Running head: INDIGENOUS EDUCATION 1

Indigenous Education in Canada:

Evaluating inclusion initiatives in adult education

Deborah Leal

Research and Critical Reflection in Adult Education

Brock University

March 2015
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Indigenous Education in Canada:

Evaluating inclusion initiatives in adult education

Policies of assimilation with origins in colonization and residential schools have

effectively denied Indigenous populations access to their culture, causing cumulative

damage across generations (Malreddy, 2009, p. 43). Today, policy makers are making a

solid attempt to reintegrate Indigenous culture and control into post-secondary

education (PSE).

Canada's Indigenous population, which comprises the First Nations, Mtis, and

Inuit people, has the fastest growing college-age cohort in the country but is

woefully underrepresented in higher education. More than one-third of

Indigenous students never finish high school, and those who go on to college are

at a significantly higher risk than others of dropping out. (Lewington, 2011, para.

5)

The Indigenous cohort is rising in number and collective power, demanding

meaningful education incorporating foregone Indigenous methodologies. Despite

current Indigenous inclusion initiatives underway in PSE, their effects and measured

outcomes have not been widely disseminated.

Research Question

Through a review of contemporary articles, existing research on the effects of

colonization on Indigenous PSE, the efforts made to reintegrate Indigenous concepts,

and the outcomes of such initiatives will be evaluated. At the conclusion, a

determination will be made on whether significant study has been undertaken and

findings made in evaluating the success of Indigenous integration initiatives in

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contemporary Indigenous PSE. The aim of this review is to determine if existing

research has answered whether policy makers been successful in incorporating

Indigenous ways of knowing into Canadian PSE with measurable results?

The nine articles reviewed were chosen from a total count of fifty Canadian

results for the following search terms and were sourced through the ERIC and

Academic Search Complete databases: indigenous, First Nations, native, Indigenous,

and education, adult education, university, college, and post-secondary.

Findings

Effects of Colonization on PSE

The literature reviewed supports the argument that colonization has informed the

Canadian education system, while focusing on Western ideals as prime and Indigenous

perspectives as inferior. As a result, the current structure of contemporary education in

Canada is inhospitable to Indigenous ways of knowing, as well as continues the cycle of

cultural and socio-economic subjugation of the Indigenous.

Legacy of socio-economic and structural barriers. Thiessen (2009) suggests

the negative outcomes in education attributed to certain minorities, including First

Nations, correlates with their socio-economic disadvantage in comparison to those

groups whom experience a higher level of cultural support (p. 6).

To validate this suggestion, Thiessen (2009) studies of three areas including:

affects of socio-economic factors and the role of culture, on pursuit of PSE. Specific to

First Nations, Thiessen (2009) concludes that youth are most likely to end their

education within high school and least likely to aspire to and enroll in PSE due to

cultural and structure barriers and socio economic position (p. 29).
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As a result, Thiessens (2009) study legitimizes the effects of colonization on the

ability of First Nations to attend post-secondary education due to structural factors.

Continuing colonial attitudes towards the Indigenous. Currie, Wild,

Schopflocher, Laing, and Veugelers (2012) measure the extent to which urban

Indigenous university students experienced racism, in order to support their call for

policies aimed at reducing racism directed at Indigenous people and the growth of

services to help Indigenous people cope with these experiences (p. 617).

Through in person surveys, data was collected that supports this view, namely

that the frequency of racial discrimination against Indigenous students was greater for

those who participate in their culture than those who do not (p. 620).

The implication for Indigenous initiatives in Canada is awareness that prejudice

against the Indigenous continues and there is a need to create a broader environment

of cultural diversity and inclusion of Indigenous culture in PSE.

Denial of Indigenous culture and ways of knowing. Malreddy (2009) focuses

his thesis on using a post-colonial framework to examine the historical context of

Indigenous education and provide a comprehensive understanding of the legacies of

colonization in Canada (p. 44). The role of residential schools in refusing to embrace

Indigenous languages, banning of spirituality, and removing learners from family

systems integral to Indigenous education, served to outlaw Indigenous culture

(Malreddy, 2009, p. 46).

