{"id":6030,"date":"2018-05-30T18:27:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T22:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kativik.qc.ca\/?p=6030"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:33:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:33:36","slug":"an-interview-with-adult-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kativik.qc.ca\/en\/an-interview-with-adult-education\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Adult Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n

The Public Relations team had a chance to sit down with Lisa Mesher (Director of Adult Education and Vocational Training), Denis Daigle (Assistant Director of Adult Education and Vocational Training) and Dave McMullen (Coordinator for Adult Education and Vocational Training) for a candid and fun interview. We learned more about how they ended up working for the school board, the challenges that Adult Education is addressing and their vision for the future!<\/p>\n

Public Relations<\/strong>:\u00a0This is an interesting and dynamic group! How did you three find yourselves working for the Adult Education and Vocational Training Department?<\/em><\/p>\n

Lisa Mesher (LM<\/strong>): \u00a0When I moved to Montreal, I worked for the Nunavik Regional Health Board and Social Services as Associate Director Module du Nord Quebecois. Growing up in Nunavik, I didn\u2019t know much about Adult Education. I knew there were great people working here, but our programs were mainly seen as an option for dropout students, which in reality it is not. Changing the image has been important. It\u2019s happening slowly and we are more and more perceived as a place for people who want to upgrade their skills, for adults who wish to continue their education or attend specialized trainings to just name a few!<\/p>\n

Denis Daigle (DD):<\/strong>\u00a0I held various positions with the school board. I started off as a teacher in 2001, went on to become school principal, coordinator for school operations and eventually was brought in as Assistant Director of the department, to help reshape and bring a new vision and direction to Adult Education.<\/p>\n

Dave McMullen (DM<\/strong>): I also started as a teacher, Denis and I worked together at the same school.<\/p>\n

PR:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh you\u2019ve worked together before!<\/em><\/p>\n

DM<\/strong>: Yes, I taught math and science. I was a school principal and later joined the department.<\/p>\n

PR: What are some of the challenges you experienced when first joining the team.<\/em><\/p>\n

LM<\/strong>: Relationships with partners had been lost. The image we had wasn\u2019t necessary a positive one. \u00a0A lot of efforts went into understanding how we can better work with other organization at the regional and provincial levels and how we\u2019d be able to collaborate.<\/p>\n

DD<\/strong>: Yes, re-establishing the relationships that we had lost and working to a point where organizations now want to work with us and are proactively contacting us. Being recognized as an entity was a big challenge; branding the department, being visible and accessible. The Adult Education Facebook page was the first official school board presence on social media!<\/p>\n

DM:<\/strong>\u00a0The customer services and providing more customized training was also a challenging mandate. The first time in my role, getting on the phone with other organizations was challenging because they hadn\u2019t heard from us in a long time.<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: What are some big accomplishment that your team has had?<\/em><\/p>\n

DD:<\/strong>\u00a0Dave MacMullen and John Commins started the Futures Fair. It was an opportunity to showcase the different employment opportunity that were available in the Nunavik region.<\/p>\n

DM<\/strong>: It was challenging to sell the Futures Fairs\u2019 concept to other Nunavik organizations. We didn\u2019t just want it to be a job fair, but an interactive event. We wanted to have presentations and workshops during the fair. The first one was a success, we had 120 people show up! That helped with the buy-in, the students were able to explore and see themselves in many different jobs we show cased.<\/p>\n

LM<\/strong>: Successfully reaching out to every community in Nunavik is an accomplishment we are proud of as a department. Our goal is to provide equal opportunity when it comes to the trainings we offer. When I joined the department, smaller communities were feeling left out. It was important to make them feel valued and to include them in the programs that Adult Education provides.<\/p>\n

DM:<\/strong>\u00a0The HEO customized training has generated a lot of interest and positive feedback from participants as well as Nunavik employers. It has been offered for the past 4 years and has led to great partnership with different organizations. It is now a certified training and formally recognized by the Quebec Ministry of Education.<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: What are more new projects and training the department is working on?<\/em><\/p>\n

