(2012). "They Tell a Story and There's Meaning behind That Story": Indigenous Knowledge and Young Indigenous Children's Literacy Learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, v12 n4 p389-414 Dec. This research draws on the reflections from group discussions with indigenous families and interviews with early childhood educators and community stakeholders from five First Nations reserve communities in Canada whose young children participate in the national aboriginal Head Start On Reserve (AHSOR) programme. The purpose of the study was to examine the contributions of indigenous knowledge to young indigenous children's literacy learning. In the course of this examination what became clear is that there is a greater set of literacy activities in these families than is recognized by early learning settings. Further, there is a literacy orientation within their indigenous knowledge systems that, draws on oral tradition, land-based experiences and ceremonial practices that, when linked to the discourses of schooling and literacy, provide the basis for improving educational outcomes for indigenous children and families, whose relationship with schooling has been historically… [Direct]
(2013). An Outlier's Dream: Improving Post-Secondary Education Opportunities for Aboriginal Inmates. Education Canada, v53 n1 Win. A conversation with a John Howard Society volunteer prompts the author to reflect on how to improve educational opportunities for his incarcerated Aboriginal peers. He relates his personal experience of completing an undergraduate degree while in prison, highlighting the ways in which the prison environment has shaped his learning process. After making recommendations on how to improve higher learning opportunities for Aboriginal prisoners, the author appeals to economic and social justice considerations for public support. He concludes by sharing his dream of an inclusive Canada that provides equal opportunity for Aboriginal prisoners who seek freedom through education. (Contains 7 endnotes.)… [Direct]
(2012). Mathematics Remediation for Indigenous Students with Learning Difficulties: Does It Work?. Online Submission, US-China Education Review A 12 p1022-1033. Over-reliance on prescriptive pedagogies, such as explicit instruction, could hamper students with learning difficulties from sense-making and thus limit their acquisition of conceptual understanding. To help them in constructing mathematical knowledge, manipulative and drawing could be used to solve problems in a meaningful context. Using a case study design, teaching and learning process of a native teacher and her six indigenous students in a mathematics remediation classroom at an elementary school located in the interior area was investigated. Qualitative data were collected using observation, interview, and students' work. Research findings showed that participating teacher tended to use manipulative through explicit instruction to explain meaning of number operations. Students were taught drawing to get answers for computational problems. Problem-solving process was teacher-directed but students were capable to perform simple reasoning. However, students were weak in… [PDF]
(2022). Proceedings of the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2021 du Groupe Canadien d'√âtude en Didactique des Math√©matiques (44th, Virtual, June 11-13, 2021). Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group With COVID-19 continuing to make meeting face-to-face impossible, the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group/Groupe Canadien d'√âtude en Didactique des Math√©matiques (CMESG/GCEDM) executive decided that, for the first time, the CMESG/GCEDM meeting would be held virtually. By necessity, the program had to be much compressed with no topic sessions and no gallery walk. The 44th annual meeting took place June 11-13, 2021. These proceedings contain one plenary lecture, five working groups, one panel, 13 new PhD reports, and two ad hoc sessions. Twenty-two papers are included in these proceedings–three papers are written in both French and English; one paper is written in French; and the remainder are written in English. [For the 2019 proceedings, see ED610111.]… [PDF]
(2015). Partnership for Change: Promoting Effective Leadership Practices for Indigenous Educational Success in Aotearoa New Zealand. eJEP: eJournal of Education Policy, spec iss p93-109. In early 2014, a team of researchers was invited into partnership with the Maori Success Initiative (MSI), a national, indigenous led network of Maori and non-Maori principals committed to working collaboratively to raise Maori student achievement. Working with over sixty principals across six regional clusters throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, these researchers utilised critical Kaupapa Maori methodology to observe, engage, and support MSI's vision of A Change in the Hearts and Minds of Principals in mainstream contexts. Qualitative data collected from leadership surveys, hui reflective statements, and other documents were analysed to validate and strengthen MSI's efforts to establish a critical mass of effective school leadership practices that promote and sustain Maori success as Maori. This paper highlights the research and outcomes resulting from evaluating the personal and professional growth of MSI leaders. Finally, implications for effective, culturally responsive leadership… [PDF]
