French as First Language Programming

Main subject areas in the NWT for French Immersion programming

Listed below are the main subject areas in the NWT for French Immersion programming. Curriculum for the main subject areas can be downloaded by visiting individual pages below.

Here is the NWT curriculum overview chart for French Immersion programming.

Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit

Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit Curriculum Information and Documents 

To respect the worldview and language of the land of the Indigenous people, the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment created two curricula: Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit. School staff are expected to bring attention to the Indigenous Worldview in all of their teachings. They should use the document appropriate to their school and community.

These curricula are informed by a number of philosophical perspectives or worldviews that shape understanding of Dene and Inuit core concepts as well as the traditions of lifelong learning. Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit promote meaningful language use. Language is interwoven with culture and heritage through meaningful experiences.

Dene Kede

Dene Kede encompasses the language, culture and the way in which five Dene nations view the world. In K to 6, themes are used to reinforce and teach the four concepts central to Dene perspective: the Spiritual World, the Land, the Self, and the People, while Grades 7 to 9 employ a modular approach. The purpose of this curriculum is to present children with the experiences, knowledge, skills and attitudes that will guide them toward becoming capable citizens.

Inuuqatigiit

Inuuqatigiit is a curriculum that focuses on the enhancement and enrichment of Inuit culture, heritage and language. Students will learn about Inuit history, traditions, knowledge, values and beliefs. Inuuqatigiit is based on the philosophy and value system of the Inuit. Inuuqatigiit means Inuit to Inuit, people to people, or family to family. It also implies a unity between people.

Arts Education - French as First Language Programming

Art Curriculum Information and Documents

Arts Education is an important component of personal, social, and intellectual development. Research studies point to strong relationships between learning in the arts and fundamental cognitive skills and capacities used to master other core subjects, including reading, writing, and mathematics. Arts experiences have also been shown to improve spatial reasoning, verbal skills, motivation, innovation, reading comprehension, writing skills as well as decrease drop-out rates and stereotypical attitudes.

For French First Language Programming, the Northwest Territories utilizes the curriculum from Alberta and Saskatchewan for our Arts Education. Access to these documents can be found by clicking below. 

The full Arts Education curriculum per grade level, including the complete list of outcomes and indicators per grade level:

Career and Life Management (CALM)

Curriculum Information and Documents:

The aim of Career and Life Management (CALM) is to enable students to make well-informed, considered decisions and choices in all aspects of their lives and to develop behaviours and attitudes that contribute to the well-being and respect of self and others, now and in the future.

CALM is a required three-credit course with three General Learning Outcomes – Personal Choices, Resource Choices and Career and Life Choices. Career and Life Choices includes Specific Outcomes related to transition from secondary school, portfolio development and the opportunity to “update and expand personal profile related to potential career choices” – in other words to revisit the Career and Program Plan.

Career and Technology Studies

Curriculum Information and Documents 

Career and Technology Studies (CTS) is a program designed to provide students with a variety of career-related course choices. Alberta Education states that the CTS program offers opportunities for students to develop skills that can be applied in their daily lives, now and in the future, refine career-planning skills, develop technology-related skills, enhance employability skills, apply and reinforce learnings developed in other subject areas and prepare for transition into adult roles in the family, community, workplace and/or further education.

Features of the revised CTS program include organizing courses by levels and not grades (introductory, intermediate and advanced), creating multiple entry points (so not all intermediate and advanced level courses have prerequisites), and a competency-based curriculum.

The CTS program is now organized around five clusters and more than 1,000 one-credit courses in 28 occupational areas. A cluster is a group of CTS courses that represent occupations with broad industry commonalities. Clusters in CTS are aligned with the National Occupational Classification (NOC) and function as an organizing tool for the CTS program. The Northwest Territories utilizes the curriculum generated by the Government of Alberta. To access these documents, please click the link below. 

English Language Arts

Five general outcomes serve as the foundation for the NWT English Language Arts K-9 curriculum and the Alberta English Language Arts 10-12 curriculum. The general outcomes are broad statements identifying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students are expected to demonstrate with increasing competence and confidence from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The curricular outcomes are interrelated and interdependent and are achieved through a variety of listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and representing experiences.

*These curricula are only available in English.

To access the curriculum documents please click the links below. 

To access supporting curriculum documents please click the links below. 

Français

Curriculum Information and Documents 

Français: This curriculum is designed for students enrolled in a Francophone school. 

