Tag Archives: aboriginal education

Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative (MAEI)

Module #3, Post #2

After checking out the Free the Children Aboriginal Programming site, I was lead to this site, which I felt needed to have its own post due to the amount of information it contains!

The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative (MAEI) is a charitable organization that supports education for Aboriginal students in Canada. Under their Current Initiatives button, there are links to

I was surprised and happy to see that there were so many programs and opportunities offered for our aboriginal students. I just wonder how many students know of these resources and are using them.

Module 3- Post 1: Yes, There are Amerindian Children in Barbadian Schools !

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At this stage of my ETEC 521 journey I am settling down some what and my focus is shifting from trying to understand indigeneity in general sense to looking at how it applies to my own teaching situation. I must thank Heather for helping me to sort this out. This new approach delivered fruits immediately as I just discovered there are significant populations of indigenous people in the Caribbean region where I am teaching right now. This article from the indigenous portal web site mentions over 2300 from one tribe alone. While at the site you can have a look at the Caribbean section for more information on indigenous from this region. Our curriculum in the Caribbean is determined by the regional examination body The Caribbean Examination Council and it does not cater for them in any way. As a matter of fact from the accounts of this article the children are being told by educators that their people are extinct. It mean that our education system has a long way to go if we are to care of our indigenous people.

This new knowledge has changed my perspective so I will be changing my research to look at a framework for including the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean in formal education with minimal risk to their culture.

The silver lining of this dark cloud is that the indigenous people of the Caribbean are leveraging the web to advance their cause as would be seen in the rest of my post to this web log.

Teachers as allies?

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Champagne, L. D. (2006). Physical education teachers as allies to aboriginal students: Dimensions of social consciousness. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

The title of this study grabbed my attention immediately, because I have noticed that the most positive times of relationship-building with my indigenous students have happened outside of the classroom, in times of physical activity (such as charitable runs, PE classes, or even unloading classroom supplies from the car). I wondered about this, and was told by the Aboriginal Education teacher at my school that it might have to do with reduced eye contact, less pressure for immediate verbal responses, and the experiential nature of activity. I wanted to read research that explained this further.

Champagne conducted a qualitative study encouraging eight PE teachers to reflect on their positive experiences with Aboriginal students. What worked well? What didn’t? She then presented the teachers’ narratives with theoretical explanations based in a framework of critical pedagogy, culturally relevant teaching, and anti-racist education. She found that, like many other non-indigenous educators, her subjects felt unprepared to properly engage indigenous students. The PE teachers were aware that they were uniquely positioned to incorporate teaching practices more closely aligned with indigenous educational philosophy, because of their ability to discuss holistic health, to encourage teamwork rather than independence, and to have experiential lessons. Champagne ends her study with the recommendation that all pre- and in-service teachers receive more direct education on teaching indigenous students, so that all teachers can become “allies” of those students and cease practices that create harm.

Module 2 – Post 5: Four Directions Teachings

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The Four Directions Teachings website in an interactive, educational flash website that provides indigenous perspective from five First Nations across Canada: the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwe, Mohawk and Mi’kmaq. It was developed, with support of the Canadian Culture Online Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and produced by the National Indigenous Literacy Association and Invert Media and cites a respectable list of advisors on their about page.

This resource does not fit as well with my own research topic as my previous posts in this module; however, I do believe there is a great deal of educational value in this site as a teaching resource that I wanted to share it. Under each Nation are a number of narrated short stories based around elders’ teachings. Typically these stories focus on elements of the medicine wheel and sacred symbols, including the tipi, drum, bundles, song and dance that relate aboriginal identity to place and story. Suplemental to the narrated stories is a teachers’ resource guide that is divided into three levels (junior, intermediate and senior) to support the use of the website in the classroom.

Regrettably, the site only works with these five First Nations and seems incomplete without inclusion of the Metis, Inuit and Coast Salish peoples. None-the-less, the site has a great deal of information that can be brought into the classroom.

On a side note, this site is an interesting example of indigenous peoples embracing technology for the preservation and sharing of cultural teachings. It lacks a sense of protectionism described in the readings for this unit, and I originally had concerns about its authenticity, but I was (ironically) assured by the Government of Canada support behind the project. Still, it remains to be seen how teachers will implement such an obvious product of colonialism in classes that are likely searching to decolonize and reinhabitate the local environment.

What do you do when your culture is a mismatch with your students’?

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Fryberg, S. A., Troop-Gordon, W., D’Arrisso, A., Flores, H., Poniszovskiy, V., Ranney, … Burack, J.A. (2013). Cultural mismatch and the education of Aboriginal youths: The interplay of cultural identities and teacher ratings. Developmental Psychology, 49, (1), 72-79. DOI 10.1037/a0029056

This peer-reviewed study was co-authored by a team of eleven people, both indigenous and non-indigenous. They began their study out of a concern that existing literature focuses more on identifying what the deficits in Aboriginal education are, rather than on positive ways to improve it. They hypothesize that a lack of educational attainment in Aboriginal students springs from a mismatch in the cultures of teachers and their students – Aboriginal students’ cultures emphasize “interconnectedness and interdependence”, whereas mainstream education tends to value “independence and assertiveness”. This divide leads to Aboriginal students feeling alienated from the educational setting. The study included 115 secondary students in a Naskapi community, and looked at the correlations between students’ identification with their culture, students’ assertiveness levels, and students’ grades. They found that students who identified strongly with their own culture tended to score higher on measures of assertiveness and achievement than students with lower self-reported cultural identity. Additionally, higher levels of self-reported cultural identity correlated positively with their teacher ratings. From this, the authors concluded that one way to increase Aboriginal students’ school achievement and to foster positive relationships between non-Aboriginal teachers and their Aboriginal students was to support the growth of Aboriginal students’ cultural identity. This support requires the inclusion of Aboriginal philosophy and cultural experiences within the school setting. For my project, I believe that this offers concrete guidance into improving my own practice and the experience of my students. The conclusions also demand further research into the best ways to sensitively and appropriately include Aboriginal philosophy and cultural experiences.

