Tag Archives: Indigenous education

Module 2- Post 3: Closing the Gap in Education? Improving Outcomes in Southern World Societies

Closing the Gap in Education? Improving Outcomes in Southern World Societies

http://books.publishing.monash.edu/apps/bookworm/view/Closing+the+Gap+in+Education%3F/55/xhtml/title.html

This online book that is published by Monash University served as gentle reminder of the power of the internet and the objectives of this blog within the context or this course. The book is the result of a 2009 conference of the same name. It was the third international conference in a series of partnerships between the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements (MISGM) and Monash South Africa. It looked at the pressing challenges facing education systems – Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. These countries have considerable underlying similarities, including colonial settlement histories, multicultural societies, and separate dualistic pockets of poverty and affluence. This provides a wealth of information for educator and stakeholders who are looking for solutions for the problems associated with the education of indigenous people. Below are the links that I preferred but the entire book can be a useful resource.

Section 1:The scope and substance of marginalisation in education

Section 2:The structure and entrenchment of disadvantage

Section 3: The challenges facing Indigenous education

Section 4: Enhancing social justice and equity

Module 2-Post 2: Achieving Improved Primary and Secondary Education Outcomes for Indigenous Students- An overview of investment opportunities and approaches

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https://www.amp.com.au/wps/amp/au/FileProxy?vigurl=%2Fvgn-ext-templating%2FfileMetadataInterface%3Fids%3De0842bef78fc2210VgnVCM10000083d20d0aRCR

As I continue my journey into the new (to me) world of indigenous education I came across this report that targeted the philanthropic sector of Australia. It provides information that would help them to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with improving primary and secondary level indigenous education outcomes in any country. In addition it also provide a guide for practitioners in the not-for-profit and government sectors with an interest in Indigenous education. As such his document could be useful to any interested in indigenous education in any part of the world.

At first I found targeting investors to be a an interesting approach but after considering that children are the most important legacy of any society it became an obvious approach.

Of all the points mention in this report the one that stood out to me was the the need for teaching courses that include Aboriginal or Indigenous Studies as a core component since a good teacher can overcome many of the negative effects caused by the problems and barriers facing Indigenous children. However non-Indigenous teachers which makes up the most of the teaching force often find it difficult to adopt to the needs of Indigenous students without adequate training and preparation. Yet only about half the universities in Australia offer teaching courses that include Aboriginal or Indigenous Studies as a core component.

I came away from this paper with the belief every teacher training institution in a country with Indigenous people must make Indigenous Studies as a core component of teacher training.

Module 2 – Post 1: Learning & Knowing in Indigenous Societies Today

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Learning & Knowing in Indigenous Societies Today
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001807/180754e.pdf

At 128 page this book is not meant for online viewing but for print. Read however you choose this book is a valuable resource for anyone who is interested in indigenous people and educational. The introduction provides a very good framework for understanding of the differences between education from a western context and indigenous cultures. It provides insights as to the friction that is generated between the two. This was very useful to me as I am now learning about indigenous people and education.
The rest of the book consist of the accounts of the following eight different issues on the topic from eight different indigenous people from different countries around the world:

The indigenous peoples of Venezuela in search of a participative and intercultural education for their survival by Marie-Claude Mattéi Muller
Sustaining indigenous languages and indigenous knowledge:developing community training approaches for the 21st century by Margaret Florey
Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and biocultural diversity: a close-up look at linkages, delearning trends, and changing patterns of transmission byStanford Zent
Biodiversity regeneration and intercultural knowledge transmission in the Peruvian Andes by Jorge Ishizawa & Grimaldo Rengifo
Loss of traditional practices, loss of knowledge, and the sustainability of cultural and natural resources: a case of Urak Lawoi people in the Adang Archipelago, Southwest Thailand by Supin Wongbusarakum
Transmitting indigenous knowledge through the school curriculum in a diminishing bio-cultural environment: the case of Botswana by Herman M. Batibo
Learning and Inuit knowledge in Nunavut, Canada by Peter Bates
African hunter-gatherers: threats and opportunities for maintaining indigenous knowledge systems of biodiversity by Nigel Crawhall

This goes a long way in establish how indigenous people around the world face the same problem with westernized education.

Module 1 – Post 5: Indigenous Education and the Prospects for Cultural Survival

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http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/united-states/indigenous-education-and-prospects-cultural-s

What makes this article different for me is that it provides insights in to the education of indigenous people by chronicling the complex history of an indigenous people educational institution from a boarding school to a university. Because is focuses on an institution rather than a program it provides a working example both how the thinking on the education of native people has evolved over the years and the challenges that arose over time. As I read I became convinced that more institution that caters for the need indigenous people are needed in the world of education.

Module 1 – Post 4: Education in the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples: Bringing education back into the mainstream of Indigenous Peoples’ lives

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http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/echoes-16-02.html

I am convinced that English is not first language of the author of this article because it is titled as a poem. Nevertheless it is a useful for people interested in the education of indigenous people. An interesting point made here is the fact that in indigenous education are not inspired by sheer nativism alone but also because Indigenous Peoples also want to learn “modern” sciences, but in the context of their own culture.

Module 1 – Post 3 Creating a Place for Indigenous Knowledge in Education: The Alaska Native Knowledge Network

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http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/curriculum/articles/raybarnhardt/pbe_ankn_chapter.html

This article is chapter from the book Place-Based Education in the Global Age: Local Diversity by Greg Smith and David Gruenewald. It describes a ten-year educational restoration effort aimed at bringing the Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of knowing to the forefront in the educational systems serving all Alaska students and communities today. It looks at the challenges native people struggle with living in two worlds and an effort of Alaska Federation of Natives, in collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and with funding from the National Science Foundation called the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI). AKRSI’s task has been to implement a set of initiatives to systematically document the Indigenous knowledge systems of Alaska Native people and develop school curricula and pedagogical practices that appropriately incorporate local knowledge and ways of knowing into the formal education system. This can serve as model for other native people that are struggling with the same problem.

Module 1 – Post 1: Ifugao Knowledge and Formal Education -Systems of Learning in the Philippines

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http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/philippines/ifugao-knowledge-and-formal-education-systems-l

This web site explores learning system of the people of one Ifugao village of Mayoyao in the Philippines. It serves as another example that highlights the issues that are at stake when we try to educate indigenous people from a western stand point in a way that would preserve as much of their cultural as possible.

Patason

Module 1 – Post 3 – Indigenous Cultures and Globalization

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http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Indigenous_Cultures_and_Globalization

This wiki article is from UBC’s own ETEC510 wiki. It has been contributed to by five students since 2008, and provides up-to-date information in an easily accessible style on colonization, residential schools, self-determination, preservation of language and culture, effects of technology and globalization, and more. I found the writing balanced and well-informed. Visitors to this article can use it in two ways – as a source in itself, and as a signpost leading to other sources. Dr. Marker and Heather McGregor are quoted, and the reference list also includes twenty other scholarly sources related to the issues in module 1. In addition, there are hyperlinks to other articles on related topics such as indigenous knowledge, Aboriginal schools, government publications, etc. This is an excellent starting point for research in this course, regardless of your specific focus.

Alana