Zoe Armstrong – MET

For this assignment, I have decided to work with the Alberta Education’s Kindergarten to Grade 6 Social Studies curriculum from 1981, from 2005 and the current 2021 draft curriculum.

SS Curriculum1981

SS Curriculum2005

SS Curriculum draft

Though Indigenous knowledge and truth and reconciliation should be woven into all school subjects, it is most prominently discussed in Social Studies. The texts we read as students in school guide the way we view the world. They prompt us to think about the people, places and values around us. Often these texts are selected based on curriculum topics. The attention to Indigeneity and Indigenous peoples within these 3 curricula relates to how much our general society (or rather, those attending K-12 public schools) will know and understand about these topics. More emphasis on Indigeneity within school settings can lead to an understanding of the importance of those whose footsteps have marked the land we are on for time immemorial. Thus, I am curious to find out how this emphasis has changed over time.

These curricula are hugely influential to our educational history and to Teacher Professional Development. The focuses of curriculum often determine where teachers spend their energy in terms of professional development. They guide the leadership direction of principals, of districts and ultimately of our public school system as a whole. Because of this, my first question is: to what extent do these curriculums emphasize Indigenous knowledge? For this search I will use the following terms:

• Indigenous
• Aboriginal
• First Nation
• Inuit
• Métis
• Native
• Indian

Here are my results:

*1981 Document is not “searchable” and thus I had to find the keywords myself. Numbers may not be exact.

It is evident based on these results that over time, Alberta Education has begun to emphasize Indigenous history and knowledge as more of a priority. As mentioned on the Indigenous Foundation Terminology page, language evolves over time, as it has in these curriculum documents. I found it especially interesting that in the 2021 draft curriculum the term “Aboriginal” did not even appear once. It is not shocking that it is not found in the 1981 curriculum however, as “this term came into popular usage in Canadian contexts after 1982,” which would have been after the document was released (Indigenous Foundations, n.d.).

As I was searching for terms in the 1981 document, I noted in Grade 3 Topic B: Lifestyles of Canadians in Other Times, that there was much discussion of settlers. Instead of referring to whom the settlers were interacting with as First Nations, Native or even Indian, they chose to use the term “other” (p.35). With so little mentioned about Indigenous folks in this document it is no wonder that at a time when residential schools were still up and running there was so little value placed on understanding and empathy for Indigenous ways of knowing and culture.

The new Social Studies draft curriculum has been criticized heavily for many reasons. In the context of Indigenous peoples, the criticism comes in that “references are too vague and at other times, they are focused on factual knowledge only, not on Indigenous Knowledge systems or perspectives,” (Peck, 2021). So, though the terms are multiple within the document, it is likely missing authentic engagement with Indigeneity and Indigenous peoples. This would be the largest limitation to my search. A word such as “native” was historically used to describe anything that began life somewhere, for example a type of tree or flower. When searching for these terms I am being given quantitative data, however to really answer my question, I would need to dig deeper into the documents to find out in what contexts these terms are or were being used.

– – –

As I have been on my own journey of truth and reconciliation, I have learnt the importance of place for Indigenous people. When we discuss ways in which we can genuinely and authentically engage with Indigenous knowledge and content, we must first understand the place we are situated and its history, especially in relation to Indigenous peoples. Because of this, my second question is: to what extent do these documents emphasize locality and place in relation to Indigenous land and peoples? For this search I will use the terms in my first search as well as:

• Community
• Locality
• Treaty
• Reserve
• Reservation

Here are my results:

*1981 Document is not “searchable” and thus I had to find the keywords myself. Numbers may not be exact.

The 2021 draft curriculum compared to the current curriculum appears to favor “treaty,” “reserve,” and “reservation” more than the 2005 curriculum. On the other hand, it hugely disregards the term “community” as the number of times this term appeared dropped significantly. From this information I could draw the conclusion that we are perhaps discussing more in the 2021 draft document the terms that the government uses to allow for Indigenous peoples to reside on land that is theirs. I could also attempt to conclude that focus on what community is and it’s importance is fading.

The 1981 document very clearly favors the term “community.” It very also very clearly neglects almost all mention of any term relating to Indigenous peoples. Without too much further digging, I can conclude that this curriculum advocates and focuses on community however not in relation to Indigenous peoples and knowledge. One of the limitations of my search is that I could have also searched for words like “settler,” “colony,” “European,” so to have some numbers to compare the literal zeros that appear in my results for terms (past and present) relating to Indigenous peoples.

In conclusion, based on these searches, it would appear that we are moving in the right direction, towards truth and reconciliation. In order to continue this movement, it is crucial for the critics to continue to be vocal and to advocate for more, more, more when it comes to Indigenous peoples, knowledge and culture within our public school curricula. The literal erasure of these topics in historical curricula is unmistakable and we’ve got a lot of ground to make up on.

References:

Alberta Education (1981). 1981 Alberta Social Studies Curriculum. Curriculum Branch.

Alberta Education (2005). Social Studies Kindergarten to Grade 12.

Alberta Education (2021). Draft Social Studies Kindergarten to Grade 6 Curriculum.

Indigenous Foundations (n.d.). Terminology. Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/terminology/

Peck, C. (2021, March 29). Analysis of the Draft Alberta K-6 Social Studies Curriculum (Part 1). Carla L. Peck, PhD. https://carlapeck.wordpress.com/2021/03/29/analysis-of-the-draft-alberta-k-6-social-studies-curriculum-part-1/