Preparing Indigenous School Psychologists: Stories From an Indigenous Specialization Project in School Psychology

Abstract

Educational disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth across Canada, as is true across the United States, pose challenges to education systems to examine and alter professional practices in ways that support closing these gaps. Calls for more Indigenous school psychologists who might bring skills and perspectives to bear are long-standing, yet few graduate preparation programs have responded. Whether Indigenous students begin and do not complete programs, or never apply, it is incumbent on programs to examine the systemic underpinnings of the problem and respond with culturally responsive recruitment and retention strategies. In this article, one school psychology program shares programmatic contexts, recruitment processes, and retention strategies that have supported the preparation and graduation of dozens of Indigenous school psychologists from multiple Indigenous nations.