Teacher Motivation Perceptions of Indigenous Stakeholders in the Maldives

<p>Teachers form the largest investment in a school and can instrumentally exert the strongest direct influence on student outcomes. A school is as good as its teachers, and hence retention of successful teachers is imperative. Teachers’ motivation to remain carrying out the tasks associated with teaching enthusiastically make a vast difference in terms of student achievement, thereby attracting other teachers, students and parents to the school. At their best, the teachers effectively tap into the hopes and talents of young people to help them grow into productive citizens. The scrutiny of the sources of motivation is presumed to help make informed decisions to enhance teachers’ motivation to remain in teaching. The study reported here aimed at exploring the stakeholders’ perceptions of the motivational influences for successful indigenous teachers to remain as teachers in the small islands state of the Maldives. This empirical case study employed qualitative methods of data collection from indigenous groups of stakeholders that included central level policy-makers, school principals, leading teachers, successful teachers, parents and students. In total, 32 participants contributed data through 29 interviews, 29 questionnaires, and three focus group discussion meetings. Analysis of data via a grounded theory approach with a sociocultural constructivist lens indicated that a dynamic interplay of factors contributed to the understanding of what motivated these teachers to remain teaching. Overall, it was revealed that the participants’ perceptions of what motivated successful teachers to remain as teachers were largely influenced by the cultural aspects and the specific island life characteristics. It was clear that the motivational influences to stay in the teaching profession were contextual, inter-related, inter-dependent and multifaceted, and the ‘double S of motivation’ – salary and status – was also evident. It was revealed that a successful teacher is angel-like in the context, and hence, what constitutes success as a teacher in these islands was basically dependent upon the teacher’s ability to win the hearts and minds of the people through catering for the “curriculum, culture, and community”. Thus, the desires of achieving community approval for their deeds and remaining in healthy relationships with other stakeholders were perceived to be motivational influences for successful indigenous teachers. These findings highlight the importance of conducting habitual, specialised and localised studies to understand teachers’ motivational influences as they are context specific. This implied the need for educational policy-makers, school managers and supervisors of teachers to understand the complexity of contextual motivational influences to maximise teachers’ positive impact upon student development. In light of this, the challenges to sustain teachers’ motivation in these uniquely vulnerable islands are also discussed. To conclude this study report, which was limited only to the perceptions of indigenous stakeholder groups, on the motivational influences for successful indigenous teachers to remain teaching in a country where there is a high proportion of foreign teachers – particularly at higher levels of schooling – future research ideas and recommendations that might motivate, sustain and increase motivation are also outlined. The RICH theory of motivation is also proposed as a framework to be validated for use in studying motivation of teachers in similar settings.</p>

Teacher Motivation Perceptions of Indigenous Stakeholders in the Maldives

<p>Teachers form the largest investment in a school and can instrumentally exert the strongest direct influence on student outcomes. A school is as good as its teachers, and hence retention of successful teachers is imperative. Teachers’ motivation to remain carrying out the tasks associated with teaching enthusiastically make a vast difference in terms of student achievement, thereby attracting other teachers, students and parents to the school. At their best, the teachers effectively tap into the hopes and talents of young people to help them grow into productive citizens. The scrutiny of the sources of motivation is presumed to help make informed decisions to enhance teachers’ motivation to remain in teaching. The study reported here aimed at exploring the stakeholders’ perceptions of the motivational influences for successful indigenous teachers to remain as teachers in the small islands state of the Maldives. This empirical case study employed qualitative methods of data collection from indigenous groups of stakeholders that included central level policy-makers, school principals, leading teachers, successful teachers, parents and students. In total, 32 participants contributed data through 29 interviews, 29 questionnaires, and three focus group discussion meetings. Analysis of data via a grounded theory approach with a sociocultural constructivist lens indicated that a dynamic interplay of factors contributed to the understanding of what motivated these teachers to remain teaching. Overall, it was revealed that the participants’ perceptions of what motivated successful teachers to remain as teachers were largely influenced by the cultural aspects and the specific island life characteristics. It was clear that the motivational influences to stay in the teaching profession were contextual, inter-related, inter-dependent and multifaceted, and the ‘double S of motivation’ – salary and status – was also evident. It was revealed that a successful teacher is angel-like in the context, and hence, what constitutes success as a teacher in these islands was basically dependent upon the teacher’s ability to win the hearts and minds of the people through catering for the “curriculum, culture, and community”. Thus, the desires of achieving community approval for their deeds and remaining in healthy relationships with other stakeholders were perceived to be motivational influences for successful indigenous teachers. These findings highlight the importance of conducting habitual, specialised and localised studies to understand teachers’ motivational influences as they are context specific. This implied the need for educational policy-makers, school managers and supervisors of teachers to understand the complexity of contextual motivational influences to maximise teachers’ positive impact upon student development. In light of this, the challenges to sustain teachers’ motivation in these uniquely vulnerable islands are also discussed. To conclude this study report, which was limited only to the perceptions of indigenous stakeholder groups, on the motivational influences for successful indigenous teachers to remain teaching in a country where there is a high proportion of foreign teachers – particularly at higher levels of schooling – future research ideas and recommendations that might motivate, sustain and increase motivation are also outlined. The RICH theory of motivation is also proposed as a framework to be validated for use in studying motivation of teachers in similar settings.</p>

