Education Committee Update

One of MARL’s raison d’être is to educate. The power of education is to provide our citizens with the necessary tools and information to enter into critical dialogue on issues that impact on our rights and liberties. One of our roles is to educate the youth of today to be the future human rights guardians of tomorrow. G.K. Chesterton expressed it so well – “Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” MARL has taken this to heart.

Since our last newsletter, MARL’s program developer, Debra Chorney, has developed and piloted material that would provide direct support to high school teachers on human rights integration in various subject areas. A teacher professional development pilot workshop was given in October in one Winnipeg high school followed by two workshops for the Manitoba Teacher Society Special Area Groups in November. Students and adults have been interviewed in the following areas: thinking globally, acting locally, tales out of class and student activists, which were piloted in two different school divisions, for our upcoming e-zine, which will be posted to our website.

Throughout this development phase of our teacher toolkit, Debra has dovetailed the themes of Human Rights Education with the Manitoba Department of Education curriculum student learning outcomes found in Social Studies, ELA, Math, Science and Physical Education. This systemic approach guarantees that all students will be exposed to relevant issues.

The next steps for our education committee is to endeavour making MARL’s education material accessible electronically to all interested individuals. Once the teacher toolkit is completed it will be available for consultation on our website. We are also in the process of designing a DVD for distribution. MARL will also begin pursuing developing our second component of establishing research groups within high schools.

Accolades must be given to Debra Chorney for her vision and hard work in conceptualizing a program that allows students to have a voice and with providing teachers with valuable resources. Valerie Price, our executive director must be also mentioned for providing the whole team with ongoing support and direction.

Please take time to remember our marginalized citizens throughout the New Year. We wish you peace and goodwill.