Research Domain: Group Three - Informal Learning Cultures

Title of Project: Informal Learning Cultures Through the Life Course: Initiatives for First Nations and Metis Communities

Start Date: April 1, 1997
Academic Investigator: Dr. T. Wotherspoon (U. Saskatchewan)
Community Partners: Saskatchewan Dept. of Education
Student Researchers: Roseanne Morphy (U. Saskatchewan), Joanne Butler (U.Saskatcehwan), Tina Nicotine (U.Saskatchewan)

The project addresses the relationship between formal and informal learning among Aboriginal people. Given Aboriginal people's relatively low rates of participation and attainment in formal education programs, the research explores what is happening tin schools to produce failure and success, and in-school processes alternatively incorporate into or exclude informal knowledge and learning practices. There are three components of data collection, with Saskatchewan as the research locale - interviews/talking circles with elementary and secondary school students, interviews (using the NALL Survey as a guide) with adults who have relatively low levels of formal educational achievement, and interviews with entrepreneurial trainees.