(2015). Preparing for Parents: How Australian Teacher Education Is Addressing the Question of Parent-School Engagement. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v35 n1 p69-84. Parent-school engagement is widely embraced as a policy and educational ideal, yet to date there are few studies of how teacher education prepares students for this important aspect of their professional lives. In this paper, we consider findings from a recent Australian study that explored how the issue of parent-school relations is currently addressed in Australian initial teacher education programmes. The study is situated within the broader policy context of teaching standards. Our findings challenge suggestions that parent-school engagement is largely absent from pre-service programmes, and although the study recognizes gaps and discontinuities, it also identifies four key domains in which initial teacher education currently prepares students for parent engagement. We argue that students are being prepared for parent-school engagement in a variety of ways, but that there is insufficient continuity to ensure that all beginning teachers have a thorough understanding of how to work… [Direct]
(2016). Shaping Subjects of Globalisation: At the Intersection of Voluntourism and the New Economy. Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, v35 n4 p415-440 Jul. Volunteer tourism is one of the latest branches of the ever expanding globalised tourism. The initiative Workaway, an expression of this trend, was established in the late 90s with the aim of promoting "cultural understanding between different peoples and lands throughout the world". The figure of the workawayer as a new cosmopolitan subjectivity started to take shape. With the growth of the tourism industry, the Workaway scheme has started to be of interest also to tourism entrepreneurs, especially in the global peripheries such as northern Lapland, home to the indigenous minority language community of the S√°mi. By signing up as a volunteer in a heritage tourism resort, the workawayer, the cultural adventurer, becomes linked up to the network of the globalised new economy. Drawing on aspects of governmentality studies, discourse studies and ethnographic approaches, this study traces the translocal formation of the figure of the workawayer through two crucial technologies… [Direct]
(2014). Indigenous Rights in Aotearoa/New Zealand–Inakitia Rawatia Hei Kakano Mo aPopo: Students' Encounters with Bicultural Commitment. Childhood Education, v90 n1 p20-28. Teacher quality and the preparation of quality teachers have been at the center of debates and discussions related to improving educational outcomes among diverse student populations across the world. In New Zealand, the education system emphasizes high-quality, bicultural practice among teachers through regulations and curriculum that call for adequate teacher preparation on bicultural pedagogical practice. This article sheds light on the gap between the policy goals and the reality of primarily monolingual and monocultural paradigms within the school system; it also brings forth the need to promote culturally inclusive understanding, knowledge, and skills among preservice teachers. The issues discussed in this article address concerns about education structures and processes that deny equity of educational opportunities to linguistically and culturally marginal student populations…. [Direct]
(2013). Inspired Art in the Bear's Paw Mountains. Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, v25 n1 Aug. This article introduces the reader to Art professor John Murie, of Stone Child College as he discusses how Native art is constantly evolving and integrating new ideas. Art symbolizes meaning–an awareness and realization of a mystical foundation of intersubjectivity, amd a communication between the artist and the admirer. Murie maintains that American Indian artists find their own ways with drawing and painting. He stresses that Native artists want to be known for their originality–just like any artist. And like art everywhere, art at Stone Child College is non-static; it is constantly evolving and combining new ideas with honored traditions…. [Direct]
(2013). Teaching Aboriginal Perspectives: An Investigation into Teacher Practices amidst Curriculum Change. Canadian Social Studies, v46 n1 p31-43 Spr. This paper reports on a study exploring ways in which five experienced teachers interpreted and responded to a curricular initiative in Alberta calling for teachers to help students see social studies through multiple perspective lenses representing Aboriginal (and Francophone) communities. Over the course of the study, which focused primarily on how the research participants integrated Aboriginal perspectives in their teaching, the teachers generally interpreted and practiced the teaching of multiple perspectives as providing students with alternative viewpoints on contemporary issues. Of note were teachers' resistances to affording room for Aboriginal perspectives, and a general absence of engagements with these perspectives in the classroom. I argue that these resistances may stem from the legacy of a collective memory project that has worked to foster a historical consciousness that makes it hard to perceive, as well as acknowledge the relevance of engaging 'Other' perspectives…. [PDF]
