COMPETENCE FOR TEACHERS
OF
AMERICAN INDIAN CHILDREN
INTRODUCTION
In 1973 the Erikson Institute for Early Education and the Office of
Indian Child Services
received a grant from the Office of Child Development for a pilot, competency
training program located on eight Indian reservations. This program, known
as the Erikson/OICS project, had two purposes: to construct a model for
training Specialists who would in turn train Child Development Associates;
and to delineate specific competencies which apply to teachers of young
Indian children.
The basic assumptions governing the pilot project were the universality of development and the validity of the Indian culture. That is, the project accepted from the outset that certain competencies are required for all teachers of young children, but that additional knowledge and skills are needed for teachers of young Indian children.
This document is the effort of a small group of people (the participants of the Erikson/OICS project) to help Indian communities generate and consolidate their thinking about education for their young children. The following competencies coordinate with the CDA guidelines, but are broad enough to permit wider application. They can be used by school administrators, parent councils, and education committees to help determine the qualities of teachers in schools serving Indian children. They can be expanded with precise behavior indicators or deepened to include feelings and attitudes which do not lend themselves to easy definition by behavioral descriptors.
Ultimately, the purpose of this statement is to proclaim the right of
every Indian child to a teacher who knows and understands his unique heritage,
a teacher who can act to support a proud people's belief in education and
Indian identity. We hope the material contained herein will be used flexibly
- imaginatively - and decisively.