Strategies for Teacher Education Programs to Support Indigenous Teacher Employment and Retention in Schools

This article seeks to contribute to the knowledge base regarding efforts to increase the supply of employed Indigenous teachers. In addition to supporting the learning and well-being of Indigenous students, increasing Indigenous teachers is critical for remote Indigenous communities with chronically understaffed schools. This study was conducted as a scoping review of 50 Teacher Education Programs (TEPs) across Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States that have enacted efforts to increase Indigenous teachers. The study found a range of effective strategies, and this article will depict three strategies that can be enacted by TEPs to support Indigenous teacher graduates as they transition to employment. The strategies are: (1) creating employment opportunities, (2) identifying community needs and collaborating over practicum placements, and (3) providing ongoing support. The article concludes with a call for collaboration, funding, and data collection for the continued evaluation and improvement of strategies to increase Indigenous teachers. Keywords: teacher retention, teacher support, teacher employment, Indigenous teacher education, job transition, Indigenous teachers, Indigenous education, teacher education programs

“We have to get more teachers to help our kids”: Recruitment and retention strategies for teacher education programs to increase the number of Indigenous teachers in Canada and abroad

This paper discusses the findings of a research study that gathered and analyzed recruitment and retention strategies employed by 50 teacher education programs (TEPs) in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia to increase the number of Indigenous teachers. It discusses several recruitment and retention strategies that were found to be successful in this regard, highlighting the importance of facilitating access, eliminating financial barriers, and offering Indigenous-centric programs.

Grounding Indigenous Teacher Education Through Red Praxis

Red Praxis centers Indigenous sovereignty rooted in epistemological and ontological orientations to place—to land. Applying Red Praxis requires teachers to understand, in greater detail, the ways in which settler and Indigenous ontologies represent not only different but also competing ways of being in the world. Red Praxis asks teachers to reconceptualize an intellectual space that reaffirms, reclaims, and (re)stories our relations to land as a decolonial practice and pedagogy of refusal. Red Praxis calls for Indigenous teachers and community educators to ground teaching in decolonial practices and aims to regenerate a sense of hope in rebuilding Indigenous communities. The exigencies of Red Praxis can be found within Indigenous teachers’ application of critical Indigenous theories and ongoing acknowledgement and protection of our relationship to land—the origin for our claim to exist as Indigenous peoples. In doing so, Red Praxis is about creating curriculum and enacting pedagogy that makes evident and mitigates the impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous communities’ knowledge systems and ways of being. Red Praxis is an extension of Sandy Grande’s theory and model of Red pedagogy. Grande proposed the pedagogical framework of Red pedagogy to rethink the ways in which teaching can confront the challenges Indigenous communities face in the 21st century. Red pedagogy is about critically analyzing the material realities resulting from the settler colonial project and creating decolonial spaces of resistance, hope, self-determination, and transformative possibility in Indigenous education. In addition to addressing structural issues, it is important for Indigenous teachers to address what is taught in schools—the curriculum—as well as how it is taught—pedagogy—as key factors in revitalizing and transforming Indigenous education.

