Chantal Meda
Teachers aim to inspire their students, to unlock their burgeoning potential and equip them with the necessary tools to succeed. It is a challenging role. But, as Cheryll Duquette explains, one that brings unsurpassed rewards.
“A teacher’s attitude is critically important. It is necessary that teachers find ways to make learning meaningful to students and act as role models,” says Duquette, who completed her PhD in educational administration at the University of Ottawa in 1986.
She is one of seven recipients of the University of Ottawa Excellence in Education Prize, which recognizes outstanding teaching while maintaining a solid research program.
As an associate professor in the Faculty of Education, Duquette is described as a conscientious and engaging teacher and graduate supervisor, whose enthusiasm for education and a willingness to connect with her students has been a source of inspiration to many aspiring teachers.
Duquette specializes in special education and native education, and is recognized both nationally and internationally for her work on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Her research is based on accommodating the needs of individual students. She explains, “My approach has been to implement inclusion techniques in order to ensure that individual students are able to participate within a classroom setting.”
A commitment to educational issues and sensitivity to the ethical obligations of intellectual life make Duquette a highly regarded teacher and researcher. Moreover, her informed consideration of educational issues is substantiated through her work with academic and grassroots communities, governments, institutes, First Nations, and ministries of education.
In 1997, Duquette helped develop the Native Teacher Education Program in collaboration with the Sioux Lookout District as a means of providing a two-year community-based teacher training program for First Nations communities. Demonstrating an insight and understanding of the needs and concerns of students, as well as of the community, she fashioned a distinctive blend of mainstream and First Nations curricula.
The Native Teacher Education Program stands as a monument to Duquette’s passion for social justice through education.
Cheryll Duquette’s commitment to ethical and politically responsible educational leadership provides an inspiring look at how one educator’s vision extends to unlocking the potential of a community.
