The document summarizes research on traditional Inuit leadership and effective school leadership in Nunavut, Canada. Key findings include: 1) Inuit leadership is fluid and based on community needs, with individuals stepping up as needed; 2) Elders provide calming spiritual and social guidance to students and disseminate Inuit language, culture and skills through patience and observation; 3) Effective school leadership is collaborative and team-oriented. Findings relate to the Aboriginal concept of holism where all things are interconnected.

1. By: Jane P. Preston1, Tim R. Claypool2, William Rowluck2, & Brenda Green3
1University of Prince Edward Island, 2University of Saskatchewan, 3Saskatoon Public School Division
European Conference on Education, Brighton, England, July 1‒5, 2015

2. 1. Introduction to Canada
2. Purpose of Research
3. Literature Review
4. Methodology/Research
Design
5. Thematic Findings
6. Discussion
Acknowledgement:

3. Location of
Research

4. • To document how a group of educators living in Inuit
communities across Nunavut describes traditional Inuit
leadership and effective school leadership.

5. • 4 key points: interaction with the land, promotion of
language and culture, promotion of family, and
community service (Leon, 2012).
• 4 “r” words: relevance, responsibility, respect, and
reciprocity (Gardner, 2012, Pidgeon, 2012).
• Rooted in harmonious relationships and service to
community (Deloria, 1994; King, 2008).
• Rooted in consensus decision-making (Bennett & Rowley,
2004) and collective values and co-determined
outcomes for social equality (Benham & Murakami, 2013; Leon,
2012).
• Attend to the community’s before individual needs
(Julien, Wright, & Zinni, 2010).
• Incorporating spirituality into one’s actions (Felicity, 1999).
• Related to concept of holism: all things are related;
one’s actions are connected to all living and non-
living things.

6. 1. Qualitative research (Patton, 2015; Battiste, 2008)
2. Case study (Stake, 2005)
3. 24 semi-structured individual interviews
with 14 educators in Nunavut
4. Participants: principals, vice-principals,
and teachers (5 years to a lifetime of experience living
and/or teaching in Nunavut)
5. Read and reread transcripts to create
categories of key ideas, phrases,
commonalities, differences, and patterns.
Multiple categorical themes converged into
larger themes answering the research
purpose (Stake 2005).

7. Pseudonym Position Gender # of
Interviews
Inuit /Non-
Inuit
Becky Principal F 2 Inuit
Lucas Principal M 2 Inuit
Isabel Principal M 2 Non-Inuit
Evelyn Principal M 2 Non-Inuit
Jack Principal F 2 Non-Inuit
Neil Principal M 2 Non-Inuit
Chloe Principal F 1 Non-Inuit
Anna Principal F 1 Non-Inuit
Henry Vice-Principal M 1 Non-Inuit
Owen Vice-Principal M 1 Non-Inuit
Amelia Teacher F 1 Inuit
Kylie Teacher F 2 Inuit
Grace Teacher F 2 Non-Inuit
Steve Teacher M 2 Non-Inuit

9. a. Concept of Community
b. Elder Leadership: Social and Spiritual
c. Elder Leadership: Dissemination of Knowledge,
Language, & Culture
d. Elder Leadership: Patience and Skill Development
a. Teamwork
b. People- and Community-Focused

10. a. Concept of Community
• Evelyn said, “Inuit leadership is about having the person who has
the skill in a certain area step forward … So it’s a more fluid type
of leadership. It depends on the need at the moment.”
• Steve believed that traditional Inuit leadership was about
recognizing that, “Everyone in the community has an obligation to
be a leader.”
• In essence, Inuit leadership was something that came from within
each person in the community, and the sum of these individual
forms of leadership created a well-led community.

11. b. Elder Leadership: Social and Spiritual
• Becky said many teachers cannot spend quality time with students
who have specialized social needs; however, when these students
“spend an hour with the Elder making little carvings or making little
mitts, and they talk to the children about social issues,” the spiritual
needs of these students are met.
• Kylie believed that compassionate school leadership is in great need.
She was empathetic to the workload of some of the Elders, because
“a lot of these Elders are supporting a lot of children.”
• In essence, participants spoke about the calming, peaceful presence
of Elders in the school.

12. c. Elder Leadership: Dissemination of Knowledge,
Language, & Culture
• Anna recognized the vital role that Elders play in her school when she
said, “We invite the Elders, and we do all sorts of activities in
Inuktitut.” She also said, “[Elders] come and teach us drumming.”
• Jack viewed Elders as knowledge holders: “There were no written
things, nothing, no library. Since every Elder was the library,
everything was orally transmitted to the generations. So it is like if an
Elder dies in Nunavut, that means a library is burned.”
• The knowledge embodied within Elders is invaluable.

13. d. Elder Leadership: Patience and Skill Development
• Isabel explained this concept further: “Around here there is a lot of
this attitude when you are younger, you don’t do everything right
away. You watch, you observe, and, when you are ready, then you
do it. So, there is a timespan or progression of “I’ve seen it. I’ve
seen it. I’ve seen it.” Now I am going to try to do it. Now, I am
good at it. So, it depends on where you grew up. It depends on if
you are male or female. It depends on a lot of things.”
• Participants explained that Elder’s role model patience and
provide safe opportunities for students to observe, observe,
practice, and perfect

14. a. Teamwork
• Amelia said, “In the institutional sense, I would stay it [effective
leadership] is someone who makes an effort with the team to
complete a task … Good educational leadership, it’s teamwork [and]
collaboration.”
• Henry’s description of effective school leadership was similar. He
said that an effective school leader empowers his/her staff members
by being their advocate and support. Henry said, “If someone wants
to run with something, we really support that and say go for it.”
• In essence, effective school leadership was a collaborative effort.

15. b. People- and Community-Focused
• Isabel said, “It [effective leadership] is about knowing your staff
and knowing the level to which they might be comfortable doing
something they have to lead …It’s something you have to work at
with your staff. It is not something that can develop overnight .”
• Owen stated within his classroom, “We’re all in the community
together, and when someone has success, we all have it together.
When someone is hurting, we all hurt together.”
• School leadership was about positive relationships with people.

16. Discussion
Findings relate to the Aboriginal idea that
everything is connected‒the concept of holism.
• Holism is a notion that whole of anything is
greater than the sum of its parts.
• Individual pieces of any system, organization
(e.g., a school community), neither can exist nor
be fully understood unless each piece is related
to the functioning of the entire structure.
Source of Image: Canada’s First People. (2007). Retrieved
from http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_inuit5.html

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