Yukon Chatter Bug

YNTEP logo designed by
Vernon Asp

Since I’ve been in YNTEP, these are the most common questions I am asked.

1. Do you actually get a degree? YES! You get a Bachelor of Education upon completion.
2. Is it Yukon College that issues this degree? NO. The program is done in conjunction with University of Regina, and that is where you get your degree from.
3. How long is the program? The program is four years long, full-time.
4. How many people from your year graduated? Eight students (out of an original fourteen) graduated, plus one student from a previous group. Two students from our original group are still studying, one still within YNTEP, the other in a different program.
5. Do you have to go out of town for some of your studies? Absolutely not. Students can do the whole four years of studies at Yukon College, plus every practicum here in the Yukon. It is strongly recommended that students do at least one practicum in a community outside of Whitehorse. Also, with special permission, some students may choose to complete some courses at U of R. One student spent last summer on U of R campus.
6. Where can graduating students teach upon completion of the program? Students qualify to receive their teaching certification in the Yukon and Saskatchewan.
7. What level can they teach? The program is K-12 with an emphasis on K-8. Depending on their skill set, some graduates end up at the secondary level, but most work with K-8.
8. I heard that non-Aboriginal students can apply into the program now. Is this true? Yes. As of Fall 2004, there are six (out of fifteen) seats open for non-aboriginal students. Our group was the first!
9. There was so much controversy surrounding the decision to open up seats to non-Native students. Since you were the first group affected by this, how did it go? It went extremely well. In fact, our group was very tight-knit, and students learned a great deal from each other.
10. I guess you applied for one of those open seats? Actually no. I have Métis ancestry, which means I could apply for a regular seat in the program. However, my cultural heritage, the one with which I identify, is French-Canadian.