‘I felt like I fit in’: UBC celebrates 50 years of its Indigenous teacher program

The University of British Columbia is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Indigenous teacher program.

The program is designed for Indigenous students wanting to become teachers so they can use their knowledge, identity and cultural heritage, and prepares persons of Indigenous ancestry to be effective educators in B.C.

Métis educator Bailey Johnson said she was inspired to enter the program as her dad was always involved in education.

“Growing up, it was kind of in the back of my head and I didn’t actually realize there was an Indigenous teacher education program until I started university,” she told Global News.

“And I think once that came into my awareness, I made the immediate switch and it was exactly what I needed and I felt like it fit in so much with my identity. And it’s really been the best thing that I’ve done to date so far.”

5:38 UBC’s Indigenous Teacher Education Program celebrates 50 years

Johnson said B.C.’s education system is missing two crucial components of Indigenous education.

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“The first one being the Indigenous content, which of course historically we are deprived of an authentic way for so many years,” she said.

She would like to see Indigenous voices, truth and sources be paramount in everything kids learn in the classroom.

She would also like educators to use Indigenous ways as a method of teaching.

“So rather than one teacher standing at the front of the room saying, ‘This is the knowledge that you need to know,’ you need to present it in a certain way, otherwise it’s not valid,” she said.

“I think it’s also taking into consideration that different students are coming with different perspectives, which I would hope to value and to uplift…. When we value it, you find validity in the education system, but you also learn how to honour perspectives that differ from your own. So it’s a really holistic way to know and to exist in the education system.”

UBC’s program takes five years to complete and involves volunteering in classrooms.

“It was amazing because I, myself, being an Indigenous student, being able to learn in an Indigenous way in university, kind of had the same effects on me as we see it happening on Indigenous students in growing up in the education system,” Johnson said.

“So I needed an Indigenous way to learn and know I needed my identity to be validated in the system. And I think when students see themselves reflected in higher education, they see themselves reflected, they do better and they’re more motivated.”

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Jan Hare, dean of the UBC faculty of education, told Global News that Indigenous education is one of the school’s signature strengths.

“All students in our programs encounter Indigenous perspectives, Indigenous histories and Indigenous pedagogies,” she said.

“It started as a result of very few teachers in the public school system as well as First Nations’ communities and so there were a group of teachers, educators wanting to respond to that.”

Hare said Indigenous students comprise about 12 per cent of the student body in B.C. but Indigenous educators make up only about two per cent of the education workforce.

“We know that Indigenous learners experience success when they learn from their world views, when they learn about their own histories, their own cultures,” she added.