UBC Faculty of Education

Helping Workers Achieve their Potential
The Faculty of Education has launched Canada’s only master’s degree program in Vocational Rehabilitation Counselling. The two-year program trains students in a broad spectrum of rehabilitation services, including disability management, in order to help people with disabilities effectively integrate or reintegrate into the community and workforce. The Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia (WCB of B.C.) contributed an endowment fund to help support the program. David Anderson, president of the WCB of B.C. says, “Our partnership with the Faculty of Education in developing the next generation of vocational rehabilitation professionals is an investment — one that will ensure workplace injuries never prevent workers from achieving their potential and contributing to the economic and social fabric of British Columbia.”

A New Approach to Science Education
Science Beyond the Textbook is a certificate program offered through the Faculty’s Office of External Programs that inspires elementary and middle years teachers to think differently about science. Participants engage in activities at Science World, the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre to experience a variety of instructional styles and classroom activities. Teachers return to their classrooms with a renewed fascination for the sciences and numerous activities for their science lessons. For more information about this and other continuing education programs, visit the Office of External Programs website at: www.oep.educ.ubc.ca

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child
“The program just makes sense,” says Natalie Rocke-Henderson, a doctoral student in school psychology at the Faculty of Education. She is speaking about the Strathcona Social Interaction Program (SSIP), a program that provides treatment for elementary school children whose social, emotional, and behavioural problems require resources that are not available in the school. Developed by the Vancouver School Board and the Faculty of Education’s Centre for Youth Social Development, the program is based on the age-old wisdom that “it takes a whole village to raise a child.” SSIP gathers together the critical people in a child’s life. “It involves parents, schools, and community agencies,” says Rocke-Henderson. “The child is also included as an important part of the team, and they like that.” Everyone works together to find ways to help the child achieve his or her highest potential and reintegrate into the regular classroom. SSIP, which is funded by the Vancouver Foundation, has the potential to become a national model for addressing social difficulties in schools.

Giving Back to the First Nations Community
Deborah Wilson-Green, a graduate of the Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP) in 2000, has returned to UBC after three years teaching at independent schools in Bella-Bella and Lax Kw’alaams. “I loved working with the kids,” she says. “There are so many who left their mark in my heart. And there’s such a need for more First Nations teachers in schools, especially male teachers.” Wilson-Green says that if it hadn’t been for the support she got from the NITEP faculty and fellow students, she would not have finished her Bachelor of Education degree. “I had two deaths in my family in two years. The NITEP faculty went over and above their job descriptions to bring me back to earth. There’s such camaraderie and support there. We take care of each other.” Wilson-Green is the NITEP On-Campus Coordinator, teaching a seminar that deals with First Nations issues and introduces NITEP students to the UBC campus. “In First Nations communities, we believe that whatever has been given to you, you give back to the community. Teaching for NITEP is the way I can give back, by sharing with students the reality of the world and what is out there.” These masks were created in her class. NITEP, the longest running Native Indian teacher education program in B.C. celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2004.

Helping Visually Impaired Children Learn to Read
The Faculty of Education is working in partnership with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Literacy BC, and the Spinoza for Kids Program to help preschool-aged children with visual impairments learn to read using Braille or other literacy tools. The 100 literacy gift packs distributed to families and educators throughout British Columbia feature Spinoza the Talking Bear, a plush teddy bear that talks and sings with the aid of cassette tapes hidden in its body. The gift pack also contains parent guides, teaching videos for educators, reading program information, tactile stickers, and Slate and Stylus for writing Braille. “This will help young people do what they want to do in life,” said Winifred Craig, who made a legacy gift to the graduate program in visual impairment in the Faculty of Education and who also recently established an education prize in Braille. Other partners in this project include The Vancouver Sun Raise-a-Reader program, the American Foundation for the Blind, the American Printing House for the Blind, Panago Pizza, TB Vets Charitable Foundation, the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired, and
QLT Incorporated.