In Conversation With...
ATESL LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP AWARD RECIPIENT 2008
Carolyn Dieleman
Manager, Language Training
Alberta Employment and Immigration
By Tracey Derwing,
Professor, Educational Psychology/Co-Director, Prairie Metropolis Centre
University of Alberta
As nearly everyone in the Alberta ESL community knows, Carolyn Dieleman has had a huge impact on the delivery of programs in this province. In fact, there is probably no one in Alberta who knows as much about all the offerings as Carolyn – she makes it a point to visit ESL providers regularly. We all know that she devotes a tremendous part of her life to her work – hers is not a 9:00 – 5:00 job. Where did she come from, what influenced her, what are her primary accomplishments within ESL and what are her goals for the future? These are questions I asked Carolyn over a quick lunch before we headed off to a meeting.
Carolyn is the daughter of Dutch immigrants who moved to southern Ontario to farm. After completing high school, Carolyn went to university in Michigan, and then, in 1974, she served as an intern in the US government in Washington DC. This was the time of Watergate – for months Washington was abuzz with rumours of Nixon’s resignation – which didn’t come until August. Carolyn eventually moved back home, where she worked temporarily at a brand new Ramada Inn. She learned some valuable lessons there about customer service – and also about human behaviour. After her brief stint in the hospitality business, Carolyn was drawn once more to government – from 1976-1981 she worked for MP Bruce Halliday, the chair of the House of Commons standing committee on human rights, who always assumed that his constituents wanted to learn. In a time before computers, his office sent out 30 – 100 pieces of mail a day. Although she thoroughly enjoyed her time with the federal government, Carolyn wanted to come west – having experienced living in two nations’ capitals, she felt that government towns have a false sense of reality. So, in 1981, she moved to Alberta, and was hired by Advanced Education and Manpower in the area of Career Development, where one of her key responsibilities was to be the Executive Secretary for a committee of 32 government departments and agencies – all delivering different services to Aboriginal peoples. While several other provinces were creating policies, this committee was creating initiatives. Partnerships and commitments developed that were lasting and strong. This period was a time when Carolyn saw the power of bringing stakeholders together to get the big picture.
Around this time, Carolyn also started to work in the area of adult literacy. She undertook a review of the old Alberta Vocational Training Program that had been in place since the end of World War Two. Her report brought her in touch with national initiatives, workplace literacy movements and essential skills development. She then started working with business, labour, and government to develop workplace literacy in Alberta – Syncrude in 1988 was one of the first projects in this area. While she was working in Adult Literacy, John Fisher, who was responsible for adult ESL in Advanced Education, decided that Carolyn would be the ideal person to become the manager of language training. One of the first events she faced when she took the job was ATESL’s rally at the Legislature, to demand that threatened ESL cuts in both the adult and K-12 systems be stopped. An exciting and challenging time for her, indeed! Carolyn started going to meetings and conferences to get a sense of what was going on at the ground level. She attended an Edmonton Continuing Adult Learning Council ESL subcommittee meeting at which Jim Critchley presented a comparison of the terminology different schools used to represent English proficiency levels. It was clear that there was no consensus across programs, and Carolyn wondered how on earth a learner could figure out where he/she was if the field used terms interchangeably for very different meanings. This meeting sowed the seeds for her later involvement in the Benchmarks.
Although the Canadian Language Benchmarks were initially a federal initiative, Carolyn has worked hard to see that they were implemented. The Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks, and the numerous projects that have been funded by the Government of Alberta and/ or a shared arrangement with Alberta and other jurisdictions speak to the influence Carolyn has had in this domain.
On another front, Carolyn contracted ATESL to carry out the Best Practices study, which resulted in both a document outlining Best Practices for ESL Programs, and a checklist for a self-assessment. This was an extremely inclusive project, which set the stage for improved delivery of programs across the province.
Another key element in improving offerings and in making information available to all interested providers in Calgary and Edmonton was the introduction of Advisory Committees for ILVARC and LARCC. These committees bring together committed individuals who work collectively with provincial and federal funders – and Carolyn is at nearly every meeting, with a stack of handouts and information for everyone.
Carolyn also introduced the public reporting of funded projects – summary reports now appear on ATESL’s website. This allows other programs to see the outcomes of innovative projects, and informs them of what has been tried, what has worked and what hasn’t. The Language Training Programs (LTP) have been the mainstay of Carolyn’s division for some time, but with the advent of Enhanced Language Training (ELT) nearly five years ago, the province pushed even further into the forefront in the Canadian ESL scene. From the day the federal government announced that it would support ELT programs with partners, Alberta offered to be that partner in this province. This commitment on the part of the province is in no small way due to Carolyn’s commitment – not only the commitment that we see from her in the field, but the commitment she brings back to her department in fighting for resources for ESL learners. Her long experience working with employers and ESL programs was a perfect match for English in the Workplace programs, and for ELT.
Currently, Carolyn’s passion is support for rural delivery of ESL. Until recently, there were few adult immigrants in smaller centres, but with the increase in immigration to places such as Fort McMurray and Brooks, there is now a need. Carolyn is also still interested in seeing more progress in the area of ESL literacy. These are both domains where we can expect to feel her nudge (not always subtle) in the next few years. We now have a relatively coherent system of ESL support in Alberta, due in no small part to Carolyn’s efforts, but she feels we need more access points for immigrants who want to develop their English to a greater extent – particularly those who don’t typically take classes. Technology may be a factor in encouraging this. Carolyn suggests that our ESL system needs to be more responsive – we have a healthy infrastructure, and we have committed individuals, and we in Alberta should continue to lead the way. As she says, “Immigrants don’t come in the same box – training can’t stay the same either.”
When I asked Carolyn what the greatest rewards are in her job, she said without hesitating that it is seeing ESL students graduate. Nothing else gives her the same level of energy (and her levels are prodigious) as much as hearing the students’ pride in their own accomplishments. Those moments make her realize all over again that “Language is the key.”