"We Are All Treaty People": Exploring the Knowledge Base and Dispositions of Preservice Teachers in Saskatchewan, Canada, on Aboriginal Issues Through an Online Interview Process

• In Event: 65.053 - Current Research in Indigenous Education in the Geographic North

Abstract

Here we analyze the responses of 320 applicants to a question on Aboriginal treaties as part of an online admissions interview to a Teacher Education Program in Saskatchewan, Canada. Deploying a critical race framework and discourse analysis methodology we interrogate this data to ascertain the dispositions and understandings regarding Treaties and other Aboriginal issues of aspiring teachers in a jurisdiction with a large Aboriginal population. Our findings point to the need for further work at the K-12 and post-secondary level to disrupt color-blind discourses and animate a post-colonial justice-oriented teaching profession in the province of Saskatchewan.

Authors

• Paul Michael Orlowski, University of Saskatchewan

• Michael Cottrell, University of Saskatchewan