Program educates indigenous teachers

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This article was published 17/07/2023 (888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a program 50 years old and going strong that teaches teachers to take what they’ve learned and educate students in their home communities, says a graduate of PENT at Brandon University.

PENT stands for Program for the Education of Native Teachers, which combines the faculty of Education at BU with those who have teaching and leadership experience in northern Manitoba schools.

Students who are working as Educational Assistants (EA) in their communities can apply for the program, which Marcel Ross did five years ago, and while in Brandon on Friday he accepted his certification.

Ross is one of 19 graduates from 14 northern communities in PENT’S 2023 graduating class. He made the commitment to travel each year from Cross Lake, which is north of Lake Winnipeg and about a 10-hour trip to Brandon.

“It’s been a long journey,” Ross said. “We came here every year for four months, taking at least eight courses at a time until we finished our five-year program. And now we graduate earning two degrees; a bachelor of education, and a bachelor of arts.”

Placement for all the new teachers includes educating students who are in their early or middle years. In Manitoba, the term “early years” refers to kindergarten to Grade 4, whereas middle years is defined as Grade 5 to 8.

Students in the middle years are in Ross’s generation of choice because they’re eager to learn, he said.

“I love working with kids. That’s one of the main reasons why I’m here,” Ross said. “I’m here for the kids, they’re fun to work with.”

Teaching is a calling, said Lori Campbell, and added that’s why she made the decision to commute from her home at Moose Lake, which is about 57 kilometres east of The Pas, and almost eight-hour journey to the BU campus.

Leaving her community for four months at a time was hard, Campbell said, and that was why she took three classes a month, determined to finish.

“Ever since I was in kindergarten, I always thought I was going to be a teacher,” Campbell said. “I am looking forward to teaching the middle years — Grades 5 and 6, specifically. My thinking is you have to have a lot of patience, and to treat the students the way you want to be treated.”

Since the program began, PENT has placed about 600 students back into northern Manitoba communities, said BU’s John Minshull, director.

One of the strengths of the program, he added, is the fact that PENT students all come with proven experience as EAs, something other students in the faculty of education don’t possess.

While working at a school in their home community, the EAs are able to gain an understanding how the school system operates, while showcasing their skills. It’s not unusual, Minshull said, for some students to have up to 10 years experience before applying for the program.

“The students are selected by their communities,” Minshull said. “Their educational authority will come to them and ask if they would be interested in attending BU to take the PENT program. They come to Brandon and stay in residence, where they rent a place for four months from April to July. Once the coursework is complete, they go back home and work in their schools starting in September.”

The ceremony on Friday began with a graduation song by Sioux Valley’s Zephran Bone that he said was passed down to him by his grandfather, Kenny Pratt, and is sung “every year at our graduations.”

“Hopefully someone sings this song for me one day,” Bone said. “Many of my siblings have gone through PENT, and I fell in love with being an EA. So, I’m in my first year, and I’d love to be a teacher. That’s why I felt it important to be here.”

To help make the students’ educational journey a bit smoother, Brandon’s Gerald Butler said he and his wife, Carmen, made the decision nine years ago to donate tools of learning to the PENT program.

In 2014, Butler raised more than $50,000 to provide each student with an iPad by establishing the BU/Apple iPad initiative and, during Friday’s graduation ceremony, he gifted each grad with a two-bear figurine.

The Butlers have a family foundation, he said, with Brandon University as the only recipient.

“We really love what’s happening with PENT, so anything we can do like that, we do,” said Butler. “I like the whole concept of it, I don’t think they get as many breaks as maybe the city’s schools do. It just makes a whole lot of sense.”

As Ross posed for photos with his classmates from Poplar River, which is at the northeast end of Lake Winnipeg, and Leaf Rapids, located 306 kilometres north of The Pas, he said he had advice for someone who wants to make a difference in their own community.

“PENT is a good program. I encourage anyone, every indigenous community to get into this program because it is rewarding.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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