The Northern Adult Basic Education Project

What is the overall impact of the initiative and how is this measured?

The overall impact of the NABE Project has helped working-age adult Northerners acquire basic education skills needed to participate in the labour market. The 8-year funding program was intended to build sufficient capacity in the territorial colleges to deliver expanded, improved adult basic education capacity in their respective territories over a fixed period, and to help meet the needs of a current adult cohort which has deficits in basic education, including essential workplace skills.

The program objective is to improve ABE services and capacity in the territories and their colleges, and to increase the number of working-age adults with basic workplace skills, such as numeracy and literacy needed to increase Northerners’ chances of joining the labour market or access vocational training to enter that market. For the purposes of this program adult basic education (ABE) is defined to include education related activities that assist adults in achieving sufficient levels of literacy, numeracy and other Essential Skills required to obtain a job or benefit from occupational training.

NABE programs evaluate program success by completing the following:

• Regular student check-in via informal discussions, instructional monitoring during course work (project completion), qualitative chart analysis each week
• Continuous community consultations and visits,
• Ongoing meetings with members of the President’s Advisory Committee for First Nations Initiatives (PACFNI) are held quarterly whereby updates on current program developments/offerings are discussed and agreed upon
• Tracking program involvement of course participants through journaling, weekly personal responses, completion of smaller assignments/projects, qualitative chart completion, attendance
• Tracking program participation of staff through weekly phone check-ins with staff, completion of weekly projects/tasks by staff, monthly reports from communities, periodic visits to showcase student work.
• Provide professional development for staff in ES by offering in-house workshops, conference attendance, course releases for online training and/or research, sharing best practices amongst peers, reviewing external successful programs/models
• Assessing participant skill attainment Through tactile demonstrations of project creation or task completion, through weekly informal writing/math assessments or activities, through the completion of a student portfolio, through the involvement in community and college activities
• Assessing participant knowledge acquisition through the completion of smaller projects/tasks leading to a final class/group project, through journaling, through weekly small discussions, through peer mentorship and demonstrations, through samples of work completed
• Assessing changes in participant attitudes by completing weekly qualitative ‘attitude’ charts, journaling, photos, attendance, involvement in class discussion, involvement in community activities
• Collecting key results or outcomes from student and instructional feedback post course delivery, course project completion, successful work placements or jobs achieved after course delivery, student portfolio completed, student numbers maintained until course completion
• Increase registration in higher learning centres/programs as a result of NABE
• Increase completion rates for indigenous ABE students
• Increase employment opportunities as a result of ABE programs (employers can draw upon Northern workforce)

What challenges have you faced and how were these overcome?

Some of the difficulties in executing this initiative are the following:

• Reduced funding support from some communities (limited resources)
• Community space (sometimes mobile training units are required)
• Lack of student numbers at the time of registration (sometimes students are interested but not ready when courses being offered as seasonal on-land activities may overlap or conflict with times programs are being offered)
• Challenges with personal wellness
• Limited career counselling opportunities
• Limited time to deliver courses – must adhere to strict start and finish dates as all activities must occur within the fiscal year
• Covering all costs for housing and travel for instructors hired outside of a community

To mitigate many of these challenges, the NABE program has built a roving support team that has been hired to travel to communities to assist with career exploration, managing barriers and providing supports for success. The team is comprised of instructor/coordinators with mentorship and life coach training.

Suitable space, instructor costs and housing will continue to be a challenge when offering skills training in northern remote communities.

What are 3 key lessons you learned from developing or delivering your initiative? What advice from those lessons would you share with others?

1. Additional planning and refinement of course curriculum is required as each community often requires specific outcomes based on their own unique labour market needs,

2. Full community support for course/program delivery is required and ongoing collaboration with local partners is imperative to program success.

3. Increased life skills/case management support required within the community to assist with student success and provide continued pathways/next steps after program completion.

Which Essential Skills are covered by the initiative? Reading Text Document Use Numeracy Writing Oral Communications Working with Others Thinking Skills Computer Use Continuous Learning

How are the Essential Skills integrated into your initiative?

Each NABE program fully integrates all 9 Essential Skills through a combination of in-class work (ex. textbook and worksheet practice, demonstrations, classroom discussions) and practical, offsite task completion (ex. harvesting produce, completing a manicure with a client, changing a light fixture). In most cases, NABE programs provide literacy, numeracy and general theory training in the mornings and use the afternoon time to practice these skills through hands-on demonstration and project completion.

How do you assess participant Essential Skills?

