Dr. Helen MacDonald Collaboration and Facilitation Scholarship
In all our work as Home and School members we try to keep in mind that our first and fundamental objective is to promote the welfare of children and youth in the home, school and community. – Dr. Helen MacDonald, The Guardian, 1954
Dr. Helen MacDonald, the founding president of the PEI Home and School Federation, was deeply committed to the central role that collaboration between home and school plays in public education.
From her involvement in School Improvement League in the 1940s, to her role in helping found the provincial Federation in the 1950s, to her tireless work, over many years, to “obtain the best for each child in Prince Edward Island,” collaboration and facilitation were ever at the heart of Dr. MacDonald’s work.
She understood the transformative power of a well-facilitated discussion, and placed the notion of parents, guardians, teachers, administrators and staff sitting around a table and talking about issues of common concern at the heart of home and school. Where it remains today.
The Dr. Helen MacDonald Collaboration and Facilitation Scholarship is an initiative of the PEI Home and School Federation to nurture a new generation of educational leaders, with an eye to seeing their talents used to help home and school, locally and provincially, become even better at those collaborative discussions.
The scholarship covers the full tuition costs for candidates to obtain a Collaborative Leadership and Facilitation Certificate from the University of Prince Edward Island. For eight days, over a five month period in the fall of 2016, participants in this program, facilitated by Gerry Hopkirk and Paula Gallant, will:
- Apply collaborative leadership concepts in real and simulated situations;
- Practice a wide variety of facilitation skills and techniques;
- Analyze successful and unsuccessful change/transformation efforts;
- Determine the relationship between leadership and transformation in organizations;
- Understand and apply the components of effective group process in a variety of settings;
- Develop an understanding of organization/group culture and how it can change;
- Understand and work with diversity in all its forms;
- Examine and refine a personal, evolving, ethical and reflective philosophy of collaborative leadership and facilitation.
Applicant Requirements
- Applicants for the scholarship must be a member of a local home and school association in Prince Edward Island.
- Applicants must be able to attend all eight days of coursework, over the five month period: September 27 and 28, October 25, November 17 and 18, December 8, January 24 and 25.
- The successful applicant must commit to offering 20 hours of leadership and facilitation services to the PEI Home and School Federation and local home & school associations over the 2016-2017 school year.
Application Process
There are no formal educational or background requirements for candidates: all persons meeting the requirements above are eligible to apply.
To apply for the Dr. Helen MacDonald Collaboration and Facilitation Scholarship, prepare a one-page personal statement about why you would like to take part in this program and why it would help you in your future work as a part of home and school.
Where to Send Your Application
Applications may be forwarded by mail to:
PEI Home and School Federation
P.O. Box 1012
Charlottetown. PE
C1A 7M4
Or by email to peihsf@edu.pe.ca.
The application deadline is September 14, 2016 at 4:00 p.m., and applications received after that deadline will not be considered.
Selection Process
A subcommittee of the provincial board of the PEI Home and School Federation will review all applications, and make a recommendation to the board of directors. The successful applicant will be notified by Monday, September 19, 2016.