NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: education

Objective(s): To create a list of barriers preventing educators in the Beaufort Delta Divisional Education Council from participating in Land-based education.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5734. The research will include working with school educators, division consultants, and Indigenous mentors. Data collection will include gathering data from the following sources: literature, focus groups, interviews, participant reflective journaling, and a research journal. The researcher will look for themes and patterns in the data gathered to create a list of barriers preventing educators in the Beaufort Delta Divisional Education Council from participating in Land-based education. These barriers and literature will be used to create a list of suggested strategies to increase engagement in Land-based education. This research aims to provide educators with strategies to engage in Land-based education to meet Indigenous students' needs better. Research will be compiled into a final paper explaining results and will share the findings with the Beaufort Delta Divisional Education Council. The following is an explanation of the research plan: 1. Recruitment and consent letters are dispersed and returned. 2. The researcher will review the literature on Land-based pedagogy practices in the Northwest Territories. The researcher will meet with Indigenous mentors to discuss Land-based pedagogy in the Beaufort Delta region. These meetings will be in-person and approximately 60 minutes in length. Information from these meetings will be documented in the researcher's teacher journal. The purpose of these meetings is to help the researcher better understand the importance of Land-based pedagogy for Indigenous students. They are attended to ensure the researcher practices place-consciousness when discussing Land-based pedagogy. The information gathered from these meetings is not intended to be used as data collection for analysis but as further information to understand the need for Land-based pedagogy to meet the needs of Indigenous students. All information gathered in these meetings will be shared with Indigenous mentors, who will have decision-making authority on their use in the researcher's final paper. 3. A focus group with in-school educators will be hosted to discuss current reflections on what are the barriers to engaging in Land-based pedagogy and to create the parameters for the reflective journaling process. This session will be approximately 90 minutes long, hosted on Zoom and recorded. The intention is to host this focus group during work hours if approval is received from the superintendent. If approval is not received, it will occur after school hours. Participants will include in-school teachers and the researcher. The researcher will email all participants with the focus group's date, time and location. 4. A focus group with division consultants will be hosted to discuss current reflections on the barriers to engaging in Land-based pedagogy and to create the parameters for the reflective journaling process. This session will be approximately 90 minutes long, hosted in person, during work hours, and audio recorded. It will include school division consultants and the researcher. The researcher will email all participants with the focus group's date, time and location. 5. Participants and the researcher will complete reflective journaling every 2 weeks for a two-month period. 6. The researcher will interview each participant to discuss their reflective journals and what they noticed in their practice over the two-month period. These interviews will be recorded and approximately 60 minutes long. These interviews will occur after school hours, in person or on Zoom and will be audio recorded. Participants will decide whether their reflective journals can be used as artifacts for data analysis or just the information they shared in the recorded interview. 7. A final focus group will be hosted with in-school educators and school division consultants to discuss the themes of barriers that emerged from the data gathered. The purpose of this focus group is to allow participants to reflect on the barriers identified in the data and to brainstorm strategies to support educators in engaging in Land-based pedagogy based on the identified barriers. The focus group will occur on Zoom, be approximately 90 minutes long, recorded and hosted during work hours. The researcher will email all participants with the focus group's date, time and location. 8. The researcher will take anecdotal notes in a teacher-reflective journal throughout the research process. 9. the researcher will meet with Indigenous mentors to discuss the themes from the triangulation of data collection and share the strategies recommended to increase Land-based pedagogy. These meetings will be in-person and approximately 60 minutes in length. These meetings aim to share the researcher’s learning with Indigenous mentors to demonstrate a commitment to act in reconciliation and meet the calls to action. The Beaufort Delta Divisional Education Council has had communication about the planned research through an information package and has provided school division approval. Final research findings will be shared back with the school division and participants. Presentations on the research findings will be available for any interested community organizations. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: November 01 - December 31, 2023