Indigenous Pedagogy

This paper will review several examples of educational programs that have been framed as bridging indigenous knowledge and western science, locates them within the discourse of interculturality, and attempts to situate them as well on a spectrum/continuum of depth and practicality of project development, content and delivery. The focus on science education is an attempt by the author to deal head-on with criticism of western science as standing irretrievably oppositional to indigenous knowledge (IK). In the process we see examples of teacher-initiated programs, professional development, and a reconstituting of western science with its history, philosophy and sociology in order to reach IK. The goal is to stay as close to the classroom level as possible – to what teachers and students must actually face when bringing two (or more) knowledges together – and explore conditions conducive to successful intercultural learning experiences.
The aim of this paper is to approach intercultural education from both teaching and learning perspectives, contextualized within the developing intercultural discourse. Beginning with bilanguaging and border thinking in the classroom – defined as taking place between teachers and material, students and teachers, students and material, students and students – to teacher and government initiatives from the perspectives of those actually in the classroom, and the constructive and curricular elements found therein. We will look briefly at student thinking, specific methods of teacher training, examples of IK pedagogy, and two additional methods (curriculum development through lesson study and participatory/collaborative action research) currently used in other fields, but which hold potential for development of intercultural curricula. We conclude with a brief overview of best practices learned from the examples reviewed, and touch on how outcomes may contribute to the redefining of citizenship.

used to get reallyfrustrated during hulaclass. Ienjoyed dancing hula, but Ihad not yet learned to understand it beyond its physical aspects-which prevented me, at times, from doing "well" in class. Afterall,even though my family has called Hawai'i home for over 100 years, Iam not Hawaiian and was not raised with a holistic knowledge of this Indigenous tradition. Mykumu hula (hula teacher), on the other hand, livesand breathes hula in every aspect of his life. He spent the majority of his educational and professional career learning, dancing, and teaching hula, and was intimately familiar with the importance of adopting a Hawaiian worldview in order to convey the spirit of hula through the dance. The way he embodied hula was extremely profound, and my interactions with him inspired me to explore hula on a much deeper, more spiritual level. My pursuit of hula education, then, has become myongoing attempt to learn about hula from a Hawaiian perspective-a journey that Ishare, in part, in this chapter.

This research investigated the effects on two remote Indigenous communities of a Northern Territory (NT) of Australia education language policy, Compulsory Teaching in English for the First Four Hours of each School Day (FFHP).  Although the policy was introduced in 2008, it continues to have profound effects on the policy landscape of the NT which has never re-established the bilingual policy platform. 
The investigation involved a critical analysis of the FFHP and an ethnographic study of its effects. The research reported here follows two qualitative lines of study –  the policy text (the process and content of the policy) and policy discourse (the discourse around the policy) in addition to its effects on those it was targeting.
The data gathering methods entailed collecting key texts from critical moments of the FFHP implementation - the policy itself and operational guidelines in addition to media texts and a Hansard record.  The field data collection comprised interviews with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous language education experts, two community case studies (one of which retained its bilingual program at the school and one which did not as a result of the FFHP) and critical ethnographical research.  The latter used purposively selected adult and child participants for group and individual interviews (a total of 53).  Given the Indigenous context of the field research and the desire to accurately depict remote Indigenous perspectives, Indigenous methodologies and participatory research approaches were employed.  This entailed culturally appropriate consultation with participants, checking the accuracy and interpretation of interview data and Indigenous led participant selection. The analysis of the policy and key community interviews was achieved with critical discourse analysis (CDA).  The particular approach to CDA employed was that developed by Reisigl and Wodak (2001) called Historical Discourse Approach (HDA) which emphasises the historical situatedness of discourse and the political dimensions and contexts at work in political texts. CDA is also frequently paired with ethnographic data collection.  All community interviews were subjected to content analysis (CA) in order to deduce the major patterns and themes that arose in relation to the effects of the FFHP.  This study revealed a language and cultural hierarchy operating with the adoption of the FFHP that entails a postcolonial construction of Indigenous people as ‘invisible’ and deficient. Although not as blatant as the texts associated with the separately occurring Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER), there are distinctly covert negative representations that similarly allude to Indigenous abnormality and failure and imply criminality.  In addition, the ideologies, presuppositions and assumptions of neo-liberalism and symbolism of the nation-state operating in the policy, construe, if only covertly, Indigenous languages (ILs), culture and people as in need of mainstreaming to achieve higher socio-economic status, well-being and national ‘belonging’.  This is despite evidence that categorically demonstrates attachment to language and culture enhances well-being and socio-economic status. The effects of the policy on the two communities were surprisingly similar.  Both communities complained of erosion in community participation and employment at the local schools that undermined the economic independence, self-determination and governance of the local population.  Community participants were critical of the erratic policy creation and implementation and marginalisation of community members.  The community with suspended bilingual programs complained of greater negative academic, well-being, behaviour and cognitive effects on children and a deterioration in resilience, all of which were difficult, if not impossible, to address given the oppressive political climate ‘out bush’.  Such policy failure is common throughout the Indigenous policy landscape in Australia.  As a consequence of the lack of legislative protection offered to Indigenous people and abuse of international human rights entailed in the FFHP, this study highlights the need for future policy creation and evaluation to be conducted from an Indigenous perspective and governance.

Answering Augusto Boal’s call for further explorations of Legislative Theatre, this thesis asks how Canadian Legislative projects have contributed to our understanding of “theatre as politics” over and above the original Rio mandate. Utilizing a distinctly Anishinabe research methodology, I reflect upon my own practice as a Theatre of the Oppressed Joker from an Indigenous epistemological perspective. This thesis searches for how Legislative Theatre could be useful within the public education system, First Nations and Canadian state/settler relationships and negotiations, within municipal government, community-based organizations, and grassroots social justice initiatives. I conclude that Legislative Theatre is an innovative think tank methodology that potentially balances expert knowledge and experiential knowledge in respectful partnership. “Plays that make Policy” counter hegemonic forces using the performing arts. For Legislative Theatre to intervene successfully in law making it must empower citizenry to work with listening government. Therefore it requires cross-sectorial institutionalization to thrive.

This manuscript dissertation explores the teacher practices that promoted improved educational outcomes for Indigenous, high school students. Three manuscripts present the findings of two case studies, that collectively represent a qualitative reporting of 14 teachers/administrators, that were mainly non-Indigenous, who affected positive educational improvements for over 700 students. One case study was at a school in Saskatchewan, Canada, and the other was in New Zealand. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and observations. In the first chapter, I share a narrative that introduces the reader to my positionality in the research. Chapter 2 provides an academic introduction and an overview of the two case studies. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are the manuscripts that have been published in peer-reviewed journals or have been accepted and are currently in press. The first manuscript, Teacher strategies that improve education outcomes for Indigenous students, offers the f...

This newsletter-magazine highlights initiatives undertaken at the Institute of Canadian and Aboriginal Studies in 2016 and 2017, with a particular focus on the work and impact of Professor Tracy Coates.  In addition to being on the front cover of the magazine, highlights and mentions of Professor Coates' work can be found on pages: 5, 8, 9, 12, 17, 21, and 25.  With a short overview written by Professor Coates around funding and organizing efforts undertaken to produce a two-part Symposium on Indigenizing and Decolonizing Post-Secondary Education, using a functional and implementable relational research and analysis model at the University of Ottawa.
https://arts.uottawa.ca/canada/en/about-the-institute/initiatives-newsletter