17(3)
Table of Contents
Editorial
An introduction to our Autumn 2011 theme issue: Indigenous education
Articles
National identity can be a difficult concept to define in Canada, a difficulty that may be particularly prevalent for Canada’s Aboriginal people. Identity, whether national or ethno-cultural, may be problematic to conceptualize for Aboriginal people because of dominant post-colonial influences that are reflected in everyday life. Identity, an individual's collective understanding of themselves as a unique, separate entity is frequently associated with ethnic and racial affirmations of distinctness. Consequently, Canada’s national identity may be fragmented by its various ethnic and racial groups. Canada’s Aboriginal people, who have been impacted by a history of European influence through colonization, have consequently struggled with the notion of Canadian identity, a struggle that is prevalent in the field of education. The following will be an exploration of the issues associated with Canadian identity, and how Aboriginal identity relates to that conception of citizenship development for Aboriginal students in Canadian schools. To support this exploration, this article will explore: (a) identity development in a postcolonial and transcultural society, (b) identity negotiation in contemporary Canadian society, and (c) the implications for citizenship development in Canadian education.
Still largely based on EuroCanadian knowledge and Western teachings, Education in Nunavut remains a negative experience for many Nunavut youth as the result of culturally inappropriate schooling and worldview mismatch. Mismatch occurs as the schooling experiences of Nunavut youth, both Inuit and non-Inuit, do not align with the character, values, and traditions of Nunavut. Divergence is especially pronounced within science education. This paper explores Nunavut students’ perceptions of the nature of science and school science education in order to explore the possibilities and problematics involved in shifting towards a cross-cultural science curriculum that is reflective of Nunavut
In the fall of 2008, the Provincial Government of Saskatchewan announced mandatory treaty education for all students in K-12 schooling. Given the foundational importance of treaties and the treaty relationship to Canada, and ongoing reconciliation efforts with First Nations people, this initiative is to be celebrated. However, a central concern exists regarding the implementation of treaty education in Saskatchewan schools. To that end, this paper discusses research, with 348 predominately white, teacher education candidates at the University of Regina, regarding their knowledge, (mis)understandings, and experiences with treaty education, in both grade school and university contexts. Using critical race theory as a lens through which to conceptualize and make sense of the research, along with theories of ignorance as an epistemological exercise, the paper illustrates the imperative of enacting treaty education given (white) settler students struggles(and refusals) to connect their own social and economic privileges to treaties.
Keywords: Treaty education; critical race theory; curriculum
Historically, the inequitable funding for First Nations schools in comparison to funding for provincial schools has been an issue from the time of early day schools, to residential schools in which students worked half a day to tend to crops in order to grow food for consumption by students and staff, and to present day where band-managed schools still experience lack of funding. Similarly, the lower salary levels for teachers in federal and today in First Nations-managed schools has been identified as a significant issue related to teacher retention. The purpose of this research was to identify current factors affecting teacher recruitment and retention in present day First Nations’ managed schools. In this paper we report on one case study comparing funding and teacher retention in one provincial school system and schools in one Tribal Council in Saskatchewan.
The unfolding of our work with Eagle Flight First Nation prompts us to reflect deeply on what it means to do research in and with an Indigenous community. This paper presents three stances that we considered when invited to “do research” in an Indigenous community around mathematics education: a mathematically deficit response, a culturally deficit response, and a culturally relational response. By considering the meaning of culturally relational education as co-researchers alongside the community councillors, school staff, and children, we are seeking to honour meaningful engagements with Indigenous philosophies and knowledge systems as they are understood and lived by all in relation
Although there is momentum among Canadian educators to incorporate Aboriginal content and epistemology into pre-kindergarten to postsecondary education, the learning and assessment of Aboriginal students remains subjugated by a Western perspective. The purpose of this article is to explore ideal learning contexts for Aboriginal students and juxtapose these ideas with the predominant learning and assessment tactics used in a school. Data for this qualitative study were collected via five focus groups involving grandparents/caregivers, representatives from Aboriginal organizations, and educators of one Saskatchewan school. Analyzed through Aboriginal and Western epistemologies, results indicated that, for Aboriginal students, learning and assessment are holistic experiences, and educators need to balance students’ academic assessment with other physical, emotional, and spiritual forms of assessment. These findings suggest that educators need to depart from the zone of cognitive competence and move toward promoting an educational zone of trustful intuition.
In this paper, we describe a perplexing pattern of behaviours in mature Aboriginal students in university studies who appear capable of being successful to complete course work, but fail due to incompletion of academic work. Despite numerous strategies to provide students with opportunities for success, these students' behaviours remain perplexing. Considering the prevalence of trauma (accident, violence, suicide) in the Aboriginal population and the intergenerational trauma of the residential school experience, we examine trauma-informed care principles and their adaption to educational systems as a potential strategy to mitigate this problem. A conceptual framework based on an Indigenous knowledge perspective of Four Lodges guides the discussion of this issue.