Purposeful cultural exposure, to create positive relationships and remove stereotypes

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http://www.autochtones.gouv.qc.ca/publications_documentation/publications/mythes-realites-autochtones-en.pdf

This link leads to “Aboriginal Peoples: Fact and Fiction”, a short book by Pierre Lepage. I couldn’t find out if Lepage is Aboriginal or not, but the book is sponsored by the indigenous Institut Culturel et Educatif Montagnais (ICEM).

I found this book particularly interesting in light of this week’s discussions around protecting culture – the book is meant to be informative about culture, to remove negative stereotypes. It was published as an educational material for teachers to use in conjunction with an initiative between several Nations and Quebecois public schools. Denis Vallant, Director General of the ICEM, writes that “a negative image of the First Nations spread across Quebec. We the Innu nation could not remain silent in the face of all the generalizations that were circulating. The time to take action had come: we had to make ourselves, our culture, and our way of life better known” (iii). To achieve this, they created a shaputuan, a traditional Innu camp, and brought it to schools to give children of all ethnicities the opportunity to experience Innu culture. In Vallant’s opinion, it was a positive step towards ensuring that there is a place for Innu and other indigenous cultures in Quebec.

The book itself is intended to give teachers and students factual rather than generalized information about First Nations cultures. It shares First Nations’ perspectives on colonization, various government treaties, rights, lands, etc, as well as some information on cultural practices. Specifically, it discusses the practices and histories of several groups belonging to the Eskaleut family, the Kanlen’kahaka, the Iroquoian, and the Algonquin. If it is an accurate source, it will be valuable towards my purpose of researching ways for teachers to foster more informed and healthy relationships with their indigenous students.

Module 2 – Weblog

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First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) http://www.fnbc.info/capacity-development

This Website provides information on province wide initiatives that focus on supporting First Nations communities with technology. Their focus will be on language, culture, education, health, economic development, governance, land a marine stewardship and more.

The First Nations Technology Council is working towards providing data services to First Nations at reasonable costs. This is in order to aid many BC First Nations groups that are in remote locations in which it is costly for reliable technology services.

They also provide computer training for Aboriginal people on and off reserves.

This website shows the initiative to incorporate and make technology accessible for Aboriginal people in remote locations. This may help my personal research as I am looking into the effects of BC’s New Education Plan in which they are trying to incorporate more technology into schools. With FNTC on board, perhaps this could be a good collaboration.

First Nations Schoolnet http://www.firstnationsnt.ca/

This site has many resources that are available for multiple research topics. The home page has a list of current articles and issues on the site. There are sample lesson plans, information on topics such as Government Canada providing programs to improve First Nation Education, as well as scholarship information for students.

There is a link that provides information about course content in the IT training academy which provides students with training for career-ready skills. There is also information for online lessons in IT for things such as PC Hardware and Software training. This site has a lot of content related to indigenous training in technology and how to implement technology in schools. Content from this site will be useful for my research project as it is about incorporating technology in schools and the effect it will have on Aboriginal students.

BC Action Plan – Incorporating First Nation Education Act http://actionplan.gc.ca/en/initiative/first-nation-education-act

This site is an information site for the incorporation of a First Nation Education Act that is planned to be in place for September 2014. This site offers insight about the Initiative, who will benefit and updates on the initiative. This site also provides information on what type of money the government is putting towards this initiative.

This will help my research as it will provide statistics that I can use in my writing.

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100033601/1100100033605

This site has a lot of useful information. On the left hand tabs, you can read about many different topics such as benefits and rights and economic development, but in particular I looked under the Education tab. This tab provides information on the First Nation Education act (which has extra information to elaborate from the previously listed website on my weblog) as well as Elementary/Secondary Education Programs, Post-Secondary Education programs, First Nation Education Partnerships and Agreements and more. Since my Research is in the secondary level for schooling, this site is very beneficial because it also provides links to First Nation Student Success Programs, publications and references, and National Program guidelines for 2013-2014. All of this information will be helpful for my research.

Aboriginal Education – Ministry of British Columbia Website http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/

This again is a great site for information on Aboriginal Education in BC. The tab on the left that shows Aboriginal Performance Data is particularly helpful for my research as it has seven years of reports on Aboriginal Student performance in the BC public school system. This will help me discover possible trends in learning, and since technology is increasing, be able to see if there is a noticeable correlation of increase/decrease in performance levels of Aboriginal Students over these years.

Research topic: Place-based learning models for contemporary education

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Through the first few weeks of this course, it has become very clear to me that indigenous learning and identity is place-based. However, models of place-based education, though they exist, are not mainstream in contemporary educational settings. Upon initial review, those that do exist appear not to take an aboriginal perspective. These factors may be correlated with trends in many schools that see a disconnect between aboriginal students and their school—which may then contribute to low graduation rates in aboriginal student populations. At this time it is my intention to direct my research toward a clearer understanding of what place-based education and place-based identity are, what educational models exist and how they can be adapted to include a greater aboriginal perspective.

As an extension, I am also synthesizing my learning in this course with that of ETEC 531: Curriculum Issues in New Media Studies. What has come up for me there, is that many contemporary educational models ask students to learn through or demonstrate their learning through new media projects. It then begs the question, “can place-based learning; constructivist, project-based learning; and, new media be combined in such a way that honours each of the theories as well as aboriginal cultures?” I would think that a model that does this would then be an effective one for everyone’s learning and reconnecting aboriginal students.