Yukon College to suspend new intake to YNTEP for 2012-13

 WHITEHORSE – Yukon College announced today it will not be accepting new students for the Yukon Native Teacher Education Program for the 2012-13 academic year.

“The College will suspend new intake for this September,” says Dr. Deborah Bartlette, the Dean of Applied Arts at the College.

“We’re doing this in order to be able to fully implement the recommendations expected from a review of the program now underway.”

The College launched a review of the 24-year-old program in December 2011. Dr. Thomas Fleming, a professor emeritus of Education at the University of Victoria, is now conducting the review. He’s expected to deliver his report to College administrators in June 2012.

“While we don’t know the content or extent of Dr. Fleming’s recommendations, we do have to plan ahead,” says Bartlette. “We felt it would be best to make the decision now to suspend taking new students for one year. That way we can focus the next year on implementing the review recommendations.”

Yukon College receives 20-25 applicants for the YNTEP program annually, with about 10 meeting the qualifications to enter the program. To date, no qualified applicants have applied for the 2012-13 academic year.

“That is another reason we wanted to make a decision now on the program,” says Bartlette. “We didn’t want to turn away qualified students after they had applied.“

Students who would have qualified for the 2012/13 intake will be able to take other courses at the College that will either prepare them to enter the program, or electives that could be applied toward the program, says Bartlette.  Students now enrolled in the program will be able to complete the YNTEP- Bachelor of Education degree as it is currently structured. Those students will also have the option of taking courses from the redesigned program, should the report recommend new courses be offered.

There will be no layoffs or reassignment of staff, and funding for the program will continue, notes Bartlette.

“Those resources for 2012-13 will be used to retool and rebuild the program,” she says.

The decision was made after consulting with stakeholders, including the territorial and First Nations governments, as well as the University of Regina, which grants the education degree from the program.

“”Everyone has shown a strong commitment to moving on the review’s recommendations, “ says Tosh Southwick, the Director of First Nations Initiatives at Yukon College.  “All stakeholders want to use this review to build a better, northern-focused education program that will lead to more success for both our teachers and for all northern students in general.”