Advisory Council
A desire for collaboration, co-creation and partnership with communities fuel our Advisory Council.
Gakino’amaage: Teach For Canada’s core values–humility, respect, collaboration, integrity, and learning–represent a desire for collaboration, co-creation, and partnership with First Nations. To this end, an Advisory Council composed of community members has been established to provide community-driven advisory capacity to the organization.
While Gakino’amaage: Teach For Canada’s strategic priorities are set by its Board of Directors, the Advisory Council helps to ensure that the work of Gakino’amaage: Teach For Canada is driven by communities. Furthermore, the Advisory Council and the space that is created for community-driven ideas allow for the co-creation of programs and activities at the earliest stages, as well as a forum to give feedback on Gakino’amaage: Teach For Canada’s teacher recruitment, preparation, and support programs.
In January 2023, the Advisory Council met virtually for our first meeting of the year. Gakino’amaage: Teach For Canada staff were joined by representatives from 12 First Nations partners for the fifteenth biannual meeting. Community representatives had the opportunity to share with each other on educational developments in their First Nation, strategies for teacher preparation, and orientation. In addition to these sharing sessions, the Gakino’amaage: Teach For Canada team providing program updates, and sought guidance on:
- Reviewing the Summer Enrichment Program to reduce barriers for teachers to attend while maintaining the quality of learning
- How to improve the hiring and matching process amid a nationwide teacher shortage
- Types of new programming to consider and prioritize throughout the execution of our five-year plan
- Identifying outcome indicators for researching our collective-impact
- Systemic barriers that negatively affect teacher recruitment and retention to gauge any role in advocacy