Inuktitut teachers need Inuktitut training: report

SARA MINOGUE

Students studying to be teachers at Nunavut Arctic College aren’t learning the advanced Inuktitut skills they need to teach the language, and when they complete their studies at the Nunavut Teacher Education Program, they’re getting jobs in classrooms where they have to produce their own materials if they want to work in Inuktitut.

Those are just two problems outlined in the Evaluation of the Nunavut Teacher Education Program produced for the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Arctic College by Aarluk Consulting last September.

Unless these problems are addressed, the report notes, the GN will not have enough Inuktitut teachers to implement its bilingual education strategy, which calls for more Inuktitut-speaking classrooms at all grade levels.

Since NTEP began, the program has produced 224 Inuit teachers, but the report notes that there “seems to have been a drop in” the number of Inuit teachers working in Nunavut schools since 2000.

Inuit teachers now make up 218 of Nunavut’s 573 teachers, with 90 per cent of these working at the elementary level. A growing number of these teachers are preparing to retire.

But a major problem for the program is that Inuit teachers who graduate from the program are not necessarily prepared to teach Inuktitut language arts, as there is no advanced Inuktitut training for NTEP students.

None of the program’s textbooks are in Inuktitut, and students and instructors interviewed for the report commented that students with better English found the program easier, since many English words cannot be translated into Inuktitut.

When NTEP graduates get into classrooms of their own, they find there are little Inuktitut teaching materials available. And although teaching students are expected to design their own Inuktitut class content and materials, there is no collaboration with the GN education department on school curriculum, and no recognition of the extra work performed by teachers.

This problem is worse at the higher grades, where there are more math and science terms that do not have equivalents in Inuktitut.

NTEP currently only trains elementary school teachers.

“If NTEP were to expand, it would need considerably more resources,” the report notes.

In addition to shortfalls in language training, the report notes several other areas in need of “serious and immediate” attention.

A majority of people interviewed by the report’s writers — including college executives, NTEP instructors, department of education employees, principals and district education authority chairs — agreed that NTEP has never achieved its goal of delivering teacher training in a way that is rooted in Inuit culture.

The NTEP teaching staff includes only two Inuit. The report says that a “notable number of respondents” said personality conflicts within the staff had derailed previous attempts to hire more Inuit instructors.

Teaching staff are also concerned that the entrance requirements are too low, which sets some students up for failure. Some people interviewed for the report said instructors face pressure to pass students who don’t have the skills, which results in weaker teachers in Nunavut classrooms.

Communication is another problem. Few people outside the small group of instructors are aware of what’s going on with the program, and the instructors and students have little communication with the communities, district education authorities, or the Department of Education.

About half of NTEP students complete some or all of their training in the communities, yet standards are a concern in these programs. And teaching students should spend more time on teaching practicums, and be paired with mentors when they move into classrooms of their own.

Education Minister Ed Picco tabled the report in the Legislative Assembly during the last session. Last Friday, Picco announced the creation of an expert panel that will use the report to develop a long-term, strategic plan to revitalize NTEP by June, 2006.
That panel is co-chaired by two long-term teachers: Nellie Kusugak of Rankin Inlet and Jacqueline Bishop of Iqaluit. Other members are: Cathy McGregor, director of curriculum and school services with the education department; NTEP instructor Noel McDermott; and Pelagie Owlijoot, a curriculum development manager with Nunavut Arctic College.