Makivik Magazine Issue 65

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Inuit Teacher Training Program
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ISABELLE DUBOIS
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Learning to be teachers.
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Education degree. (B. Ed.).–j.
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Administered in association with McGill University, we have access
to world class educators,” explains Mary Aitchision, the program’s
director in Kuujjuaq.
The courses are prepared by a team of McGill academic staff
and senior Inuit instructors, who are graduates of the program,
themselves. The result of this collaborative effort is that Inuit teachers-in-training
can be taught in their mother tongue and receive
courses that are adapted to Inuit ways of teaching.
A trainee entering the Teacher Training Program spends the
first year in the classroom with an experienced Inuk teacher. Some
courses are given throughout the school year during pedagogical
days. But the teachers-in-training obtain most of the 60 credits
required to graduate from the program during summer and winter
sessions held in a different community each time. One can expect
to get their diploma within four years, while working as a teacher
and attending these sessions in full.
The training sessions, which last seven to eight days in the
winter, and up to 3 1/2 weeks during the summer, are intensive.
Sarah Airo, who now works as a training counsellor, says, “I look
forward to going every year. It’s like a reunion. There is a tremendous
atmosphere.”
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Inuit educators taking part in an archaeology class at Qikirtaq (an
island near Salluit).
One can train to become a homeroom teacher, an Inuttitut language
specialist, a Physical Education teacher, an administrator,
a student counsellor or a special educator. Although most courses
are academic, trainees also earn credits by practicing their cultural
skills such as sewing, designing jewelry, making tools, and throat
singing. There are also workshops to address social issues such as
suicide, sexual abuse, substance abuse, and violence.
Inuit teachers who have obtained the diploma can then take
courses twice a year in Nunavik towards a Bachelor of Education
degree. (B. Ed.).
The number of Inuit who have graduated from the program,
and who now occupy key teaching and administrative positions, is
certainly a measure of the program’s success. As Mary Aitchison
points out, “Training does make a difference.”
For further information on the Inuit Teacher Training Program,
please contact the Kativik School Board’s Training and Research
Department in Kuujjuaq at: (819) 964-2412.
ISABELLE DUBOIS
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