A narrative inquiry into experiences of Indigenous teachers during and after teacher preparation

ABSTRACT

This narrative inquiry is informed by a concern to increase the number of Indigenous teachers in Canadian classrooms. While the Indigenous population is younger and growing faster than the non-Indigenous population, educational attainment gap remains between the two groups of Canadians. The gap is widening at the university level. This study explores the experiences of two Indigenous teachers during and after teacher education in an Indigenous teacher education program and attempts to reframe teacher education to enhance the meaningful engagement of pre-service Indigenous teachers. We conducted interviews as conversations with the study participants as guided by open-ended unstructured research questions and employed relational ontology because we believe that ethical relationships are paramount in conversations with participants. Four major common themes emerged from the participants’ stories: decision to attend Indigenous teacher education program, Indigenous identity, positive learning environments, and the importance of Indigenous teachers in the schools. Implications for teacher education are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Narrative inquiry
• Métis
• Indigenous education gaps
• Teacher preparation
• Indigenous teacher education programs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The study by Santoro et al. (2011) was conducted in Australia. While there may be similarities in Indigenous educational experience in Canada and Australia based on the histories of the two nations as part of the British monarchy, the educational context, circumstances, and historical experiences of Indigenous populations in the two jurisdictions are not synonymous.