LM:<\/strong>\u00a0Continuation of the community outreach is a priority. We have to focus on going deeper into identifying the needs of communities and tailoring the education services we provide to these needs. We are also working on developing our 5-year plan on general education, anchored into the school board\u2019s 2016-2023 strategic plan.<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: Can you share a bit about what the 5-year plan looks like?<\/em><\/p>\n

LM:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, being able to offer training opportunities that are fully linked with the Nunavik job market. To find out what the market needs and to create customized training that are also certified! This is something we will be working on as part of our 5-year plan.<\/p>\n

DM<\/strong>: Another important area is student retention; finding new ways to prepare our students for employment. To generate successes that can be measured into good employment rates for our former students and recent graduates.<\/p>\n

LM:<\/strong>\u00a0These elements are only part of the background work being done. We are continuing to be innovative and accountable to the community of Nunavik as we strive to bring them programs and trainings that matter to them.<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: When you look back so far, what are you most proud of?<\/em><\/p>\n

LM<\/strong>: There are so many moments! I\u2019m proud about The Futures Fairs\u2014it gave us a lot of visibility at the local level, led to great partnerships with other organizations and was truly beneficial to Nunavik as a whole.<\/p>\n

DD<\/strong>: I am proud of the customized trainings we offer. We have tripled the number of projects from 2013-2018. Our visibility continues to grow as our offerings grow!<\/p>\n

DM<\/strong>: One of the reasons I loved teaching was that I got to make a difference in my students\u2019 lives. You play a small role in helping to pave their way. It\u2019s seeing your work being appreciated and to witness that you helped someone. Even in my current role, this is what keeps me going, making a difference in creating opportunities for Nunavimmiut.<\/p>\n

LM<\/strong>: It\u2019s important to recognize the people who work with us. We are lucky to have some of the most passionate individuals working with Adult Education. We have a dedicated team and together we are making it happen!<\/p>\n

DD<\/strong>: We\u2019ve felt the trust and openness from the school board\u2019s senior management and commissioners. We worked hard to get here and we continue to grow. The people who work in our department are ready to roll their sleeves up and we trust each other. We aren\u2019t afraid to try new things and do things differently. Mutual trust and readiness to do the hard work are strengths of the Adult Education team.<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: What does the next 20 years look like for Adult Education?<\/em><\/p>\n

DD<\/strong>: Wow, that\u2019s a hard question!<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: Okay, let\u2019s say 10 years from now!?<\/em><\/p>\n

LM<\/strong>: That we will have positioned ourselves as the main provider for trainings and professional certifications offered in Nunavik. That Nunavik organizations will be coming to us to discuss how Adult Education can provide tailored trainings to suit their needs.<\/p>\n

DD<\/strong>: I would like us to become\u00a0the<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0expert reference for trainings and professional certifications offered to adults in Nunavik, and to be perceived as such by other Nunavik organizations. The Adult Education department could become the main reference point for any organizations planning to run trainings in Nunavik.<\/p>\n

DM<\/strong>: Beyond general education and vocational training, I would like us to increase the numbers of post-secondary trainings we facilitate or offer in Nunavik, such as college certifications and many more.<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: Tell us a fun fact about you three!<\/em><\/p>\n

We are all tall. Our staff refers to us as the \u201ctall team\u201d!<\/p>\n

PR<\/em><\/strong>: Thank you, this was fun. We\u2019re excited to see how you continue to grow and enhance the services offer to adults in Nunavik.<\/em><\/p>\n

Team<\/strong>: Thank you!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/12″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”10\/12″][vc_column_text] The Public Relations team had a chance to sit down with Lisa Mesher (Director of Adult Education and Vocational Training), Denis Daigle (Assistant Director of Adult Education and Vocational Training) and Dave McMullen (Coordinator for Adult Education and Vocational Training) for a candid and fun interview. We learned more about how they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdult Education in Nunavik: Insights from the KI Team - Kativik<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how KI\u2019s Adult Education team is reshaping training in Nunavik through community outreach, customized programs, strong partnerships.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kativik.qc.ca\/en\/an-interview-with-adult-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adult Education in Nunavik: Insights from the KI Team - 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