Summarize the Articles: Meeting the Needs of Aboriginal Learners and Canadian Immigrants - Article Example

Summary of the Article In this paper it is necessary to summarize and discuss the theme related to the needs of Aboriginal learners and Canadian immigrants. The main goal of this work is to summarize the final report “Meeting the Needs of Aboriginal Learners” prepared by The Association of Canadian Community Colleges in 2005. It is necessary to prove a thesis that one of the mission of Canadian colleges and institutes is to evaluate the opportunities of each person estimating the potential of Aboriginal learners and Canadian immigrants in their access to post-secondary education.

First of all it is necessary to mention that a quantity of Aboriginal learners is increasing every year and there is a big gap in education between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal population. Nowadays Canada has one of the most extensive networks of higher education in the world, so Canadian universities, colleges and specialized institutions need to train specialists with higher education to cover the country’s needs in good specialists. It is obvious that sometimes people decide to change their education and they think about post-secondary education in such cases.

There are no big problems when the speech is going about Canadians, but, for example, when Canadian immigrants are going to enter colleges then they may have specific problems on their way. The final report of our discussion presents many specific details about the way that would help to meet the needs of Aboriginal learners. It consists of several meaning parts, where each part focuses on specific components of education in Canadian colleges and institutes. Let us explore some parts with more details for the best understanding of the presented material.

The final report begins from the introduction, where the main aspects of the report are discussed. It gives an understanding of the fact that the leitmotif of Canadian education in the nearest future is enhancing the availability and quality of higher and post-secondary education in the country. The second part has the title Overview of Aboriginal Post-secondary Education in Canada and it not only describes existed situation in education, but it also explores barriers to Aboriginal learners’ participation in post-secondary education and policy priorities in this area.

Dwelling an the barriers to Aboriginal learners it is important to note some of them: historical barriers are based on the assimilationist education policies and on the legacy of previous school system; social barriers are connected with the lack of social role models, different kinds of social discrimination and poverty; financial barriers shows the truth about funding; lack of academic knowledge proves the fact that mature students not always want to continue education and low high school graduation rates may be a problem on their way to new tops of education; geographic barriers explains the necessity to relocate to urban areas, while cultural barriers shows differences between Aboriginal perspectives and Non-Aboriginal traditions and values.

Moreover, sometimes individual and personal barriers are much harder to overcome, because own fears and problems are more valuable for students than other kinds of situations. Observing all possible barriers and policy priorities report presents different Aboriginal services and programs at colleges and institutes that would help to find the proper way to education for each student. There are many different programs and it is really good that each student may choose appropriate form of education and occupation for own self-development.

Two distinct types of Aboriginal post-secondary education have rather different nature and specificity of work; they are the Aboriginal-controlled institutions, which addressed the needs of their students, having relevant curriculum and grading criteria, and provincially-supported institutions. The issue of funding for Aboriginal programs and services is discussed in the fifth part of the report and the main funding structures and sources are observed exactly in this part. The sixth part explains enrolment and identification of Aboriginal students, paying attention at different ways to estimate the number of Aboriginal students and their participation in education process.

The part about the way how Aboriginal students may participate in the development of different learning programs, curriculum, and planning structures allows to understand that educational organizations are really interested in Aboriginal students and their success in study depends on their educational needs. It is great that students can advise something to the creators of educational programs, because such approach not only helps to involve both parties in educational activity, but, moreover, it makes students a part of the process, when they can feel their membership in common good.

Thus, taking everything into a consideration it is possible to summarize that the final report explores all necessary aspects of education that will help to meet the needs of Aboriginal learners. For instance, the report includes in itself detailed description of programs and their community-based delivery to students, the ways of funding and types of partnership. It is good that report also has a visual material and appendixes, while graphs and tables allow to be more specific in numbers. In conclusion, summarizing the final report we can state that Canada is trying to overcome the gap in education between different types of population and it will be possible to change situation in the nearest future due to the combined efforts of various people and organizations.

Works cited: Aboriginal Peoples and Post-secondary Education, What Educators have Learned, Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, January 2004. Meeting the Needs of Aboriginal Learners - An Overview of Current Programs and Services, Challenges, Opportunities and Lessons Learned. Final Report. The Association of Canadian Community Colleges. June 2005. Available at http://www.accc.ca/english/publications/reports/aboriginal_learners.htm