B.C. Settlement Workers in Schools (Stream 1)

The B.C. Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) initiative is a partnership between the Immigration and WelcomeBC Branch of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, and the Ministry of Education, to provide a school-based outreach program for immigrant and refugee students and their families.

Settlement workers are placed in secondary and elementary schools across the province, and are either employed by a school district contracted to provide these services, or are subcontracted to an immigrant settlement organization.

Program objectives and activities

The objectives of the SWIS program include:

• helping children adjust to school culture and focus on learning while providing their parents with information and resources on settlement and immigration issues;
• increase parents' understanding of Canadian culture and school systems;
• increase parent involvement in the school and the community;
• assess needs of immigrant families and the barriers to successful integration; and
• increase access to programs and services and work to improve the effectiveness of those programs.

SWIS core program activities include:

• outreach to newly arrived families, including “hard to reach” families;
• settlement counselling for students, parents, or families including needs assessment and action plans;
• workshops and group activities related to settlement issues;
• client/school liaison, promoting cross-cultural understanding and facilitating communication; and
• service bridging and support, including liaison with other service providers and community agencies.

For more information on the SWIS program, please consult:

• BCSAP Stream 1 SWIS Information Sheet (PDF - 98KB)
• Outcome Evaluation of the British Columbia Settlement and Adaptation Program (BCSAP) (PDF - 787KB)

The History of SWIS

In anticipation of new settlement funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Immigration and WelcomeBC Branch held a series of consultations on programming priorities between late 2005 and early 2007. Participants, including Ministry of Education staff and school district representatives, noted a need to develop specialized programming for school-age immigrants and their families.

An extensive needs assessment and evaluation, in combination with consultative forums with program stakeholders, informed the administration and direction of the SWIS program. Based on the process findings, school districts were offered the first opportunity to contract directly with the ministry to provide SWIS services.

The Ministry of Education identified and recommended offers to be made to eligible school districts based on the number of ESL students in each district. Each school district was required to submit a business plan outlining their service delivery approach to the Immigration and WelcomeBC Branch. School districts were given the option of hiring new staff directly or of sub-contracting service delivery to immigrant settlement agencies in their community. The majority of school districts opted to hire SWIS workers directly.

The B.C. SWIS program was launched at the beginning of the 2007-08 school year in ten school districts with the highest concentration of immigrant students. These school districts included Vancouver, Burnaby, Greater Victoria, New Westminster, Richmond, North Vancouver, Conseil scolaire francophone, Abbotsford, Delta and Surrey. In the 2008-09 school year, the SWIS program expanded into ten more school districts including Central Okanagan, Chilliwack, Coquitlam, Langley, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, Mission, Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Prince George, Peace River North and West Vancouver.


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