"There is no way to prepare for this" Helen Harper [citation] : teaching in First Nations schools in northern Ontario--issues and concerns /

This article reports on a qualitative study of 10 female teachers working in two First Nations fly-in communities in northern Ontario. The issues or concerns of these teachers are grouped into five themes: (a) pedagogical goals and purposes; (b) relationship to the community; (c) living in the North; (d) teaching in the North; and (e) teacher education. The findings suggest that more intensive preservice and inservice teacher education programs that focus on the relationship of teachers to First Nations communities and to cross-cultural and multicultural teaching with particular reference to the teaching of English as a second language are needed to prepare educators better for work in the North. The article concludes with a series of question intended to provoke further discussion of, and more critical planning for, the professional development of teachers employed in remote northern communities.