Also, Malreddy (2009) utilizes his analysis of past Indigenous integration failures

to support his position which suggests contemporary education systems require

restructuring using Indigenous learning styles and traditions (p. 52).

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Contemporary Efforts to Incorporate Indigenous Methodologies in PSE

Inclusion initiatives were identified in the literature reviewed with recurring

themes supporting the integration of language, culture, context, and Indigenous

teaching methodologies in contemporary education. Concrete efforts are being made to

incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing back into a system based upon Western

ideals, with results that are yet unknown.

Effects of Indigenous inclusion initiatives on the non-Indigenous. Mills and

McCreary (2013) explore the effects of Indigenous education integration on public

sector unions while restructuring political policy in British Columbia, and the possibilities

for alliances between labour and Indigenous peoples (p. 1298).

In this study, Mills and McCreary (2013) examine real world examples of

initiatives taken to incorporate Indigenous control of Indigenous education in the College

sector, to prove that while the intentions behind these reforms are positive, the manner

in which they were implementation served to indenture existing prejudices toward

Indigenous populations in contemporary PSE staff and faculty (p. 1311).

Changing attitudes of non-Indigenous via ways of knowing. Castleden,

Daley, Sloan, Morgan, and Sylvestre (2013) claim the exclusion from educational

curricula of Indigenous worldviews has produced geographies of ignorance, however

through transformative learning non-Indigenous student attitudes about Indigenous

epistemologies can be transformed (p. 417).

Castleden et al. (2013) examine the role of geography education in perpetuating

colonial stereotypes around Indigenous culture and attempt to reverse the trend through

transformative learning workshops. After attending workshops based on Indigenous

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ways of knowing including storytelling, participants documented a changed attitude

towards Indigenous culture thus legitimizing the authors original claim (p. 491).

This study provides evidence that colonial attitudes can be transformed via the

inclusion of Indigenous methodologies in education reforms.

Luig, Freeland Ballantyne, and Kakfwi Scott (2011) state there are varied

relationships between the pedagogy of northern Indigenous people and the promotion

of lifelong well-being through experiential learning (p. 13).

Examining land based education initiatives at Dichinta and learner reactions,

Luig, Freeland Ballantyne, and Kakfwi Scott (2011) support their argument that moving

Indigenous learning into the sphere of PSE provides opportunities to increase the well-

being of Indigenous learners (p. 15).

The studies examined serve as a platform for sharing experiences, calls for

healing, and actions of renewal (p. 20) however, the specific benefits to the Indigenous

culture as a whole were not addressed beyond stating what needs to be achieved in

order to integrate such initiatives on a broader scale.

Further, Hatcher, Bartlett, Marshall, and Marshall (2009) argue the two-eyed

seeing approach in integrative science seeks to avoid knowledge domination by either

Western and Indigenous methods, relying on a holistic transdisciplinary curriculum (p.

141). While western science is based in the knowable Indigenous science differs in

that the aim is to become connected with the natural world (p. 143).

The authors review several methods in which Indigenous and Western theories

can be combined under the umbrella of Integrative Science, however they do not
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quantify the results of the Dichinta Academy integration to prove any measureable

benefit.

Results of Indigenous Inclusion Initiatives in PSE

There is a dearth of literature on the evaluation of integration efforts as outlined

above and few conclusions have been made on the efficiency of such initiatives. The

one article which includes an evaluation is not a true representative evaluation of the

results of Indigenous inclusion, but is indicative of a lack of Indigenous culture in

schools having a negative effect on Indigenous identity.

Need to empower Indigenous identity in PSE. Guvremont and Kohen (2012),

argue that while Indigenous languages in schools contribute to positive school

outcomes for children, there is no such correlation for Indigenous adults who have

progressed beyond high school (p. 2).

Reviewing the available data from the Indigenous Peoples Survey (2001),

Guvremont and Kohen (2012) find that speaking an Indigenous language was not

negatively associated with completing post-secondary school compared to those not

speaking an Indigenous language (p. 11).

