The Action Plan

At a workshop of stakeholders held in March 2007, educators, youth and employers discussed draft recommendations and approved the following refined recommendations.

Participants agreed that the workshop representatives would each move the recommendations relevant to their sector forward. Appendix C has a list of workshop participants.

Recommendations

For employers, including the Government of Nunavut:

  1. Support apprenticeship training, including building it into government-funded contracts.
  2. Offer Inuktitut as a first language classes for employees without full fluency in Inuktitut.
  3. Offer literacy and other essential skills training in the workplace.
  4. Offer Inuktitut as a second language training in the workplace.
  5. Expand housing options available to students relocating to take further training.
  6. Explore on-the-job mentoring for youth entering the workforce, anticipating that literacy skills may be incomplete.

For educators:

  1. Extend learning programs to include pre-school components, with an early childhood education focus across the territory.
  2. Develop and implement programs to engage families of students in the school community. This could be as simple as holding an annual feast to celebrate the start of school.
  3. Offer literacy support to all students who are failing to grasp material being taught.
  4. Integrate more hands-on learning opportunities and learning by doing, rather than relying heavily on text-based materials.
  5. Develop alternatives to written tests to assess students’ learning.
  6. Increase access to vocational resources and training for secondary school students.
  7. Offer evening courses to allow access for people in the workforce.
  8. Adapt high school and adult basic education programs to be pre-workforce training programs.
  9. Develop part-time options for adult basic education programs.
  10. Offer space at school for homework after school hours.
  11. Consider developing ‘homework clubs’ for students.
  12. Develop and implement more programs for marginalized youth – those who may never go back to school. See Appendix D for examples of more context-based, non-formal community programs such as traditional skills programs that have a literacy component built in.

For governments:

  1. Implement a plain language policy for all print materials in all languages.
  2. Extend training funding to employers wishing to offer literacy training and/or Inuktitut as a second language training to employees.
  3. Apply ‘healing foundation’ funding to test for FAS/FAE and provide appropriate supports for learning and working for those in need.
  4. Fund summer employment in trades related fields to provide youth with experience and exposure to more skilled jobs.
  5. Fund mentorship programs for youth who are more suited to land-based economic activity with elders who possess the necessary skills for success.

For communities:

  1. Build on existing resources and models to create programs that will include youth who are not likely to undertake formal training for cash-economy employment.
  2. Document promising practices in place in communities, including an analysis of what conditions are necessary to achieve success and what lessons have been learned over the life of the program.

For the Nunavut Literacy Council:

  1. Explore and develop workplace literacy materials and programs.
  2. Continue to develop community outreach and development strategies to support non-formal learning such as family literacy and programs with a cultural focus.
  3. Develop and distribute a template to capture information about successful programs, including necessary conditions for success and lessons learned in delivering the programs.
  4. Seek funding to gather completed templates and disseminate them to communities throughout the territory to encourage customization and replication.