COMMUNITY LEARNING OPTIONS ON PEI

Report from a regional conference hosted by Seniors College of Prince Edward Island.
notes from: AUGUST 28 2007 - TUESDAY, 9 AM SESSION:

1) PEI Seniors Federation (Annie Boyle)


Seniors Federation (SF) was formed in 1970. Today, 37 clubs belong to the SF at a cost of $5 per member and individuals have also joined. There’s a funded executive director. The Active Living Centre at UPEI now has 386 members. Meetings, workshops etc focus on life after retirement There are Elder-abuse workshops, a provincially-funded peer-helping programme in which volunteers are trained to visit and support isolated seniors and an Atlantic Housing advocacy group. Individual clubs may offer courses on crafts etc. A 55-Alive driving course costs $10-$15 per person and is taken by as many as 20 people at a time.

This year, a Works Canada-funded facilitator, George Crawford, offered 9X3 hr. computer courses for 9 clubs with 136 participants. Clubs found class space in local libraries etc. Some computers came from government surplus and were left with clubs/ seniors Participants paid, at most, any cost incurred for the location.

2) Community Schools (Shirley Moore)

These began in Tignish, Kensington and Mount Stewart as a mid-sixties Rural Development initiative when PEI communities were suffering a severe downturn in farming and fishing with the loss of family farms and local schools. Typical early course topics were typing, knitting and sewing. Today there are around 34 locations and 100 courses on topics as diverse as rug-hooking, computer use, literacy, historical buildings, geneaology, Spanish and the violin. An initial provincial government grant of $20,000 annually rose to around $43,000, was cut by 53% in 2004 and has now been re-instated at $36,000. Liability costs range from $4,000 to $5,000 annually and there is a paid provincial co-ordinator. The organisation has survived with the help of the Credit Union Central.

For Shirley, the volunteer nature of the organisation is crucial for its success. No-one is paid except the co-ordinator. PEI is unique, and uniquely successful, with this approach. Last year, 700 volunteers were involved. Courses are widely accessible because the Community School (CS) brochure goes to 62,000 homes and students pay only $10-$20 for a ten-week course. Lunch is provided each night and many classes organise a final meal so there’s a social element. Student ages range from 16 upwards with many seniors participating. Special courses for seniors are offered in 10 senior homes across PEI, for example, in Charlottetown’s Geneva Villa.

GED courses are offered in collaboration with government and CS offers a home to other courses such as Defensive Driving. Old skills are kept alive and individual opportunities created. A CS course, for example, provided a basis for the very successful business of Cavendish Figurines.

3) Holland College (Angela Larter)

Holland College offers a 20% seniors’ discount for continuing education courses. At present, seniors participate in Adult and Community Education programmes and a Seniors Computer Camp (held monthly in Charlottetown, occasionally in Summerside). They are involved in the practicuum work of dental and practical nursing programmes.

In her research for the conference, Angela saw potential for a greater focus on seniors in health-related continuing education courses as well as those concerned with literacy and ESL, cooking and customer service. Full-time courses in safety, sports and leisure and a variety of trades may interest seniors. Peer-learning opportunities could be created. Seniors might tutor or teach in ESL programmes, share their perspectives in continuing education classes or use HC resources to teach other courses.

Olive Bryanton suggested that HC consider a project similar to that of UPEI. As part of their curriculum, nursing students go to the Seniors Active Living Centre for up to a week to develop a programme with the assistance of seniors.

4) Lifelong learning at UPEI (Kelly Duffy and Bruce Garrity)

The institute’s focus is on pay-as-you-go business courses in areas such as professional development courses in topics like conflict resolution and stress management. There is no discount for seniors.

It was suggested that ten places be offered free to non-profit organisations, also that the UPEI Centennial Scholarship funding be re-instated without any limitation on the number of credit courses taken by seniors.

Seniors College hosts Atlantic conference

TERESA WRIGHT CONSTABLE
The Guardian - August 27, 2007

The Seniors College of P.E.I. is hosting an Atlantic conference this week in the hopes of inspiring similar models of senior learning in other provinces.

Representatives from seven provinces are on the Island taking part in the conference activities and exploring the success of the Island Seniors College.

Bruce Garrity, Seniors College co-ordinator, said the conference was organized to get the word out about how well the idea has taken off on P.E.I.

“We thought we should tell people about us, because we think we have a good thing going here. Seniors College is a success story on P.E.I. and we think that many people should duplicate us, should they want to.”

In eight years, the Seniors College of P.E.I. has gone from 25 participants to 450 students, Garrity said.

“That may not be as big as a university, but it’s pretty good growth and we’re very proud that our students love Seniors College, keep coming back and our teachers love teaching.”

The courses are offered for a nominal fee of $125 per semester of eight to 10 weeks of class time.

The teachers are mostly retired professors and high school teachers, and get paid a small fee for their services.

The main reason they do it is because they love it, Garrity said.

“You can’t beat this. Students who want to learn and teachers who want to teach. This is a marriage made in heaven.”

Representatives from the universities of Regina, Toronto, St. Mary’s and Memorial University are taking part.

But despite their university affiliations, they will explore the practical steps in getting a seniors college started in a small community without a university or college. Garrity said this is because he believes seniors’ learning shouldn’t be too tied to post-secondary education.

“The key to seniors college is that it isn’t university- based. What we want is someone in the community who’s civic-minded and will work with the university but not for it. It has to be driven by somebody that it’s not their job to do it — but that they want to do it.”

This is exactly what Garrity has done, being the driving force behind the P.E.I. Seniors College.
Garrity, a former city councillor, works hard to secure teachers, classrooms and learning materials for the classes. But he said the work has been well worth it.

The conference takes place until Wednesday on the UPEI campus.

Some of the topics on the agenda include the history and development of the seniors’ college model, seniors learning models in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, and the work of the McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement.

There will be a panel discussion by representatives of the Community School, the Centre for Life-Long Learning, Holland College, and the P.E.I. Senior’s Federation.

The final conference session will be an open panel discussion on strategies for the future.