What does a Culturally Responsive Indigenous Teacher Candidate’s Extended Practicum Look Like: Perspectives of College Field Supervisors and Administrators

To increase the educational success of Indigenous students and work towards a just society, it is essential to increase the presence of Indigenous teachers within the teaching profession and school systems. My research aim was to discover what a culturally responsive teacher candidate’s extended practicum looks like from college field supervisors’ and administrators’ perspectives because such a discovery will assist more Indigenous teacher candidates in joining the teaching profession and help animate more invitational and culturally affirming schools. Using a constructivist framework, I used semi-structured interviews to access the insights of a purposefully selected group of participants who, as college field supervisors and administrators, had extensive experience working with Indigenous Teacher Candidates. Motivated by a commitment to social and political justice, a focus of the research was to determine the extent to which the concept of ethical space, as articulated by Ermine (2007), was present in extended practica and school systems. This study’s findings identified an extended practicum model undergoing profound change as a response to identified needs for greater cultural responsiveness both within post-secondary institutions and Pre-K-12 schools in Saskatchewan. Findings also delineated varying levels of cultural responsiveness within the schools where Indigenous teacher candidates practice, the persistence of significant barriers to Indigenous teacher candidates’ success, and a continued need for cultural and psycho-social supports at the post-secondary levels to maximize the prospects of success for Indigenous teacher candidates. Additionally findings highlight the need for ongoing reflexivity on the part of all those involved in teacher education, to acknowledge and mitigate the persistence of deficit perspectives within education systems