Teacher nurtures hopes and skills of vulnerable students

Name: Navi Bhatti

Union: BC Teachers’ Federation

Navi Bhatti grew up in the northern BC town of Houston, a close-knit community where the teachers, students and their families all learned, worked and played together.

“My teachers were like family,” she said. “They were involved in all our lives and I grew up watching that nurturing. I really honour all my teachers, and knew from an early age I wanted to follow them into the profession.”

Bhatti’s father had been a teacher in India. After the family came from Punjab to BC seeking new opportunities he worked in a local saw mill and became an active union supporter and community volunteer. Young Navi found in him a strong role model for a life of engagement and activism.

As a student at the University of Victoria, Bhatti was involved in the student union and was president of the Education Students’ Society. For three summers she worked at the Easter Seals camp, an experience that “fired my passion to work with children with disabilities. I just fell in love with that community.”

She was the first U Vic education student to do a practicum in Africa. She worked in a small town in Ghana, where the classrooms were makeshift and teaching resources were scarce. Access to health care was also severely limited: one of her students died of malaria. Because the school had no computers, she taught computer skills at an internet cafe in the town. Now she maintains contact and continues encouraging her Ghanaian students via email and written letters.

Bhatti first became involved in her local union, the Sooke Teachers’ Association, through the committee for teachers teaching on call. Just beginning her career and struggling to get a full-time job, she found it helped overcome feelings of isolation to connect with others through the union. “I was seeking a professional community, so I very much enjoyed being involved.”

Now Bhatti teaches at Ruth King Elementary and Spencer Middle Schools in special programs for vulnerable children from local, immigrant, refugee and Aboriginal communities. She strives to give her students literacy and life skills, as well as coping strategies to deal with the anxiety, stress and trauma in their lives.

“All my students have extremely challenging lives. A lot of them have experienced things you couldn’t begin to imagine,” she said. “I do love them, and they’ve come a long way.”