Assistant professor Nadine Bartlett says that her experiences teaching in a northern community early on shaped her career in inclusive education.
New prof standing up for inclusivity
Bartlett established career in removing barriers to success
Starting her career as a high-school teacher in a remote northern community, Nadine Bartlett says she witnessed first-hand some of the challenges faced by Indigenous youth, shaping her career as an educator focused on removing barriers to success.
At the time, Bartlett was teaching high school in Berens River, a fly-in First Nation some 280 km north of Winnipeg. Because the high school did not offer Grade 12, Bartlett prepared students for the move to Winnipeg where they finished secondary education.
“Based on this experience early on in my career, I have sought to find ways to remove barriers to within the school system and within society at large,” says Bartlett, the Faculty of Education’s new assistant professor, inclusive education.
In her 23 years as an educator, Bartlett has gone on to take leadership roles in education in Manitoba and to conduct research into innovative new approaches to inclusivity.
A faculty alumna, Bartlett completed both her undergrad and graduate work at the Faculty of Education, focusing on students with emotional and behavioural challenges.
During her PhD field experience, Bartlett worked with Manitoba Education and Training as the lead writer of the Wraparound Protocol for Children and Youth with Severe to Profound Emotional and Behavioural Disorders, published by Healthy Child Manitoba in 2013. As an innovative method, the Wraparound Approach proposes a holistic model of integrated-service support for children and youth with complex needs.
Bartlett’s dissertation research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council through the Manitoba Research Alliance – Partnering for Change: Community Based Solutions for Aboriginal and Inner City Poverty.
Now an educator for 23-years, Bartlett has also taken on leadership roles in education, serving as second vice-president of the Student Services Administrators Association of Manitoba, networking with school divisions, government and community agencies to implement inclusive practices.
Most recently, Bartlett worked as a student-services administrator at Pembina Trails School Division, overseeing programming for nine schools. Bartlett’s teaching experience also included serving as a middle-years resource teacher in the River East Transcona School Division and as a divisional behaviour and learning support teacher at the early years level in the Pembina Trails School Division.
“It’s my practical experience that I am hoping to bring to the faculty,” she says. “That real-life experience of what’s happening in schools. And (students) should find that relevant to them when they go into their classrooms and they’re working with students and families.”