“A Long-Standing Presence”: NITEP, UBC’s Indigenous Teacher Education Program

NITEP, the Indigenous Teacher Education Program in the Faculty of Education at UBC, has celebrated graduating over 400 educators in its 44 years of existence. Part of NITEP’s success can be credited to its devotion to community-based programming, which allows students to complete the majority of their education in their home communities. The program has worked with over 20 communities in British Columbia, including field centres in such locations as Vancouver, Lillooet, Fraser Valley, the Cariboo (Williams Lake/Quesnel), Bella Coola, Campbell River, and Hazelton. NITEP aims to increase the number of Indigenous educators in both British Columbia and Canada with the broader goal of supporting Indigenous learners and communities in achieving educational parity with non-Indigenous learners.