(2014). The Politics of Disagreement in Critical Education Policy Studies: A Response to Morsy, Gulson and Clarke. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, v35 n3 p462-469. This paper engages with Morsy, Gulson and Clarke's response to the recent special issue of "Discourse" (Vol. 34, No. 2) that examined evolutions of markets and equity in education. We welcome Morsy, Gulson and Clarke's supplementation of the special issue with the genealogical analysis they provide of private school funding in Australia and the attention they draw to elisions of race, ethnicity, Indigeneity and whiteness in contemporary framings of equity in policy and research. We also clarify and expand on some of the aims and arguments that framed the special issue. However, we feel that any response adequate to the "event" that Morsy, Gulson and Clarke hope to stage–that is, a "debate redux" and politics of dissensus in education as an antidote to depoliticisation–must extend beyond the rehearsal of pre-existing positions; it cannot stop at endorsing or critiquing the points raised in their paper, or reiterating the rationales and arguments of the… [Direct]
(2014). Red Dirt Thinking on Remote Educational Advantage. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, v24 n1 p51-67. The discourse of remote education is often characterised by a rhetoric of disadvantage. This is reflected in statistics that on the surface seem unambiguous in their demonstration of poor outcomes for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. A range of data support this view, including National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) achievement data, school attendance data, Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data and other compilations such as the Productivity Commission's biennial "Overcoming Disadvantage" Report. These data, briefly summarised in this paper, paint a bleak picture of the state of education in remote Australia and are at least in part responsible for a number of government initiatives (state, territory and Commonwealth) designed to "close the gap." However, for all the rhetoric about disadvantage and the emphasis in strategic policy terms about activities designed to "close the gap," the results of the… [Direct]
(2014). Development of a Responsive Literacy Pedagogy Incorporating Technology for the Indigenous Learners in Malaysia. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET, v13 n2 p44-53 Apr. The aim of this study is to develop a literacy pedagogy to facilitate literacy learning among the Indigenous community in Malaysia. The Developmental Research Approach method was used and thus various groups of people participated in the study. They included subject matter experts, English language teachers from schools with indigenous students, indigenous community as well as indigenous learners in the context of the study. Insights gained from these participants were used as content for the design and development of a literacy pedagogical module. The module encompassing a digital story was implemented in two schools for indigenous students situated in Peninsular Malaysia. Findings from the study indicated that the literacy pedagogy in the module was a successful intervention which enabled the indigenous learners to respond and engage in the lessons. Evaluation of the module also revealed that literacy initiatives for the indigenous learners should be culturally responsive and… [PDF]
(2017). Ministry of Education 2016/17 Annual Service Plan Report. British Columbia Ministry of Education This Annual Service Plan Report discusses the results related to measures in the Ministry of Education's 2016/17-2018/19 Service Plan. British Columbia's education system continues to rank among the best in the world. This year over 640,000 students attended public and independent schools in every corner of the province, eager to develop their skills, explore their passions and discover their full potential. The first phase of implementation of B.C.'s new K-12 curriculum, with all K-9 students now learning the curriculum and some grades 10-12 teachers using the curriculum in draft form has been completed. The new curriculum is designed to make sure kids get the skills they need to succeed. As the new curriculum rolls out, teachers continue to get support throughout the province with training and professional development time so they are ready to bring it to life in classrooms. Additionally, the government continues to make record investments to support student learning by building,… [PDF]
(2017). Science Teachers' Perception on Multicultural Education Literacy and Curriculum Practices. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, v13 n6 p2761-2775 Jun. This study aimed to explore the current status of teachers' multicultural education literacy and multicultural curriculum practices, with a total of 274 elementary school science teachers from Taitung County as survey participants. The questionnaire used a Likert-type four-point scale which content included the teachers' perception of multicultural education literacy and their multicultural education curriculum practices. The primary findings were as follows: (1) Teachers' perception of multicultural education literacy reflected a highly positive and affirming attitude. (2) Teachers from various backgrounds did not demonstrate significant differences in their perception related to multicultural education literacy. (3) Teachers who graduated from junior teacher colleges, normal universities, or teacher colleges and those who teach natural sciences were more likely to place importance on multicultural concepts and practices in their curriculum. (4) Although teachers had a high level of… [Direct]