Source: Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, Volume 16, Issue 5, 2010, P. 545 - 557.
The goal of this research was to examine new Aboriginal teachers' thoughts and experiences during their induction into the profession and to articulate a descriptive theory of these perceptions.
This grounded theory study employed a volunteer and purposive sampling that included six new Aboriginal teacher participants in Ontario.
Analysis of the data resulted in a grounded theory of participants' experiences that were rooted in the cultural attributions of Medicine Wheel Teachings.
The three categories grounded in the data include 'sense of vulnerability', 'commitment to students', and 'identity formation'. These represent the first stage of participants' reflections as novice teachers. In the subsequent stage, identified as 'Introspective analysis,' participants' innate beliefs and traditional values were embedded in healing and spirituality.
The article discusses how the grounded theory saturated the categories and properties of the two developmental stages and represented a means of new Aboriginal teachers' sense of experience in a culturally responsive context.