Category — Module 4

Walking Together for a Better Future (Linda Kaser & Judy Halbert, 2011)

The recent introduction of Aboriginal Enhancement Agreements as part of the process of developing shared responsibility for Aboriginal Education has helped districts and community members realize the importance of working together to best meed the needs of Aboriginal learners in BC. Although signing these documents make them official, many questions have remained as to how to ensure the actions agreed to are implemented.

In 2008, the Director of the provincial Aboriginal Education Enhancement Branch approached the Network of Performance Based Schools (NPBS) to see if they were interested in developing a partnership focusing on how signed enhancement agreements could be best put into practice. This led to the development of the Aboriginal Enhancement Network of Schools (AENS) which has set about to help school districts and their Aboriginal communities in the development of cross-cultural understanding and Indigenous ways of knowing that encourage new perspectives on best practices for learning.

Through literature survey for my research project I found this book; Place-based Education in the Global Age: Local Diversity (by Smith and Gruenwald, 2008) as an important and timely collection of work that explains how Indigenous people should reintegrate their own knowledge systems into the school curriculum as a basis for connecting what students learn in school with life out of school. This process has sought to restore a traditional sense of place while at the same time broadening and deepening the educational experience for all students.

The book frames place-based pedagogy not just as an alternative teaching methodology or novel approach to environmental education but as part of a broader social movement  which aims toward reclaiming the significance of the local in the global age. Meanwhile, it links development of ecological awareness and stewardship to concerns about equity and cultural diversity. Several examples of place-based education in action that discuss the connections between learners and their wider communities are also demonstrated in this book.

While researching for my ETEC 521 paper, I came across a tremendously interesting read. And it would so happen, this read fits in beautifully to our current discussion theme. This research paper proposes that teaching is a cultural transmission and learning is a cultural acquisition.

Teachers’ Views on Aboriginal Students Learning Western and Aboriginal Studies

” 1.  Teachers generally viewed Western science as course content or as a way of exploring nature, not as a foreign culture as experienced by many of their students.

2.  Aboriginal knowledge was respected by science teachers, but only a token amount was added onto, but not integrated with, school science.

3.  Teachers thought that the act of learning science was unrelated to their students’ Aboriginal worldviews.

4.  Students’ disinterest in pursuing science careers was either unexplainable by the interviewees or was blamed on student deficits. Few teachers blamed their curriculum and teaching. ”

“They need a teacher who is a “culture broker” (Stairs, 1995). A culture-broker science teacher will help students move back and forth between their indigenous culture and the culture of Western science, and will help students deal with cultural conflicts that arise.” (Aikenhead & Huntley)

Aikenhead, G., & Huntley, B. (n.d.). Teachers’ views on aboriginal students learning western and aboriginal studies. Retrieved from http://www.usask.ca/education/people/aikenhead/cjne.pdf

Stairs, A. (1995). Learning processes and teaching roles in Native education: Cultural base and cultural brokerage. In M. Battiste & J. Barman (Eds.), First Nations education in Canada: The circle unfolds. Vancouver, Canada: University of British Columbia Press, pp. 139-153.

I found this article (by Paul Cappon, 2008) as an interesting one because although the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) has developed the world’s first composite learning index to track Canada’s progress in lifelong learning but data gaps hamper measurement of success among Aboriginal learners. This study explains how CCL and its Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre, in partnership with Aboriginal people and organizations, have taken important steps to rectify that. First Nations, Inuit and Métis holistic lifelong learning models illustrate the place of learning in the Aboriginal world view, its sources, how people learn and the connection between learning and community well being. Most important, they help identify what learning success means for Aboriginal communities and provide a framework of indicators to track progress.  Those learning models can re-frame what has too often been regarded as an intractable policy challenge and transform it into an exciting field of opportunity with multiple benefits for the success of Aboriginal learners, for the regeneration and well-being of First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, for regional and national economies and for the health and social cohesion of Aboriginal and Canadian society.

http://www.ccl-cca.ca/NR/rdonlyres/0D0A5FA7-1191-43D9-A46D-F13D7C9BECAB/0/Cappon_PolicyOptions.pdf

We often hear that technology should never be used for technology’s sake.

In my last post I asked “Who are we?”. Wondering who the children of aboriginal ancestry (including my two children) are that attend our schools. I began investigating. I began with the information to be found on the Statistics Canada Website but was unsatisfied with the findings. Only information for Trail, BC was found yet we are a district that comprises six municipalities and many other small communities.

(2011). Achievement contract. Retrieved from School District No. 20 Kooteny-Columbia website: http://www.sd20.bc.ca/tl_files/Achievement Contract/2011-12 Achievement Contract COMPLETE.pdf

School district no. 20 kootenay-columbia board of education. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.sd20.bc.ca/board.html

Place and Community-based Education in Schools (2010) is a book by Gregory A. Smith and David Sobel. Their discussion about an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local, addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children now growing up in North America: contact with the natural world and contact with community. The book offers a way to extend young people’s attention beyond the classroom to the world as it actually is, and to engage them in the process of devising solutions to the social and environmental problems they will confront as adults. This approach can increase students’ engagement with learning and enhance their academic achievement.

The book also explains the purpose and nature of place and community-based education and provides multiple examples of its practice. Through the book, the detailed descriptions of learning experiences set both within and beyond the classroom help me and other readers understand the process of advocating for or incorporating local content and experiences into schools.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) is the national Inuit organization in Canada, representing four Inuit regions – Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunavut, and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Northwest Territories. Founded in 1971 ITK represents and promotes the interests of Inuit on a wide variety of educational, environmental, social, cultural, and political, issues and challenges facing Inuit on the national level.

ITK web page has a publications section that contains a wide range of important resources related to Inuit education. As an example, through studying for my research paper I found a very interesting article: “The Literature on Inuit-Centred Curriculum and Teaching Approaches” that explains three dominant themes in the literature concerning Inuit-centred curriculum and teaching approaches as: 1) importance of understanding the broad social and economic relations which shape curriculum; 2) analysis and recommendations regarding pedagogy for Inuit-centred teaching and curriculum; and 3) policy and governance issues affecting Inuit-centred curriculum and teaching. (http://www.itk.ca/publication/documentation-national-strategy-inuit-education). In terms of practice and policy, the article also reveals many experiments and innovations for Inuit curriculum and teaching.

http://www.itk.ca/

The following video clip is a great visual about the future of Aboriginal education.  It provides a very strong statement about the need and right for Indigenous peoples to educate their children and raise them within the richness of their culture.  It pulls the past into today, and looks to tomorrow.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVg0NgIrFTQ&feature=related]

This is a literature review focusing on virtual learning environments and e-learning in the
Context of Te Reo Māori and Kaupapa Māori Education.  Some of the main areas discussed include:

• Teaching & learning practices for e-learning environments
• E-learning for Kaupapa Maori peoples
• eLearning principles and practices for Indigneous learners
• Discussions on culture, relationships, and pedagogical issues

I found it helpful in my study of eLearning for Indigenous learners to read about a study conducted with a specific group of Indigenous learners.

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/72670/936_LitRev-VLEs-FINALv2.pdf

On the Ontario Ministry of Education’s website there is a page called “Aboriginal Perspectives: A guide to the Teacher’s Toolkit”.  The first section provides lists of the expectations in the revised curriculum that contain Aboriginal perspectives.  The second section consists of teaching strategies related to these expectations to use in the classroom.  The part I found most helpful was the information on culture, tradition, and language.  It introduces the “language of the circle” as well as other aspects of Indigenous culture. While not comprehensive, it provides a goo introduction for mainstream educators.

www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/toolkit.html