"There Is No Way to Prepare for This": Teaching in First Nations Schools in Northern Ontario—Issues and Concerns

Abstract

This article reports on a qualitative study of 10female teachers working in two First Nationsfly-in communities in northern Ontario. The issues or concerns of these teachers are grouped into five themes: (a) pedagogical goals and purposes; (b) relation­ ship to the community; (c) living in the North; (d) teaching in the North; and (e) teacher education. The findings suggest that more intensive preservice and inservice teacher education programs that focus on the relationship of teachers to First Nations communities and to cross-cultural and multicultural teaching with particular refer­ence to the teaching of English as a second language are needed to prepare educators better for work in the North. The article concludes with a series of questions intended to provoke further discussion of and more critical planning for, the professional devel­opment of teachers employed in remote northern communities.