Through this analysis, the authors legitimizing Indigenous language as valued

and desired by many Indigenous in the PSE system (p. 15), however the authors do not

cover the success of any Indigenous language initiatives currently present in PSE.

Discussion

Several findings have emerged in relation to the area of integrating Indigenous

concepts back into Adult Education resulting from the above review. A listing of these

findings follows examined within the context of the main focus question.
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Effects of Colonization on PSE

Colonization has had a major impact on Indigenous education and identity,

creating a barrier between the Indigenous and their traditional ways of knowing and

culture.

Within the articles reviewed, colonization was found to have destroyed access to

the methods through which Indigenous culture was passed down through generations,

with specific examples including denial of language, removal of familial supports, and

barriers to experiential learning, and learning by observation (Castleton, 2013, p. 488).

Without these vehicles to transmit generational culture, the identity of the Indigenous

was severely altered.

This finding is significant as it provides rationale for why the structure of

contemporary education in Canada excludes Indigenous methods, and why initiatives to

reintegrate are required to address the social-economic status of the Indigenous born of

the wounds on Indigenous identity.

Contemporary Efforts to Incorporate Indigenous Methodologies in PSE

Efforts have been made to reintegrate Indigenous culture and methodologies into

contemporary Canadian education. Hatcher et al. (2009) review such common

initiatives including Indigenous and Western collaboration, use of the medicine wheel,

storytelling, visualization and other Indigenous pedagogy, and increased supports to

address the unique culture of the Indigenous cohort.

This finding is significant as it demonstrates a recognition of a need to address

the failures of the current education structure in regard to Indigenous students, as the

fastest growing demographic in Canada.

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Results of Indigenous Inclusion Initiatives on PSE

There is a dearth of information available on the results of the integration of

Indigenous culture in Canada. The sources found provided several prescriptions on

what should be done to improve the situation for the Indigenous in Canada and how to

go about implementing the initiatives, but little actual measurement on whether such

initiatives have been successful to date.

The article by Guvremont and Kohen (2012) demonstrates the lack of current

evaluative measures, through its main focus on the correlation between Indigenous

language and PSE, but no attempt at evaluating any current language initiatives in

place for the Indigenous in PSE.

Aside from the Guvremont and Kohen (2012) article which was minimally

relevant, the search for studies on efficiency of Indigenous Initiatives in contemporary

Canadian PSE did not materialize in any significant results to date.

Interpretation

The results of the aforementioned literature review leads to the conclusion that,

although there has been meaningful progress made including Indigenous content into

contemporary education, the success of such initiatives has yet to be quantified. It

would be easy to assume that simply by offering these programs where there were

none, Western based education has provided a benefit to the demographic by including

Indigenous culture, methods, and ways of knowing. However, without study and

resulting evidence of concrete benefits of such programs, Indigenous inclusion

initiatives demonstrate a modern perpetuation of historic failed attempts to pacify the

Indigenous population through the guise of good intentions and meaningful change.
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Recommendation for Further Research

The primary challenge for subsequent study and review in terms of the legitimacy

of Indigenous inclusion initiatives will be to determine the definition of success, followed

by an evaluation of the current Indigenous education programs in Canada to determine

if policy makers have been successful in incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing into

Canadian PSE with measurable results. However, the definition of success must be

made in consultation and/or under the control of subject matter experts of Indigenous

heritage, lest this study become another exercise in exerting colonial control.

This is the area of Indigenous adult education recommended for further study as

a result of the preceding literature review.

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References

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Indigenous peoples in Canada. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 37(4),

487-499. doi:10.1080/03098265.2013.796352

Currie, C. L., Wild, T. C., Schopflocher, D. P., Laing, L., & Veugelers, P. (2012). Racial

Discrimination Experienced by Aboriginal University Students in Canada.

Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 57(10), 617-625.

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school outcomes for children and adults. International Journal of Bilingual

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Hatcher, A., Bartlett, C., Marshall, A., & Marshall, M. (2009). Two-Eyed seeing in the

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