The Role of Teacher Education in Decolonizing Education in Canada's North: A Yukon Teacher Education Case Study

• Main Authors: Brian Lewthwaite, Mark Connell
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Aberdeen, School of Education 2018
• Subjects: teacher education; decolonising; critical pedagogy; curriculum change; edu; phil; Arctic; Yukon
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.26203/y1cn-6y41

Similar to several other jurisdictions across the arctic, recent developments in Canada’s Yukon Territory draw attention to how political developments have potential for accelerating changes in education that are responsive to Indigenous Peoples’ cultural knowledge systems and practices. In support of this development, the sole teacher education provider in the Yukon, the Yukon Native Teacher Education Program (YNTEP), has a mandate to contribute to the realisation of these changes. In this paper, using a case study approach, we describe the philosophical intent and corresponding pedagogical and structural features of this program that seeks to support this realization. Further, accounts from a variety of YNTEP stakeholders, including present YNTEP pre-service teachers and graduates now employed as teachers and principals across the arctic, provided accounts of their experiences in enacting this imperative in their current roles. These accounts provided some evidence and evaluation of the efficacy of the role of teacher education in contributing to the decolonization of education in Canada's north. Finally, implications of this research for teacher education providers seeking to support such efforts are considered.