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by Daniel McCabe, BA鈥�89 |

Jayne Malenfant听is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education and she has earned two of Canada鈥檚 most prestigious awards for graduate students 鈥� a Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship and a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. That all might come as a surprise to some of the people who knew her in high school 鈥� especially if they remember that Malenfant was expelled from the school.

The expulsion wasn鈥檛 the result of a juicy scandal. Malenfant wasn鈥檛 a troublemaker. But she did miss an awful lot of classes. At some point, school authorities decided she had missed too many and she was shown the door.

Malenfant was a teenager and living on her own. The reason she was away from school so often was because she had to work to support herself. She was luckier than some of the people she knew back then. Unlike them, she wasn鈥檛 living on the street or in shelters. She always had a roof over her head, but her living conditions were far from ideal.

鈥淚 was sort of living precariously and sleeping on couches and living in squats,鈥� she says. There were moments when she wasn鈥檛 certain where she would be staying the next week 鈥� or even the next night. 鈥淭he term hidden homeless is used a lot鈥� to describe people in such situations, says Malenfant.

She says the school system didn鈥檛 know how to deal with a student in her circumstances. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost as if the mechanisms that a school operates with kind of exclude kids that are living outside the norm,鈥� she says.

Malenfant wasn鈥檛 in obvious enough peril to be on anyone鈥檚 radar 鈥� as she recently explained it on CBC Radio鈥檚听Sunday Edition, she wasn鈥檛 鈥渉omeless enough, or mentally ill enough, or sick enough鈥� to attract attention 鈥� so she didn鈥檛 get the type of support that might have made it possible for her to stay in school.

鈥淚 talk to young people [in similar situations today] and it doesn鈥檛 seem as if that much has changed in the 13 years since I was in their shoes,鈥� Malenfant says. She hopes the research she is pursuing with the Trudeau and Vanier funding will have an impact in that regard.

鈥淢y research is totally informed by my own experience,鈥� says Malenfant. 鈥淭he bottom line for me, and I鈥檝e been framing it in terms of human rights, is that everyone should have access to education.鈥�

Life is already daunting for young people who don鈥檛 have secure housing. If they aren鈥檛 able to at least complete high school, it becomes even more challenging. 鈥淭oday, it鈥檚 a lot harder for a young person to get an entry level job if they don鈥檛 have a bunch of school, let alone high school. I think it鈥檚 even more urgent today than it was for me,鈥� says Malenfant.

Malenfant is examining the roadblocks that make it more difficult for young people in precarious housing situations to succeed in school. Starting in September, she鈥檒l be spending much of her time with Dans la rue, the organization renowned for its work with homeless and at-risk youth in Montreal.

鈥淢y research builds off of some preliminary studies with youth in Canada who have experienced homelessness,鈥� says Malenfant. 鈥淭hey often see school as the place where, if they [had received the necessary] support, it could have prevented them from becoming homeless.鈥� But school authorities don鈥檛 always recognize the signals that might indicate that a young person is living without stable housing. And behaviour that is related to the precariousness of such a situation 鈥� skipping classes to work, for instance 鈥� 鈥渃an be written off as [them] just being bad students.鈥�

Malenfant looks forward to working with the young people served by Dans la rue. 鈥淚 really want to find out when and how they were hitting walls or barriers [in school], when they felt they weren't being supported, or what parts of formal learning were or weren't working for them,鈥� she says.

She鈥檒l be asking questions, but she鈥檒l be offering information too. Malenfant works on the Faculty of Education鈥檚 community garden and began a series of 鈥淔ree Skool鈥� workshops there 鈥� informal educational get-togethers that address different themes. She has used a similar model to develop workshops for the Benedict Labre House, which provides a range of services for people in need. Dans la rue is interested in having Malenfant develop some 鈥淔ree Skool鈥� workshops for them too. One might be based on her own experiences with going to university and applying for grants.

As she talks to young people about their school experiences, Malenfant is also focusing her attention on the other side of the equation 鈥� teachers, school administrators and school board officials.

She has been collaborating with Kaitlin Schwan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness in Toronto (where Malenfant once worked as a research assistant while pursuing a master鈥檚 degree at York University) to create resources for school boards and teachers. 鈥淚 think it all comes down to education,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ducating them on what [precarious housing for youth] looks like, educating them on how they can work with different organizations. Educating teachers, administrators and staff in schools 鈥� who often have the very best intentions 鈥� that what might look like bad behaviour or disengagement could be an opportunity for a life-changing intervention for a youth who needs help.鈥�

Malenfant understands that her own story 鈥� how she made her way from being kicked out of high school and living without a stable home to pursuing a PhD and earning top graduate awards 鈥� is a compelling one. But she has mixed feelings about how it gets told.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the narrative that this street kid just got her [act] together and now she鈥檚 doing a PhD at 成人VR视频. It鈥檚 more complicated than that. I had some advantages. I did have a relationship with my family and that made a huge difference.鈥� She also had some important life skills 鈥� she knew how to be responsible with money. And once she was able to return to school, the transition was fairly easy. 鈥淚鈥檓 comfortable being in school. There is something about it that clicks for me.

鈥淚 try to use my story as an example when I am working with young people to say that [what I鈥檓 doing] is not impossible. This is what could happen if we support youth at the right time.鈥