This is primarily done through task completion/demonstration as well as final project involvement. Each Essential Skill is embedded into a task and each task builds to a final program project that requires full participation by each student. Some smaller tasks are assigned in the classroom (workplace mathematics worksheets) and larger program tasks usually require the participant to engage in an activity such as installing a window (Housing Maintainer) or building a garden bedframe (Food Security). To measure all tasks required in a NABE program, a master checklist/task rubric is created for each program and carefully breaking down each action required by the student and aligning this task with the corresponding Essential Skill. By the end of a NABE program, students are evaluated with each task with the following grade:
Fails to Meet Completion Requirements (FM)
Meets Completion Requirements (M)
Exceeds in Meeting Completion Requirements (EM)

What are the components of the initiative? Occupation-specific skills training Academic upgrading Occupational certifications and/or licensing Work-integrated learning (i.e., internships, co-ops, work placements, etc.) Life skills Career and/or educational planning Job search services Cultural, language, and tradition awareness and/or training Other

How do you support participant success in the program? Attendance allowance Transportation allowance Child care support Individualized counselling Individualized tutoring Food allowance and/or on-site meals Housing Work related clothing/equipment Job placements Wage subsidies Job retention support

How was Indigenous culture integrated into the program content or delivery?

Indigenous content is integrated in a variety of ways depending on the program and the instructors involved. Some programs have a circle check in, shared lunches, elder visits, practical demonstrations, guest speakers to share local knowledge, etc. It really depends on the program and the intent. As much as possible, First Nation advisors and leaders are invited to help plan the program and contribute in meaningful ways.

Programs also ensure the use of Elders and advisors as instructors (topic specific); the use of locations relevant to the content or the local first nation; using first nation citizens as subjects of the work; creation of celebratory spaces which honour the work being done.

What do you think are the most important competencies and attributes for staff involved in this initiative to have?

Cultural sensitivity and understanding of inter-generational trauma; empathy; patience; ability to teach to the learner’s needs and make the content relevant; build strong relationships and encourage the development of learners’ strengths

Capacities to recognize the nature of the work is important as programs do not just focus on literacy and numeracy development, but rather to build people. The investment of energy in these programs has a lot to do with the investment in people and moving them forward. There were capacities in administration and project management, but these were secondary to understanding that the NABE project is investing in people.

Who are your partners, and what is their involvement in the initiative?

Partner Name	Role	Responsibilities
First Nations Partners
Selkirk First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants Advisory Role	To ensure course curriculum and objectives meet the needs of the community members/students (needs analysis), over-seeing course activities including program application, orientation and graduation, ensuring community members are provided educational tuition and possible training allowances.
Vuntut Gwich’in	Financial Support for community’s program participants   Leadership and Advisory Role
Liard First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants   Leadership and Advisory Role
Kwanlin Dün First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants   Leadership and Advisory Role
Ross River Dene Council	Financial Support for community’s program participants   Leadership and Advisory Role
Kluane First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants Advisory Role	Same as above
Carcross Tagish First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
Champagne and Aishihik First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	To ensure course curriculum and objectives meet the needs of the community members/students (needs analysis), over-seeing course actives including program application, orientation and graduation, ensuring community members are provided educational tuition and possible training allowances, provide feedback and direction on course final project (i.e. Walking Tour Brochure)
First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
White River First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
Teslin Tlingit Council	Financial Support for community’s program participants   Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
Ta’an Kwach’an Council	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
Nihtat Gwich’in Council	Financial Support for community’s program participants Advisory Role	Same as above
Gwichya Gwich’in Council	Financial Support for community’s program participants Leadership and Advisory Role	Same as above
Regional Community Trust Fund	Financial Support	Financial Support
Ehdiitat Gwich’in Council	Financial Support for community’s program participants’ Leadership and Advisory role	Same as above
Industry and Other Partners
Wolverine Mines	Volunteer Interested Employer In-kind contribution	Working with courses to ensure skill elements meet industry standards, providing additional training, orientation to potential worksites, free tours and resources
Minto Mines Victoria Gold Silver Tip	Volunteer Interested Employer In-kind contribution	Working with courses to ensure skill elements meet industry standards, providing additional training, orientation to potential worksites, free tours and resources
Yukon Wildland Fire	Volunteer Interested Employer In-kind contribution	Providing equipment for practical training, providing scenarios and case studies and company tour
Village of Haines Junction	Interested Community/Employer In-kind contribution	Providing volunteer support, resources and information, use of trails
Heritage and Culture Staff	Same as above	Providing relevant training, literacy development, learning opportunities through presentations and workshops, in-kind contributions through use of space/facilities
Parks Canada	Same as above	Same as above
Local Radio Broadcasting	Same as above	Same as above
Yukon First Nation Tourism Association	Same as above	Same as above
Yukon First Nation Chamber of Commerce	Same as above	Same as above
Yukon Learn	Same as above	Same as above
Yukon Literacy Coalition	Same as above	Same as above