Records date from 1973-1993 and consisting of published reports, curriculum resources, teaching guides, newsletters, magazines, pamphlets, published anthologies, manuals, education kits, storybooks, workbooks and handbooks created by the department. The material covers a wide range of topics including teaching aides for elementary school children (workbooks, storybooks, teaching guides, kits, etc.), a large collection of Pik magazines, brochures and kits on child abuse, sexual assault and alcohol and drug awareness, apprenticeship brochures, nutrition guides and a children's cookbook, curriculum guides on science, civics, social studies and health, a needs assessment report on alternative programs for special needs, a review of Akaitcho Hall and many aboriginal language storybook readers.
Accession consists of books published by the Department of Education called "Tendi's Canoe" and "Tendi Goes Beaver Snaring." There is also a book of Inuit Legends featuring drawings by Inuk artist Germaine Arnaktauyok. Additionally, there are curricula materials such as "Flora and Fauna of the North" which includes illustrated pictures of animals found in the north accompanied by excerpt /short stories. "A Start in Something New: Welcome to Kindergarten" is curriculum for kindergarten. The accession also includes a booklet of the Dene calendar written in both English and Slavey with illustrations by Dene artist, Don Antoine. There is also a book, "Olympiada" by Saul Landa which features the 1971 Olympiada event among students in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. Additionally, there is a summary of the Social and Housing Education Program in the Mackenzie District in 1969. The accession also consists of territorial government and election procedures of 1974 in the Government and Elections - An Educational Programme.
Records were created and accumulated by the School Programs Development division, and its predecessors: Program Services division, Programs and Evaluations Branch, Education Programs and Evaluation division and Linguistic Programs division of the Department of Education.
The files were part of the Central Registry and include records from the Directorate and School Programs series. Records include correspondence, reports, and meeting minutes regarding departmental organization and staffing, curriculum development, teacher training, conferences, local education advisory boards, Continuing and Special Education programs, school policy, schools and residences and Superintendent of Education files for the regions, as well as general chrono correspondence files from the Directorate.
Records include a 1972 Survey of Education in the Northwest Territories; a 1973 handbook for curriculum development entitled "Learning in the Middle Years" produced by the Programme Development Division; a handbook for curriculum development entitled "Elementary Education in the Northwest Territories" produced by the Curriculum Division; and a resource book on consumer education and money management classes entitled "The Northern Dollar: Handbook for Basic Money Management" produced by the Education Programs and Evaluation Division.
Records consist of curriculum material and are divided into two series: 1) material generated by the Programme Development Division and later the Linguistic Programmes Division of the Department of Education and 2) material generated by other sources. Series 1 consists primarily of workbooks, dictionaries and readers in Dene and Inuit languages. Some of the workbooks and readers are the result of work undertaken in 1974 to establish a common alphabet for the Dene languages. The material has been arranged chronologically to show the relationships between workbooks and readers whenever possible. Series 2 consists of a small portion of material gathered by the Department of Education from other sources including the Council for Yukon Indians and the Summer Institute of Linguistics Inc. in Calgary.