Brandon University - Faculty of Education - Brandon University Hutterian Education Program (BUHEP) - About the Brandon University Hutterian Education Program (BUHEP)

Faculty of Education

About the Brandon University Hutterian Education Program (BUHEP)

Brandon University Hutterian Education Program (BUHEP) is a community-based Hutterian teacher education program of the Faculty of Education at Brandon University. The program, unique in its application, attracts students from surrounding communities and from the United States.

Students combine internship in their community schools with academic studies from September to April, and take courses at Brandon University from May to July. The program in either the early (K-4) or middle (5-8) years areas.

Student teaching, separate from internship, is part of the required education courses that students take during the public school year. The extensive internship is one of the most significant aspects of the program. Graduating teachers will have spent 50 months in the schools. Combining academic and methods courses with such sustained practical experience in the schools provides the student with a strong connection between theory and practice.

While studying off campus, the students have access to libraries and electronic resources both in Brandon and Winnipeg. While on campus, they also have access to computer facilities. The students are provided the opportunity to have professional interaction with other Hutterian students from Manitoba and the United States. Regular faculty at Brandon University instruct most courses and supervise student teaching.

About the Hutterian Community

The Hutterites are a religious group that originated in Moravia in central Europe about 1530. Because of religious persecution, the group migrated from country to country in central and Eastern Europe. In 1874 they migrated to the United States. In 1919 many of them migrated to Canada. At the present time, there are Hutterian colonies located in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Montana and Washington in the United States and in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia in Canada. They live in colonies of approximately 80 people. The colonies are primarily agricultural although some of them have diversified into the manufacture of agricultural equipment.

Traditionally Hutterian children have been taught in a school located on the colony by a non-Hutterian teacher. All Hutterite colonies have a Hutterian German School Teacher, elected by his peers. He typically teaches German and religion before and after the instruction in English. Typically he plays a very important role in the Hutterian system, for he looks over the shoulder of the "English" teacher, is the children's main disciplinarian (after the parents), instructs them in religion, and supervises children during meal times and often after school and during holidays. Until recently, Hutterian children were expected to leave school as soon as they reached the legal school-leaving age and work on the colony. Some of the groups of Hutterites have decided to encourage their children to pursue high-school and even post-secondary education to develop the skills needed to function effectively in a complex society. Brandon University has worked with Hutterian colonies to develop a teacher education program that prepares Hutterian students to become fully-qualified teachers.

For more information about Hutterites, their history, religion and way of life, explore these off-campus links.

The Hutterian Brethren, by Mark Waldner, Decker Colony
Hutterite Genealogy HomePage
Riverview Hutterite Colony School

Undergraduate Advising provided by PENT personnel..

Last updated Aug 16, 2009.