ATEE 2010 Clea Schmidt, University of Manitoba, Canada

 Population 1.2 million  PNP target of 20,000 newcomers annually by 2016  Provincial supports for labour market integration of immigrant professionals BUT teachers not a priority  Schools are increasingly diverse while teaching force remains largely homogeneous

"A critical complex epistemology is dedicated to bringing individuals who had been traditionally excluded to the scholarly conversation no matter how déclassé such an objective appears to the privileged epistemological trolls... " (Kincheloe, 2008, p. 58)

 Concerned with “what people do, how people interact with the world and with others, what people mean and what they value, and the discourses in which people understand and interpret their world”. (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2005, p. 565)  Collaboration and co-creation of knowledge  Intentionally political  Potential for social and cultural transformation

 Critical: challenges existing inequities that marginalize immigrant teachers in K-12 schools and works toward social change;  Participatory: ensures that the immigrant are collaboratively engaged with the research process;  Action research: facilitates outcomes that will directly impact the teachers, their professional practices, and the schools and classrooms in which they work

 Six immigrant teachers from India, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Trinidad participated in monthly focus group discussions from September 2009-January 2010  Background Questionnaires and Journals

 Research ethics board  Research assistance  Focus group site  Power and voice among participants  Balancing individual agendas  Member-checking and data analysis  Giving back to participants  “I want this to mean something”: Developing a special area group for IETs run by IETs