NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: social sciences, education, Inuit, student success, Teacher education

Objective(s): To identify factors contributing to Inuit teacher resilience and retention based on analysis of an online survey of Inuit educators and teacher education students; and, to develop policy recommendations based on the survey findings to support Inuit teacher education, ongoing professional development and ultimately Inuit teacher recruitment and retention.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5397. The short-term objectives of this research project are: 1) to identify factors contributing to Inuit teacher resilience and retention based on analysis of an online survey of Inuit educators and teacher education students; and, 2) to develop policy recommendations based on the survey findings to support Inuit teacher education, ongoing professional development and ultimately Inuit teacher recruitment and retention. The long-term objective of the project is that such policies will positively impact the educational progression and well-being of Inuit students across Inuit Nunangat. This project is part of a larger project entitled “Effective teachers for successful student: An investigation of the preparation and resiliency of Northern educators” which is aiming to generate evidence of promising practices in Inuit-specific teacher education and in the ongoing support for Inuit teachers to transition into education leadership. This project has Principal Investigators Ruth Kane (University of Ottawa) and Kathy Snow (University of Prince Edward Island) and is governed by an Inuit Education Advisory Committee (IEAC) which consists of community members from Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik, Arviat, Nunavut and North West River, Nunatsiavut. Once the research team have received approval from all research ethics bodies across Inuit Nunangat, they will email school administrators (Principals and Vice Principals) requesting that they pass the survey link onto the Inuit educators in their school. Potential survey respondents will be sent a link to the survey which is on the LimeSurvey website: https://edusurvey.limequery.org/ The survey should take approximately 1 hour to complete. The research team will produce a comprehensive report highlighting all of the findings of the survey which will be sent to all the universities with teacher education programs which currently have programming for Indigenous students (e.g. Memorial University of Newfoundland). The team will also aim to publish the results in a journal such as Inuit Studies, and to present the results at both the ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting and the Inuit Studies Conference. The results will be shared with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) and the National Committee on Inuit Education (NCIE) via an online presentation, and an invitation will be extended to other organizations who may wish to hear the results in detail (e.g. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Beaufort Delta Education Council (BDEC), the Nunavut Department of Education, etc.). If funding allows, we would like a member of our Inuit Education Advisory Committee to present the results in person to the NCIE. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from March 7, 2023 to April 30, 2023.