syllabics: a successful educational innovation

MEd Thesis, University of Manito ba, Faculty of Education, Education Administration and Foundations, John Stewart Murdoch, 1981The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and evolution of a successful innovation by an early Euro-Canadian missionary-educator, whereby a non-literate people, the Crees, became functionally literate in a remarkably short time. Data from published, unpublished and manuscript sources, together with personal communications were examined critically. Using the most reliable of details, a portrait of the innovator, a model of the innovation and the subsequent pattern of development was constructed. With such a clearer understanding, and utilizing contemporary theory on innovation and cultural change, a model for future innovators and innovations in Cree education was devised. The results of this study should be of use to educators responsible for education in Cree communities, indeed most Algonquian and other Aboriginal communities, now faced with control of their education systems. It also offers an historical perspective on what has become a major contemporary issue ---choosing a writing system for the community's Aboriginal language.