Indigenizing Education for Alaska

Indigenous Educators Community of Practice provides a gathering space and community for Alaska Native educators to lift each other up. SHI helps collaboratively share and identify major challenges facing Indigenous educators and students and collectively strategizes ways to address them. It is a safe space to ask questions, share resources, and support peers with challenges they are facing in their learning communities. University continuing education credits and stipends upon course completion are available.

The Indigenous Future Educators (IFE) program is a meaningful opportunity for youth to explore the field of education. During the academic year, interns shadow and assist experienced host teachers in the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program. In the summer, interns complete a dual-enrollment education intensive and complete placements at local organizations serving youth throughout the community. Interns learn about education in the field, culturally responsive education, and how to engage families and build community.

SHI and its education partners believe that Southeast Alaska needs more teachers who have grown up in the region and who understand the unique cultural and historical contexts of their communities. To increase the number of “locally grown” teachers, and to help build groundwork for cultural and community revitalization, SHI formed working partnerships with the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) School of Education, the Alaska Department of Labor, and several other state organizations. The result of this work is an apprenticeship pathway sponsored by SHI’s Indigenizing Education for Alaska program, with educational coursework provided by UAA and a collaborative network of support from state partners.

Through IEA, SHI offers scholarships to ensure that funding does not become a barrier for students pursuing an education degree or certificate who want to teach in the Alaska education system.