Clearing a Path for Indigenous Teachers

There is a dire need to increase the number of Indigenous teachers in public and tribal schools nationwide. Indigenous educators serve as vital role models for Indigenous students. Moreover, all students benefit from having Indigenous educators as diverse identities, experiences and perspectives can foster respect and cultural understanding, prevent bias and stereotypes, and enrich student learning and achievement. Also, the increase in states mandating Native-focused K-12 curriculum has revealed that, without proper resources and training such as those provided by National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Knowledge 360° initiative, many teachers are unprepared to teach such topics responsibly. However, Indigenous educators bring a wealth of knowledge and experiences that equip them to excel in this work.

In contemporary times, education is often conflated with schools. Yet Western education systems are very young entities on Indigenous lands. Our elders and other community members have been teaching, learning, thinking critically and problem-solving on our Indigenous homelands since time immemorial. Today, Indigenous education systems continue to honor the teachings of our elders and teach students how to contribute to their communities by living in respectful relation with place.

So rather than a shortage of Indigenous educators, Indigenous communities have a plethora of potential educators. Yet they face an array of barriers that prevent them from becoming licensed to teach in public and tribal schools. This is evident in Oregon, where according to the 2024 Oregon Educator Equity Report, less than 1 percent of teachers identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. In addition, those who manage to become teachers are leaving the profession at alarming rates, with 21 percent of Indigenous educators who began teaching in 2021 leaving the field within the first three years.

As Indigenous faculty who lead the Sapsik’ʷałá Education Program at the University of Oregon, a collaboration between the University and the nine federally recognized Native nations in the state, we are working to clear a path for the abundance of possible Indigenous educators. This requires dismantling barriers to Indigenous teacher recruitment, preparation and retention that often privilege Western knowledge and systematically exclude the identities, experiences, knowledges and language skills that strengthen Indigenous educators’ teaching and enrich learning for all youth.

During our recruitment process, we have witnessed brilliant Indigenous applicants with strong Indigenous studies content knowledge and a wealth of cultural knowledge repeatedly fail state licensure requirements. These include the Oregon Education Licensure Assessment, a standardized test developed by the for-profit Pearson corporation. Each year, we have had to turn away potential Indigenous teacher candidates who met and exceeded all other admission criteria simply because they could not pass the high-stakes exam that serves as the measure of content knowledge for the licensure requirement. We view this as a systemic failure, not a failure of our students. This drove us to help transform our state’s licensure requirements, which as of 2019 uses multiple measures and a holistic approach that values Indigenous knowledge.

Cost is another prohibitive barrier for many Indigenous teacher candidates. With funding from a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education, our program provides full funding for American Indian and Alaska Native graduate students to pursue their master’s degree and teacher licensure, including tuition, a living stipend, a laptop and books. In return, once they graduate, they teach in a school that serves a high proportion of Indigenous students. All universities should provide this level of support for any Indigenous student who wants to become a teacher.

Many barriers also prevent Indigenous students from graduating from college. Diné scholar Amanda Tachine argues they stem from the politics of belonging, meaning that educational policies and practices often oppress Native students and make them feel that they don’t belong. Creating teacher education programs that foster belonging is critical. Providing Native students a chance to learn in cohorts allows them to build relationships and a sense of belonging to a community. Engaging students in elder-guided and intergenerational learning, storytelling and land-based learning can nurture a deep sense of belonging by strengthening the kinship students feel with their families, communities, lands, languages and lifeways.

Focusing on outcomes that aren’t typically valued in Western education is also vital. We want our students to know and love who they are. Our identities and communities are a source of strength. Loving ourselves is a powerful weapon against colonialism. When students love who they are and where they come from, they can draw from the brilliance embedded in their people and the places they come from to stand strong.

We also want our students to enjoy learning and to leave a learning space feeling better, more grounded and connected to community and purpose. Too often, the focus of higher education is on persistence, achievement and long-term goals such as graduation or gaining a teaching license. Success matters, but if the process is harmful, the physical and emotional costs of success can undermine the value of those achievements. Creating learning spaces that are nourishing can sustain Indigenous students as they learn to become teachers—a feeling and experience they can draw on to inform their own practice as teachers. For those who may have experienced K-12 schooling as hostile or harmful, giving these teachers a safe space helps remind them that learning for their students can feel otherwise.

Since 2002, 124 brilliant Indigenous teachers have graduated from our program. To encourage our alumni to continue being passionate teachers, we try to sustain our relationships with them after graduation by helping them find mentors to support them in their first years of teaching. We also invite them to participate in programming and professional development opportunities. In addition, many alumni serve as mentors in our Grow Your Own Future Teachers Program. Although originally designed to support the recruitment of Indigenous educators, the intergenerational learning community has also provided our alumni with a sense of belonging and connectedness that has grounded them and reminded them of their purpose.

Indigenous educators serve as role models for Indigenous youth and leaders in their communities. They are also nation-builders as education is connected to the collective self-determination of Indigenous nations. This relationship is reflected in our program’s motto, "Sápsikw’at xtúwit naamí tananmamíyau in Ichishkíin," or “education strengthens our people.”

Indigenous educators also often serve as leaders outside of their communities. Many of our Sapsik’ʷałá alumni are leading professional development to help Oregon teachers fulfill the state’s Native studies curriculum mandate. Our alumni have served in key leadership roles within school districts, tribal education departments, the state’s Office of Indian Education and the State Board of Education.

Although we cannot quickly address the broader social, economic and political contexts that impact teacher recruitment and retention, these are several ways we approach this important responsibility. All of us working in institutions on Indigenous lands are responsible for dismantling barriers to Indigenous education. Indigenous students and communities have already paid for their education with their lands. Our work can help clear a path so that the many excellent potential Indigenous educators out there can learn, teach and shine. In this way, we can restore an Indigenous vision of education on Indigenous lands.