Paper Summary

“Spontaneous Laughter and Good Marks”: From Policy Framework to Working Model

Tue, April 17, 8:15 to 9:45am, Vancouver Convention Centre, Floor: First Level, East Ballroom A

Abstract

Purpose: This paper interrogates the creation and potential usefulness of a model of urban Aboriginal education developed out of two years of significant provincial funding. It never loses sight of several generations of sometimes well-intentioned and always problematic relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people involved in schooling – students, parents, community members, teachers, curriculum developers, administrators and researchers. In the Simcoe County District School Board, the primary goal of the UAEPP was to create a model that allows for on-going work in promoting success for First Nation, Métis and Inuit students. Involving all students and staff in shifts in knowledge and understandings of persisting and historical relationships is integral to promoting that success and decolonizing schools and society. From the project’s inception, it was clear that two years of funding could never be enough to fully transform 400 years of colonial practices. But committed community members and district staff were determined to start the change, to regenerate the process of coming to know and to act on that knowledge.

Theoretical Framework: The research engaged Indigenous knowledge as the major theoretical framework. In particular, circle work (Graveline 2003; Serim 1998) served as the organizing theoretical principle or teaching. Starting from Visioning; moving to Building Relationships as the foundation for sound work; Gaining Knowledge as the core of the matter; and then Acting Wisely on that knowledge brought participants full circle to Re-Visioning and the next cycle of planning and implementation. Tuhiwai Smith’s (1999) theory of “decolonizing” further informed the analysis. While her work focuses on Indigenous peoples, we have taken it up to address sound schooling for all.

Methods and Data Sources: Collaboration with stakeholders was primary. Russell Bishop’s seminal work, Whakawhanaungatanga: Collaborative Research Stories and Verna St. Denis’s community-based research guided the mixed method research. Again, drawing on Indigenous methodologies (Kovach 2009), it involved approximately 100 participants in circlework focus groups and research conversations/interviews/electronic interviews. Informal conversations, policy analysis, documentary evidence, and extensive surveys with teachers, students and parents provided additional sources. Three interim reports and a final internal evaluation provided feed-forward (Bishop et al.) and feedback at various junctures.
Results: The strongest recommendation for fulfilling the promise of the project comes from teachers themselves and is supported keenly by community people. If teachers are going to do the work of enhancing the success of Aboriginal students and infusing related content and process across the curriculum to inform all students, they need support. They call for rigorous, on-going, culturally-sensitive professional development. Ideally, they want to work with Aboriginal resource people, knowledgeable of traditions, histories and current realities of the relationships amongst all Canadians with an Elder guiding the process. Adequate funding is essential.
Scholarly significance of the work: The paper concludes with a model for implementing a similar approach in other sites including a series of recommendations for strengthening this sound initiative. The project demonstrates the power of using research to improve education. The significance of policy in influencing such change cannot be underestimated.

Authors