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Chinese immigrant women constitute a wealth of untapped potential for Canadian society. Unfortunately their talents have not resulted in self-actualization after immigration. This is because they are among the most disadvantaged groups, being discriminated against on the basis of race, class and gender. Chinese women encounter difficulties in integrating into Canadian society. The two major barriers are: the immigration policies towards Chinese, especially in previous generations, and the women's inadequate language skills, even today. / In the preparation of this thesis, an appreciation of the obstacles faced by Chinese immigrant women was gained by reviewing the relevant literature and government documents. The concerns of Chinese-Canadian women were placed in context by reviewing the history of women's status in China and their gradual influx into Canada. Participant observation of groups and case studies of individual women revealed that immigrant Chinese women are a heterogeneous group in terms of their backgrounds but homogeneous in terms of their tenacity and their aspirations and hopes for the future. The present study is the first attempt at recognizing Chinese immigrant women in Montreal. The conclusion was reached that through education, hard work and persistence in learning the official languages of Canada, they can triumph in face of societal barriers.

A growing body of both substantive and theoretical literature suggests that educational underachievement among certain ethnic groups is due to the cultural discontinuity between mainstream education and minority students. A pedagogy that both uses and reinforces the culture of ethnic minority students, implemented by ethnically similar teachers, is therefore thought to contribute to a more constructive school experience and strengthen the social and political status of the ethnic community as a whole. For this thesis, a group of Haitian educators working in Montreal area schools was interviewed to investigate the extent to which this approach is viewed as a potential solution to the low academic achievement of numerous Haitian students. Some evidence was found that culturally congruent education is, according to the experiences of some of the respondents, a potentially beneficial strategy to curtail educational inequality. In was generally argued, however, that this should be a limited, remedial strategy with little bearing on the communal survival of the Haitian community.

McGill management certificates are credit continuing education programs. Perceptions of the benefits achieved through participation were investigated, surveying 1424 students in four cohorts: entrants, graduates, alumni and withdrawn. / Goals of entrants factored into six categories: career development, gaining knowledge, fulfiling external requirements, personal development, personal fulfilment and networking. In almost all areas achievements matched expectations. Graduates reported significant improvement in career status, although somewhat less than desired. Irrespective of prior education, they were particularly appreciative of knowledge gained. In other areas, graduates without prior university education perceived more benefit than those with degrees. Women, though equally satisfied with the program's contribution to career development, reported slower progress in their careers than men. They experienced more personal development than men. Work experience and certainty of goals affected outcomes. Many withdrawn students attained their objectives without completing. Academic achievement did not correlate with career development or with graduates' perception of knowledge gained.

"Cooperative Learning in a Cree Community" is a study of the implementation of innovative teaching methods in a cooperative learning environment at Sabtuan Cree Adult Education. The implementation was a response to the historical context of education in Mistissini Lake. I was the English Language Arts teacher for the adult sector in Mistissini Lake between 1996--1998. My students ranged between the ages of 16 and 50. In addition to Language Arts I taught optional courses like Economics, History, Word Processing and Personal and Social Development. / I determined to investigate the potential of cooperative, and student self-evaluation as a valid instructional model for Cree adult learners. My primary objective was to increase critical thinking, learner confidence, and self-directed activity in the classroom. My aim was to study the correlation between interactive pedagogy and student engagement. One indicator of student involvement is student absenteeism. Thus one component of this study examines the correlation between cooperative learning and student attendance. / In the introduction I discuss the problems indigenous people have encountered and my understanding and assessment of the present situation in Cree schools. The second section gives a summary of the Cree context, their culture and history, particularly as it pertains to education, and largely from the Cree perspective. The third section contains my classroom activities, the goals I set for the students and the indicators with which I gauged and measured the effectiveness of the project. / In conclusion, the implementation of cooperative learning methods yielded positive results both in student achievement and in decreasing truancy for Cree adult learners. The study confirms that cooperative learning can address students' needs to increase language proficiency and to be active participants in classroom activity. This model is congruent with Cree learners' collaborative and egalitarian values that are inherent in the traditional Cree culture.

This research is intended for educational policy makers. This is an exploratory study that investigates Quebec's classrooms as a new educational reform is implemented. There are two relevant pieces of legislation in the reform that elicited this study. First, teachers are required to adopt constructivist teaching practices; second, teachers must use ICT in classrooms. The questions being addressed are: (1) What are the current challenges and benefits impacting teachers with the integration of computers in the classroom environment? (2) What do classroom practices look like given (a) in the context of Quebec's constructivist-learning environment and (b) the possibility of ICT support. Case studies with teachers from elementary and high schools show changes in teacher and student role; however, lack of guidelines hinder constructivist teaching practices. Five predominant challenges were identified: lack of personal development, lack of time, technical support, accessibility, and classroom management. The study also identifies five elements as benefits: sharing of information; communication; editing; monitoring; web access.

The last ten years has witnessed the inflow of a large number of new immigrant and refugee children, many from Africa, into Canada. These new immigrants and displaced persons (refugees) undergo a cycle of adaptation in a new society; a process that takes much longer time than the host society allows them. Most children of refugees and new immigrants enter the school system few months after their arrival in Canada when they have barely had the time to adapt to their new socio-cultural environment. However, little research has been done on the cultural adaptation of African immigrant and refugee youth in the Canadian educational system. / This study examined the social integration and educational experiences of teenage immigrant and refugee youth mainly from minority backgrounds in their first few years of contacts with the Quebec educational system. Using a qualitative methodology, interviews were conducted with ten youth, eight parents, four community leaders, two social service reception center workers and a school administrator together with information from focus group discussions with a number of youth and parents from the same backgrounds. The cultural and acculturating patterns that emerged in the context of school, family, peers, and community as well as the way in which the respondents negotiate, create, and maintain their identities were examined. / The findings showed that culture and cultural adaptation play very significant roles in the social and educational integration of immigrant and refugee children in Canadian society. They further pointed to how acculturation difficulties have led to many of these children feeling less motivated to study, losing interest in education, or dropping out of the school system altogether. / Implications of this research for curriculum development in education and social work practice with this population group are offered. These include the need for social service professionals and educators working with refugee youth to have an understanding of the different needs and history or cultural context of the country of origin of the refugees. Others are the need for teachers to be culturally responsive and competent as they deal with increasingly diverse student populations. Also of equal importance for policy formulators in the educational field is the need for curriculum that is designed to address the distinctive challenges of acculturation that these new arrivals face especially at the High School levels in Quebec. / Recommendations are made for directions for future research in the social work and education fields including structuring a longitudinal study to follow these youth participants over a period of time to examine the evolution of their ethnic identity, bicultural development, cultural values, their educational attainment and the challenges they face as adults. Furthermore, a nationwide or an inter-provincial study with similar population groups (with language as a significant variable) would provide a broader understanding of the integration issues associated with this population group.

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