Teacher Professional Learning, Culturally Responsive/Sustaining Practices, and Indigenous Students’ Success: A Comparative Case-Study of New Zealand and Saskatchewan, Canada

Abstract

Employing a multiple instrumental case study approach, we document and analyze initiatives in Saskatchewan and New Zealand to enhance cultural responsiveness among White educators through professional learning initiatives undertaken as part of broader strategies to animate more equitable educational outcomes for Indigenous students. The findings of this research confirm the capacity of teachers to act as agents of change and highlight the potential of teacher professional learning to catalyze educational reform and innovation, ensuring that schools can indeed benefit students who have historically been underserved by public education. We conclude that the growing Indigenous presence in classrooms is a powerful driver of innovation, which offers the potential to transform curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher-student relationships for the benefit of all learners in these contexts and beyond. Key words: Indigenous students, teacher professional learning, culturally-responsive pedagogy, Saskatchewan, New Zealand En utilisant une approche d'etude de cas instrumentale multiple, nous documentons et analysons des initiatives en Saskatchewan et en Nouvelle-Zelande visant a ameliorer la sensibilite culturelle des enseignants blancs par le biais d'initiatives d'apprentissage professionnel entreprises dans le cadre de strategies plus larges visant a produire des resultats educatifs plus equitables pour les etudiants autochtones. Les resultats de cette recherche confirment la capacite des enseignants a agir en tant qu'agents de changement et soulignent le potentiel de l'apprentissage professionnel des enseignants a catalyser la reforme et l'innovation en matiere d'education, garantissant ainsi que les eleves qui ont historiquement ete mal desservis par l'education publique peuvent effectivement profiter des ecoles. Nous concluons que la presence croissante des autochtones dans les salles de classe est un puissant moteur d'innovation qui offre la possibilite de transformer les programmes d'etudes, la pedagogie et les relations entre enseignants et eleves au profit de tous les apprenants dans ces contextes et au-dela. Mots-cles: eleves autochtones, apprentissage professionnel des enseignants, pedagogie adaptee a la culture, Saskatchewan, Nouvelle-Zelande