Supporting the reflective practice of non-Indigenous teachers in Indigenous communities: special support in an indigenous context

Abstract

In an effort to find ways of helping students achieve educational and academic success, leaders are constantly looking for ways to support school teams and other school stakeholders in First Nations communities. In 2015, the First Nations Education Council (FNEC), in collaboration with the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), began offering continuing education for school stakeholders in its member communities (Lesage and Ouellet, in this journal). We set up a project combining the FNEC and UQTR’s continuing education for school stakeholders with special support in the field for a teacher who wanted to reflect on his teaching and educational practices with a view to fostering his students’ educational success. This article describes the project, including the reasons for its creation, its objectives, a case study and our ultimate findings. We follow up with avenues for reflection on the importance of providing special support for school stakeholders who work with First Nations youth and of implementing strategies for the success of all students.