BEDILR Evaluation Report
In 2014 Indigenous Education completed partnership deliveries of the Bachelor of Education in Indigenous Language Revitalization in two communities on Vancouver Island. While these programs were pioneering they saw the graduation of 16 fully qualified Indigenous teachers, grounded in their languages, which in the case of the W̱’SÁNEĆ partnership, directly contributed to the expansion of their immersion school. With funding from Kwakiutl Band Council, W̱’SÁNEĆ School Board and UVic, Dr. Catherine McGregor was hired to evaluate the program, interviewing numerous students, instructors and administrators. Her review created the basis for a recent publication summarizing the program’s strengths, areas of challenge and current responsiveness, as well as provided reference and grounding for a number of pending journal articles. We are pleased to see this project completed, and are learning from the past, as our programs move forward into new partnership cycles.