Agriculture in the Classroom Canada

Canadian Agriculture Education Impact Framework

Stakeholder engagement and consultation

Situation:
What’s your vision for the future of agriculture education in Canada? Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITC-C) wanted to hear the answer to this question from stakeholders in its journey to take agricultural education to the next level. AITC-C sought to understand what matters to stakeholders and to gather input on their efforts in schools across Canada.

Action:
AITC-C tapped Synthesis to help engage their stakeholders from coast to coast. Dynamic stakeholder “impact sessions” were used to achieve this engagement. Jointly hosted by AITC-C and the provincial AITC organizations, sessions were facilitated by Synthesis and held in person in Ontario and Alberta in February 2020. COVID-19 forced us to pivot and develop an alternative meeting format for the remainder of the provinces. Sessions in Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia were hosted virtually. To maximize the use of participant time during the Zoom meeting, stakeholders were invited to a province-specific online facilitation platform where they could answer a series of questions to provide their input in advance.

Results:
Synthesis facilitated three in-person and eight virtual Impact Framework Sessions including more than 300 participants. We compiled and analysed hundreds of comments from stakeholders in these sessions as well as from their input in the provincial online workspaces. The result is the Canadian Agriculture Education Impact Framework, a national AITC plan for action. This new Framework was launched with another stakeholder session hosted by Synthesis in February 2021. This initiative has raised the profile of AITC-C and has set a clear course for the organization in its quest to bring agriculture to every classroom, inspiring every student.

“We loved working with Synthesis on our provincial stakeholder session. Participants loved giving input in advance in Synthesis’s Online Workspace.It made the virtual session more powerful and the facilitation by Rob Hannam was excellent. He kept us on track and made everyone feel their input was valued. Incredibly positive feedback by participants directly mentioning Rob’s skills and the entire process. Well worth it!”
~Sue Clayton, Executive Director, Agriculture in the Classroom – Manitoba