Our Partners
Three Nations Education Group Inc. (TNEGI)
Three Nations Education Group Inc. (TNEGI) is a First Nations regional education organization that delivers second level services to schools in New Brunswick, serving over 60% of the First Nation on-reserve student population in the Band Operated schools in Esgenoopetitj, Elsipogtog and Tobique First Nations.
An MOU between Three Nations and Mount Allison University was recently created in recognition that the status quo for Indigenous education in New Brunswick has not contributed to Indigenous students reaching their potential, particularly in terms of long-term skills development and economic abilities within their communities.
Through Three Nations leadership and this unique collaboration with Mount Allison University researchers and resources, the Institute for Transformational Learning has been created to share ideas, provide data-driven decision-making and leading practices, and to develop programs that enhance the capacity for these communities to support children and youth in pursuing their passions. In facing the realities of social and economic development needs of today’s Indigenous youth, we wish to create skills development ecosystems within each community so that Indigenous students can be transformed within their schools and the larger society to address their individual, civic and economic wellbeing over the long term, while remaining in their communities and contributing to its well-being.
Vision - Every Indigenous student reaches their potential.
Mission - To create an education system that works with their community support networks to address the personal, civic and economic well-being of the individual through personalized experiential and community-influenced learning.
Environmental Education and Sustainable Communities Partnership
In partnership with educators in the Tantramar Family of Schools and the Anglophone East School District, this project, started in September 2020, allows for the development of a truly unique research, teaching and community-based environmental education program that brings together teachers, students from K to post-secondary, researchers, community members, and municipal leaders for the study and application of best practices in community sustainability planning and environmental action. Mount Allison University students and faculty, as part of the Research Partnerships in Education and Community Engagement Lab (R-PEACE) and the Coordinator of the Sustainable Communities Initiative, will bring participants from all parts of the region to be part of a range of community-based action research projects with significant opportunities for experiential learning and community-integrated professional learning for educators and students alike. Recent innovations in community-based experiential learning opportunities between New Brunswick’s public schools and our post-secondary institutions have brought new demands for a community-based approach to environmental education through action research and practice. We also wish to develop a much stronger relationship with Indigenous communities and youth in New Brunswick through community-based and online platforms and programs.
Working with Stuart Murray, AESD Sustainable Community Coordinator, and the newly created Innovative Educators Cohort within the Tantramar Family of Schools, as well as the Regional Centre of Excellence for Education for Sustainable Development (RCE-Tantramar) and the R-PEACE group at Mount Allison, these partners bring together demonstrated leadership in the development of an integrated community-integrated approach to the most pressing environmental issues of our time, such as climate change awareness and adaptation, waste management and recycling programs and community education, as well as the critical role of environmental education and integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Working together through a shared professional teaching and learning initiative, we will engage a series of student sustainability interns who will work with students, educators and community members to meet the goals and objectives of sustainability practices and student learning outcomes, as well as developing an action-based, citizen-driven sustainability communications and education program in cooperation with the university and local schools, NGOs and community groups. Working with a wide range of community stakeholders, we are assisting teachers, students and community leaders in allowing their communities to become places where sustainability is truly embedded through recognition of fundamental ecological practices, traditional knowledge, engagement, collaboration, and innovation. Early project developments include the introduction of recycling programs in the schools, as well as some apartment buildings in Sackville, as part of a pilot program being supported by the Town of Sackville and ECO 360; the development of a hydroponic food lab being developed at Dorchester School; partnership with Learning for a Sustainable Future for teacher in-service opportunities on environmental education; expanded outdoor environmental education and community garden education projects at the schools; the development of a web-based resource for teachers and students; and a number of environmental education internships and support initiatives through Mount Allison and the Community-Engaged Learning program.
Sackville Schools 2020
SS2020 is grassroots movement working towards an integrated educational community, where transformative learning is part of everyday living in the town of Sackville. It involves the design of new school facilities, the transformation of pedagogical practice in accordance with the principles of deep learning, and the integration of community life and activities into student learning.
Sackville Festival of Early Music
Youth Outreach Program
Based around an annual festival at the end of September each year, the festival offers outstanding musical experiences to audiences in the Tantramar region through performance, educational outreach, master class instruction, and amateur workshops. Education is core to the mission of the festival and the Youth Outreach Program enables performances for students in area schools, in keeping with the belief that young people in small towns and rural areas should have access to excellence in music.
marshview Middle School
Deep Learning
This year, we are pleased to be partnering with Marshview school on some "deep learning" projects that bring together university students and middle school students from across the grade levels (5-8). Students from Mount Allison University will, together with teachers and community facilitators, help to design and carry out around 20 projects in which small groups of students will participate for a term.
MARSHVIEW MIDDLE SCHOOL
Outdoor classroom
Thanks to a grant from the Environmental Trust Fund, we are designing an outdoor classroom at Marshview, where students will, through active learning, explore the concepts of sustainable development, environmental respect and conservation and waste/refuse management.
DORCHESTER MOving Forward
Model School
Dorchester Moving Forward is a social enterprise group focusing on revitalizing Dorchester, NB. It has plans to reconfigure its Consolidated School as a model school for the region and to develop a Rural and Small Towns Research Centre. R-PEACE researchers and their students will be partnering with the principal and teachers at DCS to develop a series of programs and methods that will act as a model for 21st Century teaching and learning.
MOUNT ALLISON UNIVERSITY
Learning Lab
Mount Allison is a vibrant, undergraduate liberal arts university in Sackville, NB. Innovative teaching is at its core. R-PEACE wants to know: Can the facilities in which students learn affect how they learn? R-PEACE has developed a learning lab for classes in the Humanities and Social Sciences in order to test how classroom flexibility impacts learning. Mount Allison faculty will be testing the impact of material culture, maker activities, collaborative projects, and student-led investigations.
EDUCATION RE-DESIGN LAB, Harvard Graduate school of education
R-PEACE and Sackville Schools 2020 have joined a new community-supported education network with The Education Redesign Lab. The Lab’s mission is to partner with communities to build integrated education and child development systems, to research and disseminate best practices in the field, and to advance a new vision for education that is community-based, with support and coordination at the grassroots level.
For Community Partners
If you are part of an organization or initiative that is interested in partnering with students from Mount Allison, reach out to R-PEACE!
Students can bring a variety of skills to your organization, such as writing and research, volunteering, promotions, and more. In the past, Mount Allison students have worked with community partners such as Habitat for Humanity ,where they researched the impacts of Habitat’s homeownership program, and with the Tantramar Heritage Trust, where they helped develop an integrated community sustainability plan for Sackville.