*These curricula are only available in French.

These additional documents are intended to support specific grade levels.

Health Studies - French

Health Studies curriculum for French Immersion Programming and French as First Language Programming:

Junior Kindergarten/Kindergarten

Curriculum Information and Documents 

Supporting Children's Healthy Development

Transition into the formal school system happens for most children in Kindergarten. Since September 2017/18, all NWT families have had the option to enroll their 4 and 5 year old children for two years of Kindergarten (JK and K). In March 2012, a population-based measure called the Early Development Instrument (EDI) was used across the NWT for the first time to build an understanding of Kindergarten children’s development. The EDI is completed yearly by Kindergarten teachers and measures developmental changes and trends for groups of children in the following areas: physical health and well-being, emotional maturity, social competence, language and cognitive development, and communication and general knowledge. The EDI does not diagnosis individual children. The information from the EDI guides decision-making for programs, services, and policy-making and provides schools information to guide planning for children in the primary grades. 

JK/K Curriculum

The Government of the Northwest Territories has made a commitment to continue to invest in quality early childhood development. The mandate of the 19th Legislative Assembly identifies a need for action to support quality early childhood development through free and optional, play-based care for 4-year-old children in the NWT. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment was proud to announce the new Junior Kindergarten (JK) program, which is outlined in the NWT Right from the Start: Early Childhood Development Framework and Action Plan.   

The NWT JK/K Curriculum is mandated for use for Junior Kindergarten/Kindergarten (JK/K). JK/K begins with what children already know and recognizes their past experiences, culture and language.  Children thrive in environments that validate their individual identities. 

A curriculum is more than a document and learning outcomes. It begins with what teachers intentionally plan for their students and extends into all experiences planned or not. The NWT Integrated Kindergarten Curriculum is child-centred and play-based. This allows children to be actively involved in the learning process and helps them construct a deeper understanding of the world around them.  

This curricula is specific to English programming:

This curricula is specific to French Immersion and French as First Language programming:

Literacy with Information and Communications Technology (LWICT)

LWICT Curriculum Information and Documents

The GNWT is committed to providing guidelines for infusing technology across the NWT curriculum. This includes cooperation with education bodies to support teachers and students in the use of the continuum called, "Literacy with Information and Communication Technology" (LWICT).

Today, technology is a part of almost every aspect of life and learning. Technology enables work and communication for business and pleasure often with a strong emphasis on hardware, software, portable devices and apps. However, it is not enough for students to be merely "ICT literate." Twenty-first century citizens need a broader literacy that guides the use of these tools and applications. This "literacy with ICT" includes "learning about and choosing ICT to critically, creatively, and ethically use, produce, and communicate meaning."

ICT is best infused into inquiry processes across the K to 12 curriculum such as:

  • planning and questioning;
  • gathering and making sense;
  • producing to show understanding; and
  • communicating and reflecting.

These critical and creative acts will be strongly influenced by affective considerations of ethical and responsible use, implications for society, collaboration, and personal metacognition, motivation, and confidence.

While this K-12 perspective of ICT-supported inquiry de-emphasizes the teaching of ICT merely as a set of skills, it does not in any way minimize the need for more technically oriented Career and Technology Studies (CTS) at the high school level. Neither does this perspective minimize the need for "good technique" and facility that yields greater clarity and artistry.

Through education and practice, students will learn:

  • how to critically, creatively, and ethically use a variety of information and communication technologies to problem solve, make decisions, inquire, collaborate, demonstrate, and communicate;
  • how technology applications and systems often have similar designs and functions that can be learned and the knowledge transferred to new devices and contexts;
  • how ICT can positively impact relationships; and
  • how to determine which processes, tools and techniques are appropriate for various contexts.

Curriculum Documents:

Mathematics - French Programming and French Immersion Programming

Curriculum Information and Documents 

In the NWT, students follow the same program of studies that can be found on the Alberta website. This program of studies is derived from The Common Curriculum Framework, which was developed by the seven ministries of education (Alberta, BC, Manitoba, NWT, Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Yukon) in collaboration with teachers, administrators, parents, business representatives, post-secondary educators and others. The framework identifies beliefs about mathematics, general and specific student outcomes, and achievement indicators agreed upon by the seven jurisdictions.

Mathematics for Grade 1 to 9 Francophone/French Immersion programming

Mathematics for Grade 10 to 12 Francophone/French Immersion programming

Northern Studies

Curriculum Information and Documents

Northern Studies 10 is a 5 credit course mandatory for graduation. The course is meant to teach about the land, languages, history and cultures of the Northwest Territories. 

