoostui, please contact ASD.
Program Delivery
The location of an educational program was very important in Whapmagoostui. Twenty-four percent (24%) of community members would no longer be interested in a program if it was located outside of the community. However, a larger percentage (39%) would study out of community if they could visit home regularly. Therefore, it is important that we find ways to make programs in other communities accessible to Whapmagoostui Eeyouch.
Another way to provide education is through technology. If a program of interest was not offered in their community, 74% of respondents would be open to taking a course either fully or partially online. Most people preferred a combination of online learning and in-person learning. As Sabtuan Adult Education Services has significantly increased its digital capacity over the past year, these are options we could explore to serve more students.
I would have probably finished my studies if they were in my community.
— Community member without a diploma
More information on program delivery can be found in the Community Education Profile.
Note: ALNA data was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. Online learning readiness may have been impacted by recent events.