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Aboriginal Teacher Education Program Partnerships and Support
Developing and maintaining partnerships with Aboriginal Teacher Education Programs to assist with program development, research, and support.
NTEP graduating class
YNTEP graduating class with Dr. Carol Schick
NTEP Symposium
NTEP Graduation ceremony with Ooloota Maatiusi and Dr. Heather Ryan
T
he Faculty of Education, with the support of SIDRU and the Student Program Centre, extends support to several Aboriginal teacher education programs (TEPs) within the province and extending into northern Canada. These partnerships give TEPS opportunities to offer their university programs with a distinctly Aboriginal focus, in accessible locations. Indigenous cultures and languages frame the programs, adding cultural values and relevance to content, while maintaining high academic standards. Training teachers within their communities provides a viable solution to teacher-turnover rates which, in turn, brings consistency, stability, and role models to students, and raises socioeconomic conditions within northern communities.1 Support includes assistance with program Tymchak, M. (2006). NORTEP/PAC: Innovation, determination, impact. The impact of NORTEP/PAC after 30 years. Regina, SK: SIDRU, University of Regina.
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development and renewal, opportunities for professional development and collaboration (such as with the 2008 Aboriginal Knowledge Exchange in which 10 TEPS from across Canada came together for a 2-day symposium to present the findings of their self-studies), and research is often followed by a SIDRU seminar to present the findings. For the 2009-2010 year, support of the Aboriginal TEPS was extended in the following ways. Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) •
SIDRU and SUNTEP recently completed a project designed to examine and evaluate the use of the material on Aboriginal