UAED Student Project:
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Author: Rebecca Chartrand
Edited by: Barbara McMillan
Date: June, 2010
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Conclusion
Bibliography
Conclusion
Much is being hidden and subdued when we fail to look beyond modern and Western notions of Aboriginal education. We must distinguish between local First Nations and consider how the knowledge embedded in the life-ways of distinct peoples is used to integrate “Aboriginal” perspectives in public school curricula and teaching/ learning resources. In order to effectively and respectfully merge both Western and Aboriginal perspectives, it is necessary for local perspectives to be used to substantiate Aboriginal education. The first step in this process is to look deeply into the term “Aboriginal education”, to differentiate between the various First Nations peoples. Adopting a place-conscious, historical and cultural stance is one useful method for looking beyond modern notions of Aboriginal education. Such a standpoint takes us outside a modern template of Western education and enables us to look at what existed locally prior to European contact. It center’s our attention enabling the consideration and validation of knowledge from both ends of the Western-Aboriginal epistemological and pedagogical continuum.
We must open our minds and recognize the many ways of knowing (epistemologies) and the many ways to come to this knowing (pedagogy). The task of integrating Aboriginal perspectives presents unique opportunities to step outside the lock-step approach to teaching and learning that defines much of formal schooling. It is an opportunity, outside the concerns of mandated learning outcomes and criterion referenced assessments, where teachers are encouraged to be creative, to access resources and community capital, to let the integration of Aboriginal perspectives emerge organically from and with the unique context and situation of what the school and Aboriginal community has to offer. This is a non-technical, non-prescriptive approach to teaching and learning. It deviates from the norm of transmitting knowledge and skills within a technocratic approach.
As the conceptualization and implementation of Aboriginal perspectives continues to unfold, it is interwoven with our traditional and modern attempts to decipherer what Aboriginal education is. The need to define Aboriginal education in definite terms serves Western institutionalized ways of teaching and learning, and in acknowledging these ways, we must not lose sight of the fact that Aboriginal peoples must be part of this process. Accuracy and legitimacy are lost if we rely solely on print materials to integrate Aboriginal perspectives.
As more Aboriginal peoples pursue education as a career, they will bring their distinct voices and add clarity to this unfolding dialogue. As an Anishinaabe/Métis person, I myself have attempted to capture the essence of Aboriginal education from my own critically reflective centre. I have attempted to examine components of Anishinaabe pedagogy to learn how it is taken up within the context of public schools. Although place-based learning and a place-conscious lens have been useful processes that illuminate an Anishinaabe presence in local Aboriginal education initiatives, we must recognize that Aboriginal education has many goals some of which are explicit and others which are not. Aboriginal education is not just about increasing academic success for Aboriginal learners. At its base is the need to illuminate the authentic voice and presence of peoples. We must then consider how to maintain a delicate balance between the ways of knowing, teaching, learning and the expectations, aspirations and limitations that accompany both ends of the Western-Aboriginal continuum. From an Aboriginal perspective, this clarity emerges naturally as we tell and listen to each of our stories. This is where we begin the philosophical discussion of the aspirations, aims and goals of what we intend to do to support teaching and learning.
Overall, storytelling as pedagogy creates opportunities for all students to include their own voice and to learn from people of their own life-worlds. It can counter the alienating effect that schools often have on students. As noted by Michael Apple (2009), schools and our curriculum often orient students’ attention away from their own internal and cultural narratives, which creates a disconnect from the immediacy of their life-worlds. When I reflect back on my identity and learning, I realize that I was not aware of who I was as an Anishinaabe/Métis person and that I often felt that I was fighting internally and externally against negative stereotyping. If not challenged, this could have limited my life opportunities. I was, however, fortunate to have attended schools such as Aberdeen Junior High, Argyle, and Children of the Earth High School at a time when the teachers were practicing what I perceive as place-based learning. This kind of learning coupled to Anishinaabe pedagogy placed me at the critical centre of my own being and learning processes. It was the beginning of empowering learning experiences. I was able to utilize my own life experience and local cultural narratives to enliven learning. Overall, this approach was important because it taught me to be (place) conscious of myself and my surroundings on many levels.
As illustrated in the First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning model (Canadian Council of Learning, 2007), it is important that students are placed at the critical centre of their learning. Telling our stories adds clarity to what we understand and mean from our personal location. It illustrates how schools and their catchment communities can work together to foster learning by instilling a sense of purpose and belonging in students. We must, however, be conscious and consistent in our efforts to achieve/nurture this sort of learning environment. Anishinaabe pedagogy creates opportunities to hear multi-narratives. It encompasses people, places, stories and learning processes that generate a critically reflective, holistic, student centered, inclusive learning pedagogy. It is another teaching and learning framework that teachers can choose to utilize. It allows learners to engage in the learning process from each of their own inner spaces within a critical reflective paradigm. This allows students to learn from their own knowing and to value their personal knowledge and experiences as a starting point to relate to topics and themes from their own intellect, emotion, cultural and gender orientations. It allows each learner to engage in learning from a personal space that is thoughtful and critically reflective in nature. Essentially the philosophy is that we each must become the expert of our own life by making use of our own life experiences as the basis for learning and provide a place for family, culture, and community. Education, within the constructs of the holistic lifelong learning model, is good for all students.
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