The Assignment

To apply for the scholarship, you will need to upload a copy of your CV/Resume, and complete a written assignment. The written assignment has two parts. 

The first is a personal statement of 200 words or less, where you should tell us about yourself and your interests in politics, public policy, law, community leadership, and why you are interested in the scholarship. You should also outline why you would benefit from receiving the scholarship, and what studies you hope to pursue. This section is to be completed as plain text (unformatted), and will be submitted in the application form itself. 

The second part of the written assignment consists of a written briefing note which responds to the scenario outlined below. Detailed writing and formatting instructions can be found below. 

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us at info@morrisonscholarship.ca - your application will not be prejudiced if you ask clarifying questions in advance. 

Briefing Note Background and Assignment

Background

The global political landscape is shifting at speed and scale not seen in several generations, and politicians, policy makers and the public alike are struggling to keep up. Western democratic values and the global "rules based" international order appear to be under siege through a combination of disinformation, eroding faith in public institutions and the rise of more authoritarian style leadership, among others. In particular, with the rise and proliferation of social media and now artificial intelligence, the truth and facts are no longer constant and immutable, but rather yet another subject to debate. 

As young people come through Newfoundland and Labrador's education system and prepare themselves for life in post-secondary and beyond, it is now more important than ever to equip them with the skills, knowledge and tools they need to be able to understand the world around them. Students need to be encouraged to understand, participate in, and ultimately defend our democratic society if we are to continue our way of life.

Unfortunately, our provincial civic education curriculum has not kept pace with the rapidly changing world, and too many students leave High School without the knowledge and skills necessary to fully understand and participate in society. For instance, for too many, the difference between municipal, provincial and federal government is misunderstood, and the ways they can affect change are complicated, obscure or unclear. In general, this results in higher frustration, and leaves people more susceptible to disinformation and disenfranchisement. We need to act to improve our civic education curriculum to better empower our students for their future. 

The Scenario

• You are an advisor to Newfoundland and Labrador's Minister of Education. You have been asked by the Minister to help create a new civic education curriculum for students across the province, ranging from elementary school right through to Grade 12. 

• You will need to use your knowledge and experience in the education system to identify the existing gaps and failures within the current social studies and civic education curriculum, and to come up with recommendations for improvement. 

The Assignment

• You have been asked to provide a briefing note to the minister of no more than two single-spaced pages.

• Your briefing note should provide an overview of the current civic education curriculum, and your analysis of where it falls short or fails to adequately prepare students for the world after they graduate. 

• Your briefing note should then provide a series of proposed solutions to the gaps you identify, and an analysis of their pros and cons to be considered before they are adopted (for instance if you proposed a dedicated civics teacher in each high school, that would likely improve outcomes but also require the hiring of new teachers at increased cost to the education system).

• Finally, your briefing note should provide a recommendation to the Minister on which solutions to adopt, as well as the reaction you anticipate your recommended solutions will receive from relevant stakeholder groups such as the teacher's union, parents, opposition parties etc. If you expect one or more of these groups to be critical of your proposal, you should also include suggested responses for the Minister to give in defence of your proposal (rebuttal talking points).

• Your analysis should be grounded in the real-world, and draw on your own experiences, as well as the real political, economic and social environment. For instance, suggesting that we replace math and science courses with civic education alone is not a realistic proposal, just as sending every student to study civic education at Oxford would not be financially viable.

Notes

• You should use your own knowledge and common sense in this assignment. 

• You are not required to do any external research (such as precise costs or expenses), however if you choose to refer to any outside articles, reports or data, they should be properly cited in footnotes or endnotes. 

• You should not be afraid to provide your opinion based on what you believe. At the end of the day the Minister will decide, but they are relying on you for your advice. 

• You do not need to be an expert, and there are no right or wrong answers. You will be evaluated on your creativity and the clarity of your written communication. 

• You should also give clear and well reasoned recommendations, not leave the Minister with something like "you could do plan A, but plan B is also good."

Formatting

• A briefing note, maximum two single spaced pages. The Minister’s time is limited and hedoesn’t have the time to review a 10 page novella. 

• Neatly formatted, well organized and easy to follow. There is no template, but it should look professional.

• Normal fonts only, Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial etc., and normal sized 11 or 12. 

• Assignments must be submitted in Word or PDF format only.