PME 811 Blog e-Journal: What is Educational Indigenization? Entry #4

My Ongoing Inquiry Question:

How can education be re-conceptualized to include Indigenous knowledge and education and how does this new conception promote innovation in teaching and learning?

As I continue to explore the focus of my inquiry question, I feel a personal need to develop a better conception of the question: What is Indigenization? 

Indigenization is: (as cited from the University of Saskatchewan)

• A multi-staged institutional initiative that supports societal reconciliation
• An intentional, culturally sensitive and appropriate approach to adding Indigenous ideas, concepts, and practices into curricula, when and where it is appropriate
• A strategic set of changes to policies, procedures and practices that increase inclusion, break down barriers and realign institutional, college and school outcomes without harm to previously established goals
• An iterative developmental approach to understanding Canada’s colonial history and the more contemporary issues impacting Indigenous people. Engaging in critical reflections from a professional and/or personal perspective about how to build safe and ethical spaces for Indigenous knowledges, worldviews, and practices.

Through developing a deeper understanding of educational Indigenization, I will have a better understanding of ways in which curriculum conceptions might be  changed or re-imagined to reflect a more appropriately aligned response to the Calls to Action # 62 i, #63 i, ii, iii, iv. 

Specifically, 

• Make age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Indigenous peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions to Canada a mandatory education requirement for kindergarten to grade 12 students.

• Sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to residential schools and Aboriginal history.

• Identifying teacher-training needs 

• Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect.

The first and most obvious innovation to current curriculum is in the implementation of Treaty Education in all classrooms, Kindergarten to Grade 12. 

In Manitoba the Treaty Education initiative is growing in leaps and bounds and is having an impact on the learning of every school leader in my school division. We believe that the promotion of Treaty education in our Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools is a way for all relations to come together and to reconcile their own Treaty Story. 

Treaty training packages are offered Through the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba and include participation in a two day training session plus a Treaty Kit. I have participated in this training and we encourage all classroom teachers to attend the sessions and to use the resources by the TRCM in their classrooms with students so that students and teachers alike can benefit from learning about the true history of Treaty. The overall goal of the TRCM remains “to advance Treaty education in all areas of K-12. Through developing an understanding of land and locations of Treaty communities, Canadians will have a better understanding of the history of the land that they occupy. 

Furthermore, I believe that understanding of the multiple and diverse languages, teachings and cultural ceremonies are important for educational Indigenization and should be considered and respected in Canadian educational systems. I believe in the importance of moving away from the activity trap of, for example,  “Tipi Tuesdays” and to move towards deep learning and understanding of Indigenous perspectives, ways of knowing and doing. 

In my current school context we support and promote smudging in all schools. Smudging is ceremonial practice that is highly valued and respected by our Indigenous relations. After the discovery of the 215 children that did not make it home, in collaboration with the members of my Indigenous student success teachers, we planned for 4 consecutive days of online smudging/cleansing opportunities. On each day we had over 300 students and staff attend and as a community we came together to mourn, honour and respect those lives lost in a very beautiful and collective way.

In short, I believe that to reconceptualize curriculum that includes Indigenous education and Knowledge I think about:

• Treaty education
• The history of residential schools learning
• Learning through story
• The partnership with Elders and Knowledgekeepers
• Project based learning
• Languages
• Culture and Ceremony
• Approaches that are less direct and intrusive
• Inquiry based, student centered learning approaches
• Collaboration

To this point, I have shared some ideas on Indigenous education and historical approaches to Indigenous ways of knowing through the comparison chart as well as some of the additional factors that need to be considered in moving toward educational Indigenization. There is a lot to learn and understand and I continue to move along in my personal journey with this beautiful work.

References:

Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba

University of Alberta: Pulling Together: A guide for Indigenization of post-secondary institutions. A professional learning series.

University of Saskatchewan