For English programming:

For French Immersion and French as First Language programming:

Northern Studies 30

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is piloting Northern Studies 30 (NS30), a 5-credit Northwest Territories (NWT) high school course that focuses on land, governance, wellness and reconciliation. NS30 is a made-in-the-NWT curriculum that is based on engagement with Indigenous Governments and other education partners, such as education body superintendents, the GNWT Indigenous Languages and Education Secretariat, curriculum consultants and various working groups.

The NS30 course focuses on four key areas:

  • The Land: The identities, worldviews, and languages of the people in the Northwest Territories are renewed, sustained, and transformed through their connection to the Land.
  • Governance: Indigenous peoples continue to advocate for and assert rights to self-determination. Understanding how political decisions are made is critical to being an informed and engaged citizen, and is influenced by the distribution of political and social power.
  • Wellness: Indigenous peoples are reclaiming mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being despite the continuing effects of colonialism in the NWT and beyond. Mental and physical wellness ties directly to the quality of the relationships between people, the land, and the spiritual world.
  • Reconciliation: Reconciliation requires all northern people to work together to foster healing, address injustice, and celebrate diversity and living well together through the 21st century.

NS30 is the first NWT-created course to use British Columbia’s curriculum framework, as the territory begins to implement the BC curriculum in all Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 (JK-12) classrooms over the next several years. The format centres around respectful relationships with Elders, knowledge keepers and local communities.

Treaty Simulation

As an optional resource for Northern Studies, the GNWT is also working in partnership with The Gordon Foundation to launch three pilot treaty simulations in NWT classrooms this semester.
Teachers from all regions had the opportunity to train in treaty simulations last September. The simulation is specific to an issue in the NWT (i.e., caribou management, protected areas, self-government).

Students will learn about the different roles governments and participants play in treaty negotiations, protocols for working with Elders and advisors. Students will then take on roles and work on teams to write and present a proposal, and come to a consensus, based on their understanding of the issues.

The outcome of the Treaty Simulation aims to see students: learn the history of modern treaties and their negotiation and implementation; build skills in leadership, public speaking, conducting research, problem solving, communicating, and presenting ideas; and appreciate how Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives shape politics and culture, and respect those different values and worldviews.

The basis of both NS30 and the Treaty Simulation rely on invaluable local context, connections and expertise from NWT communities and their knowledge keepers.

Northern Studies 30 Curriculum and Materials

Our Languages

Curriculum (OLC) and Program of Study

Our Languages Curriculum

PDF • 35.04MB • Issued August 31, 2020

Download
Physical Education

Curriculum Information and Documents

The Physical Education Guide to Implementation, Kindergarten to Grade 12 (JK-12) is intended to assist teachers with implementing prescribed outcomes in the Program of Studies for Physical Education, JK-12, so that students have opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to lead an active, healthy lifestyle. 

The Guide provides support for year-long planning, unit and lesson planning and assessment strategies.

Please find below access to curriculum and materials that closely align with this guide to implement and offer additional support.

For English Programming:

For French Immersion and French as First Language Programming:

Science - French Immersion and French as First Language Programming

Science Curriculum Information and Documents

Students graduating from NWT schools require the scientific and technological knowledge and skills that will enable them to be productive members of society. Learning about science provides a framework for students to understand and interpret the world around them. 

The Department of Infrastructure has created ready-to-use lessons for teachers that highlight topics surrounding energy in the NWT. Each lesson aligns with curricular outcomes from Experiential Science 10, 20, and 30. The lessons and materials are listed below.

*These are only available in English.

Social Studies - French

Curriculum Information and Documents 

Social Studies in the NWT explores the people, places and stories of the world we live in - both past and present. Taking guidance from Dene Kede and Inuuqatigiit, and drawing from such disciplines as History and Geography, Social Studies and Northern Studies strive to build upon and contribute to students' sense of identity and connectedness to narratives that are local, territorial, national and global.

In the NWT, Kindergarten-Grade 9 Social Studies curriculum documents and teaching resources have been developed from curriculum frameworks produced through the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol. Grades 10-12 Social Studies curriculum is used following the Government of Alberta documents. 

Social Studies Curriculum for French as First Language and French Immersion programming:

Social Studies Resources:

Updated: Jun 08, 2026