ARCUS 14th Annual Meeting and Arctic Forum 2002

Adaptations of Euro-Canadian Schools to Inuit Culture in Selected Communities in Nunavut

Paul Berger^1
1Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada, Phone 807-983-2333, pberger@mail.lakeheadu.ca

This paper describes a study which explored educators perceptions of current and desired adaptations of Euro-Canadian schools to Inuit culture in five communities in one region of Nunavut. Participants in the study reported very few instances where community input was solicited, noted as desired, or used in determining the direction of the schools, and few instances where schools explicitly taught Inuit values. Many examples were given of incorporating Inuit curricula into schools, and many practices were documented which were educators attempts to structure classroom interaction in ways that mirror the cultural expectations of Inuit students. Many changes were also reported which are in fact current Southern practices, teaching ESL methods, or strategies designed to respond to the effects on students of societal problems. These changes may have increased school effectiveness, but did not move them toward Inuit culture.

To increase the success or well-being of Inuit students, the main recommendations from this study were: 1) to increase community ownership of schools through meaningful consultation, 2) to increase the number of Inuit educators in schools, and to support them in remaining Inuit rather than adopting Euro-Canadian ways of being/teaching, 3) to base the hiring of teachers for Northern schools on their orientation towards change and their ability to work with people, rather than on their academic qualifications, 4) to create an orientation to Inuit culture, learning styles, and communication patterns for new teachers hired from the South, and to inservice teachers on cultural and ESL issues and strategies, 5) to create and effectively distribute relevant, culturally sensitive curricula and resources in Inuktitut and (ESL sensitive) English, and, 6) to create policy which encourages teachers to prioritize the meeting of students' needs.

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