The interview focuses on the teacher education program named NIITSITAPI under the faculty of Education. it is a one-time program and will start from this fall 2018. The aim of this program is to develop teaching expertise in indigenous education both in public system and community school. Students who are staying treaty 7 southern Alberta are eligible for the admission. So the primary aim of this program is to ensure balance through the integration of Blackfoot perspective, historical knowledge into existing curriculum, standard teaching quality and certificate requirement for the teaching in Alberta. The excellence of this program is it is the center of Blackfoot ways of knowing and understand and points of corporation and integration for Blackfoot ways of knowing to be the basic understanding about teaching practice and the works the teacher do. Students will enjoy not only a great course base component about Blackfoot culture but they will have practical experience through the professional semester I and II and professional semester III focusing on teaching internship. The success of this program is measured how students take up their teaching practice in the community, school within the city.
Dr. Dawn Burleigh highlighted that the meaning of indigenous education is different to a number of different people. The faculty members see the real necessity to improve, grow their understanding of indigenous education and how they attend to it not only they are located in a treaty 7 and so many students come through the program but in addition, there are provincial calls through the teaching quality standard and curriculum redesign to better attend to indigenous perspective, histories, people, stories, languages throughout curriculum and throughout teaching. Indigenous education is the responsibility of and for all teachers to better understand how the teacher that take up will be very depending on their positionality and understanding who they are where they are from how they are kind of entered in this dialogue. For many faculties members positioning as non-indigenous allies see their role to play in indigenous education is an important acceleration that an excellent opportunity to take on that.
For the next 10 years, the faculty will have a sustainable fund for sustainable indigenous education for all students with area specialization those one want to take up specifically indigenous education so that education who needs Americal studies in their undergraduate focus that would be great to see that development. Though funding is a key, professional development capacity, materials like video, audio and human resources development including involving elders and indigenous experts are needed to achieve the vision.