BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - An ongoing research project is exploring why Tlicho students are successfully completing high school at a higher rate than other predominantly-aboriginal jurisdictions.

Susan Hopkins, the program support teacher at Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchoko, works with a group of elementary school students during Family Literacy Day on Jan. 29. Hopkins is completing her doctorate in education, focusing on educational resiliency among Tlicho people. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

Susan Hopkins, a doctoral candidate at the University of Phoenix, has worked in Behchoko for six years and is completing her doctorate on educationally resiliency in the Tlicho region, something she says is a complex topic.

A self-described jack-of-all-trades, Hopkins' research fits alongside her already full plate as the program support teacher at Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchoko.

"I'm just scratching the surface," Hopkins said of the early days delving into the project. "One of the things that's happening to me is that I thought the more I read, the more I would understand, but it's now like the more I read, the more complex it gets."

Her project, Educationally Resilient Tlicho: Shared Perceptions about the Purposes, Possibilities and Paths of Learning, will explore the ability of young adults to overcome personal and cultural challenges in order to graduate and how their experiences can help schools better support students as they work towards graduation.

"The focus is around curriculum and instruction," Hopkins said. "My interest started with high school graduates and finding something that sheds some light on getting increased grad rates."

With an average of 25 graduates each year, Behchoko, the hub of the Tlicho region, has one of the highest graduation rates among predominantly aboriginal communities. One of Hopkins' goals is to determine what factors contribute to the success of Tlicho students and how it can be improved.

"It's about understanding their perspectives and their stories about their time in the education system," she said.

"It's a little glimpse into the young people who have graduated, coming through their stories, around their ideas of what they consider meaningful knowledge and where they are going. It's about understanding the things that have contributed to where they are going."

Hopkins said the Tlicho motto, "Strong Like Two People" - coined by the late-elder Elizabeth Mackenzie, who advocated a lifestyle balanced between the traditional and contemporary - is an important aspect of her research. She said with the Tlicho government moving towards self-government it's important for the education system to prepare students as the region's future leaders.

"We need more Tlicho people trained with degrees," Hopkins said, adding the federal government's increased attention towards educating and training the country's aboriginal population for the future, particularly in trades and mining, is encouraging, but more needs to be done.

"We've got lawyers and we need engineers and nurses. The education that requires going out of the community and that's not happening as much as we want it to," she said, adding there needs to be a focus on enhancing academic skills such as reading and writing.