How many Inuit teachers are there?

The Iqaluit district education authority wants to know how many Inuit teachers work in Nunavut’s schools.

This information is essential if Iqaluit’s schools are to move to a bilingual education model proposed by the Department of Education.

The IDEA will use this information in a proposal to the department. They want that department to offer help to new graduates from the Nunavut teacher education program.

The IDEA would like to see graduates of that program get mentoring and assistance for their first three years in the classroom, before they are left in classrooms on their own.

The most recent estimates, included in Thomas Berger’s report on the education system, put the number of Inuit teachers at around 230, or 36 per cent of all teachers. That report also points out that the number of Inuit teachers is in decline: either because teachers are retiring, or they quit after one to three years on the job.