Indigenous Education Specialist (Part-Time Freelance)
Support Educators and Classrooms Across Ontario
The Company
As the largest Canadian-owned and operated K-12 publisher, Nelson Education Ltd. is Canada's only heritage education content provider, known for its innovative products and solutions catering to learners across the country.
Nelson is on a mission to make learning accessible, engaging, and effective for all. That's why Nelson continuously strives to create dynamic curriculum-aligned content that caters to diverse learning styles, fostering critical thinking, creativity, and lifelong learning.
In response to the evolving education landscape, Nelson developed Edwin—a safe, digital sandbox with trusted, curriculum-aligned resources. Edwin is a learning platform for classroom success, providing content, tools, and support to help every educator and student thrive.
The Opportunity
Nelson’s Classroom Success team is seeking Indigenous Education Specialists. In this freelance role, you’ll help educators implement the Edwin platform in their professional practice while supporting educators in meaningfully and respectfully integrating Indigenous perspectives, knowledge, and ways of knowing.
You will deliver dynamic professional development, support custom coaching and webinars, and engage meaningfully in reviewing and curating Edwin’s Indigenous education resources. You will also work closely with our Content & Curriculum team to evaluate resources for accuracy, respectful representation, inclusion of diverse perspectives, and cultural responsiveness.
Work assignments vary in scope and can be matched to your availability and your expertise in Indigenous education, reconciliation, and culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy.
Key Responsibilities
- Deliver high-quality virtual and in-person sessions introducing Edwin and other Nelson platforms to educators, with a focus on classroom implementation, best practices, and the respectful integration of Indigenous content and perspectives.
- Offer real-time consulting and coaching to support educators with lesson planning, assessment practices, and effective Edwin integration, while fostering culturally responsive pedagogy and the meaningful inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing.
- Participate in Edwin onboarding training and ongoing internal learning webinars.
- Arrange and conduct pre-session interviews with Nelson team leads to determine focus and session goals.
- Prepare thoroughly using provided materials (e.g., PowerPoints, guides, and digital supports) tailored to each session’s needs.
- Ensure customer surveys and internal feedback forms are completed following every session.
- Support the development of classroom-ready resources, including lesson plans and curriculum maps, to ensure accurate, respectful, and culturally responsive representation of diverse First Nations, Métis, and Inuit histories, cultures, perspectives, and contemporary realities.
- Collaborate with the Content & Curriculum team to critically review and strengthen existing resources, identifying opportunities to improve accuracy, representation, and the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives, and contributing to the development and refinement of new content.
Requirements
- Current resident of Ontario.
- Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) with K–12 teaching experience in Ontario’s publicly funded education system or in a First Nations, Métis, or Inuit education setting.
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of diverse First Nations, Métis, and Inuit histories, cultures, perspectives, ways of knowing, and contemporary realities, with the ability to make meaningful connections to Ontario curriculum expectations and classroom practice.
- Understanding of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those related to education, and their implications for curriculum development, professional learning, and classroom practice.
- Excellent presentation, facilitation, and interpersonal skills.
- Passionate about supporting educators through professional learning that advances reconciliation and Indigenous education.
- Tech-savvy with confidence using digital learning tools.
- Ability to work both virtually and in person (occasional travel may be available but is optional).
- Access to reliable transportation and flexibility for daytime or after-school hours.
Nelson is committed to Inclusion, Equity and diversity. As part of this commitment, we do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, sex, gender, gender identity, colour, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship, veteran status, or disability status. Should you require any accommodation during our recruitment and selection process, please reach out to peopleandengagement@nelson.com.
Benefits
This opportunity is part of a special program under section 14 of the Ontario Human Rights Code. Indigenous educators are underrepresented on Nelson’s education teams, and Nelson is committed to ensuring that Indigenous education resources reflect the voices, knowledge, and lived experiences of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. For these reasons, this opportunity is open only to applicants who self-identify as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit. Self-identification information will be kept confidential and used only to confirm eligibility for this program. Applicants are asked to self-identify in the screening questions below. Applicants with disabilities may request accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process, including as part of their application.
Compensation:
- $50/hour
- Mileage: $0.61/km (up to 5,000 km); $0.65/km thereafter
- Mileage is only reimbursed for business-related travel over 30 km (one way)
- Bi-weekly or monthly invoicing: Templates will be provided