Indigenous Populations, Teacher Preparation for Diversity

Preparing teachers to work in schools in indigenous communities is an urgent task, given historical conditions of inequality and discrimination and the present need to improve student achievement and increase the proportion of indigenous teachers. The leading teacher preparation programs aimed at serving indigenous communities were developed in response to these conditions and are built around the idea of helping the community grow its own teachers, preparing residents to become teachers rather than relying on outsiders to fill these jobs.

Programs for preparing teachers to serve in schools in indigenous communities began in the late 1970s and include efforts targeting teachers of Native American and Native Hawaiian students in the United States, First Nations students in Canada, and Aboriginal students in Australia. Long-running programs include Kūkuluao ...