Background
The First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE) is in the final stages of the development of the English 12 First Peoples (EFP12) curriculum and examination.
A primary focus of the course is to develop students’ literacy skills while satisfying the English 12 graduation requirements. Students may choose to take English 12 and/or English 12 First Peoples and they may use both towards Provincial Scholarships and graduation credits. It is the intention that students taking this new course will qualify for entry into post-secondary educational institutions, and the response from the universities has been positive.
This First Peoples English language arts course is intended for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal teachers and students. It represents an invitation to all learners to explore and discover First Peoples worldview through the study of literary, informational, oral and media text from local, Canadian and international First Peoples sources.
Curriculum
The draft curriculum for English 12 First Peoples will be posted on the MOE and FNESC websites in early September so teachers can review and provide feedback before final changes are made to the curriculum prior to full implementation of the EFP12 course in September 2008.
The Curriculum team developed the Classroom Assessment Models (CAMs) that will be piloted within English 12 classrooms this fall. The CAMs include units of study on poetry, the oral tradition, film & drama, storytelling, research essay, and two multi-genre thematic units “Residential Schools” and “Lost People.” The CAMs will also be posted on the FNESC website so they are available to other schools that wish to implement independently within their school districts.
Piloting Process
FNESC sent out a “Call of Interest” to all the districts in the province to ask for volunteers to pilot units of the EFP12 course in September 2007. Over 50 schools responded, and 14 district pilot sites were chosen and included a few First Nation schools. Considerations of workload, budget and gathering of pilot information from a manageable number of sites precluded involving more schools. Due to the overwhelming response, 16 seats were added for other Districts that wanted to attend the orientation session at their own expense.
At the end of August 2007, FNESC will provide a two-day orientation training workshop for the 14 pilot teachers (and 16 non-pilot teachers) to provide them with culture awareness training / protocol, introduction to the course / resources, etc.
For more information on this course, be sure to attend the English 12: First Peoples curriculum panel at the BCTELA fall conference or contact Karmen Brillon of FNESC at karmenb@fnesc.ca