It's not that long ago the school calendar in this province was adjusted every year to allow rural students time off to help their families with the harvest.
With the number of farm families declining rapidly, today's educators face a much different task -- how to teach students about the importance of agriculture to the province's economy and way of life. On that score, they have some help from the Prince Edward Island Agriculture Human Resources Council. The Council, which includes representatives of a number of industry groups, was formed in the 1990s with a mandate to provide training for those already in the agricultural industry and to promote agriculture as a career to secondary school students. Those functions are still both a vital part of the council's mandate.
With funding help from the Prince Edward Island ADAPT Council, the PEI Agriculture Human Resources Council has branched out much further into the educational mainstream. It is developing a growing list of aids to help both urban and rural students of all ages comprehend the role of agriculture in the Island economy. "We have material aimed at kindergarten through to Grade 12," said Wendy Weatherbie, the executive director of the Council. For students, there are suggestions of agricultural related projects that could be done for a school or regional science fair. In fact, the Council awards prizes for the best projects at all grade levels, and it is not uncommon to see ideas taken directly from the book. "It is kind of neat to see the projects because you know the resource is being used," Weatherbie said.
Weatherbie said the council has gotten "great co-operation" from teachers throughout the province. In fact, several dozen usually attend a summer workshop (this year's version was at Orwell Corner) to learn more about agriculture. "All our material is designed to be integrated into the curriculum -- it is not something extra teachers have to do," she explained. One of its current projects is developing an agricultural unit for grade three in conjunction with the Department of Education. She explained that over the course of the unit all the subjects dealt with in the classroom will have an agricultural theme. "Over the last several years, we have been doing a great deal of work in the lower grades, especially kindergarten," Weatherbie said. The council has an education co-ordinator, Rose Mary Garrett, and she gets quite a number of requests to speak at kindergartens and elementary schools throughout the Island. She takes along some special barnyard friends like rabbits or chickens and they are always a hit. "Children really love animals and it helps get the message across," Weatherbie said.
At the high school level, the council offers agri-science and agri-environmental resources that fit into the science subjects -- the topics cover everything from biotechnology to satellite tracking. As well, the council was instrumental in helping to establish the pilot agriculture certificate courses at Kinkora and Kensington High Schools.
This article is one of a series prepared for the Prince Edward Island Agriculture Awareness Committee, which administers funding from the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada CARD Program, to highlight innovations in the agriculture industry.
For more information, contact Phil Ferraro, ADAPT Council, 902 368 2005.