Contribuição da etnomatemática para a manutenção e dinamização da cultura Guarani e Kaiowá na formação inicial de professores indígenas

This article is part research that was held at the training course for indigenous Guarani Kaiowá professors from Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. The study aimed to develop strategies ethnomathematics (generation, organization and dissemination of knowledge) in the initial training of indigenous teachers of mathematics, in order to contribute to the maintenance and dynamisation of the Guarani kaiowá and culture. The data were analyzed qualitatively by participatory observation of the researcher during the lessons taught in the area specifies for the formation of indigenous teachers of mathematics. We find because of the activities developed during the investigative process that future indigenous teachers of mathematics despite having awareness of the need for a differentiated education find themselves in a universe of indecision about your training. Thereby, we point out that there may be a holistic conception of education, having the route with your multicultural approach and ethnomathematics vision reality qualitative. We conclude that the ethnomathematics educational alternative, contributes to maintaining culture and Guarani Kaiowá on initial training and of indigenous professors of mathematics, developing teaching strategies, leading to promotion of respect, appreciation, the strengthening of mother tongue and cultural roots, because in its fundamentals, we have a transdisciplinary and transcultural education.

Indigenous Teacher Education Is Nation Building: Reflections of Capacity Building and Capacity Strengthening in Idaho

This article discusses the efforts of the Indigenous Knowledge for Effective Education Program (IKEEP), at the University of Idaho, a predominately white institution (PWI) of higher education, and its struggle to create space in higher education for intentional support of Indigenous self-determination, sovereignty, and Tribal nation building through the preparation of Indigenous teachers. In doing so, we examine the contentious and local work of reimagining education, from the bottom up and top down, to develop leaders to serve the needs of Indigenous youth and communities through the vehicle of mainstream institutions. With data from a multiyear ethnographic documentation, we examine the experiences of IKEEP program administration, teacher mentors, and students through the conceptual lens of Tribal nation building in higher education. Our findings underscore how teacher education programs at PWIs need to engage in a radical shift toward seeing Indigenous teachers as nation builders and to prioritize the infrastructure and programmatic collaboration to support them and their communities as such.

Denúncias, anúncios, lamentos e lutas: a educação escolar indígena em foco / Complaints, announcements, laments and struggles...

Neste pequeno texto, apresentamos formas de agressões e retiradas de direitos experienciados contra a população indígena após o golpe de 2016. Abordamos as ações autoritárias do governo de Bolsonaro/Mourão contra a população brasileira, no geral, e contra os povos indígenas, em particular. Apresentamos ainda duas experiências que consideramos exitosas: a primeira em termos de ações pedagógicas voltadas para a formação de professores indígenas e a segunda voltada para a formação continuada de professores não indígenas. Ambas se inserem dentro da temática da educação escolar indígena. Para a construção da narrativa, nos pautamos em materiais produzidos/gerados por estas experiências, em documentos oficiais, publicações eletrônicas e, particularmente, em produções sobre a temática da educação escolar indígena.Palavras-chave: Golpe; Autoritarismo; Indígena; Educação escolar indígena; Lei 11.645/2008. Abstract: In this short text, we present forms of aggression and withdrawal of rights experienced against the indigenous population after the 2016 coup. We address the authoritarian actions of the Bolsonaro/Mourão government against the Brazilian population in general and against indigenous peoples in particular. We also present two experiences that we consider successful: the first in terms of pedagogical actions focused on the formation of indigenous teachers and the second on the continuing education of non-indigenous teachers. Both fall within the theme of indigenous school education. For the construction of the narrative, we are guided by materials produced / generated by these experiences, official documents, electronic publications and, particularly, productions on the theme of indigenous school education.Keywords: Coup; Authoritarianism; Indigenous school education; Law 11,645/ 2008.

Exploring the Grounds for the Study of the Identity of Indigenous English Language Teachers in Colombia

This article addresses the invisibilization of the existence of indigenous teachers in the Colombian ELT (English language teaching) field. Their existence, which is admittedly a phenomenon that lacks quantitative saliency, offers opportunities to reflect on the epistemological asymmetries that traditionally have linked the Colombian ELT field to an instrumental mainstream bilingualism, often ignoring the conditions of linguistic and cultural diversity in the country. Besides, there is an exploration of how the study of indigenous teachers’ identities might contribute to the re-signification of pedagogy; this paper elaborates on the idea that scholars in the Colombian ELT have already built some horizons of understanding between the ELT and the diversities and epistemic privileges of Colombian indigeneity. The article is part of an ongoing research on the identities of indigenous teachers in the Colombian ELT being carried out within the Interinstitutional Ph.D. in Education at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Bogotá