Finding and keeping teachers

The global teacher shortage has impacted negatively on 'remote' First Nation schools in northern Ontario, but so - - positively - - have the Aboriginal teacher education programs. Results of this collaborative study, conducted in 2001-2 will be posted on the web.

Research partners: three First Nation education organizations in the "Indian Mountain"(1) region of northern Ontario, and Nipissing University.

(1)Indian Mountain is a fictitious region. The term was first used in Gerald Paquette's 1986 PhD dissertation, Policy and practice in two northwestern Ontario Native jurisdictions (Toronto: University of Toronto).

2000-2001: the literature review, design and instruments were reviewed and approved by the research partners. The proposal was submitted for ethical review and approved. Nipissing University's Research Council provided funds to travel and meet with the research partners. A poster presentation was made at the Canadian Society for Studies in Education spring 2001 conference.

2001-2002: preliminary results were presented at the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation education conference, 29-31 January 2002 in Thunder Bay and at the Mushkegowuk Education Great Moon Conference, February 2002 in Moose Factory.

2002-2003: Dr. Peter Chow, of Nipissing University's Psychology Department, provided invaluable assistance in organizing the data for analysis using Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) software

2003-2004: a preliminary analysis of the data was presented at the 35th Algonquian Conference, 23-26 October 2003 in London, Ontario (see the "Preliminary" button below). A 261-page draft report was sent to the research partners

2004-2005: hope to finalize this report, based on the research partners' recommendations