History of ATEP

1975
Proposals began for the creation of a Native Teacher Education Program in Alberta.

1975-1982
University nuhelot’ine thaiyots’i nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (formerly, Blue Quills First Nations College) ran a teacher-training program called Project Morning Star, which was a cooperative partnership with the University of Alberta. Three cohorts participated in this pilot program before it ended in 1982.

1998
Funding was secured to explore the possibility of launching this type of program at the University of Alberta

1999
Community consultations begin in Peace River to gain input on the proposed ATEP program. The same year, University nuhelot’ine thaiyots’i nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (formerly, Blue Quills First Nations College) submitted a bid to partner with the University of Alberta for the first ATEP program.

2000
A program proposal was submitted to Alberta Learning to secure government funding. 

2002
The first ATEP cohort began at University nuhelot’ine thaiyots’i nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills. A few months later, a second cohort launched at Northern Lakes College. 

In the years following, ATEP continued to expand the number of partner institutions to include Maskwacis Cultural College, Lakeland College and Portage College.

2017
ATEP began delivery of the first direct-entry, on-campus cohort at the University of Alberta's main campus, in the Secondary Education stream.

2021
ATEP expanded it’s offerings to include online and on-campus cohorts, marking the first direct-entry programs in the ATEP Elementary generalist stream.