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A Review of Psychodynamic Perspectives on Working With Children, Families, and Schools
No full textA book review of Psychodynamic Perspectives on Working With Children, Families, and Schools. O’Loughlin, M. (2013) Psychodynamic perspectives on porking with children, families, and schools. Plymouth, UK: Jason Aronson Publishe
Dream Weaving as Praxis: Turning Culturally Inclusive Education and Anti-Racist Education Into a Decolonial Pedagogy
No full textUtilizing the parameters of the dreaming phase in the decolonizing framework developed by Poka Laeuni (2009), this paper investigates how culturally inclusive education and anti-racist education philosophies have been posited as potential approaches to decolonizing Canadian K-12 schools. To examine how culturally inclusive education manifests in Ontario’s K-12 system as a result of the Ontario First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Educational Policy Framework, this paper explores three topic areas. First, I provide a literature review of culturally inclusive education; second, I offer a literature review of anti-racist education; and third, having assessed the shortcomings of the two pedagogies previously, I conclude that neither culturally inclusive education nor anti-racist education are sufficient alone as decolonizing strategies. From this analysis, I hypothesize that by weaving components of the two pedagogies together, a possible decolonizing framework may be created. Keywords: education; culturally inclusive education; anti-racist education; Indigenous education; decolonizatio
Touring Turtle Island: Fostering Leadership Capacity to Support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Learners
No full textThis paper reports on findings from a research study that examined the design, delivery, and effects of a graduate level summer institute, the aim of which was to foster the capacity of educational leaders to support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) learners. Our study is conceptually framed using elements of critical race and Whiteness theory, and red pedagogy/culturally relevant pedagogy. We designed the institute and our methods around Kirkness\u27s and Barnhardt’s (1991) 4 R’s of success in higher education environments: relevance, reciprocity, responsibility, and respect. Data for the study were gathered using a qualitative, inquiry-based methodology, and articulated using Indigenous storywork and story. The primary data sources included online surveys and sharing circles conducted with past students of the course. Findings suggest that the summer institute helped to disrupt colonial assumptions; increase respect for Aboriginal knowledges, values, and experiences; offer relevance to educators who were able to use the learnings of the course in their own professional contexts; affirm the need for reciprocity between schools and FNMI families; and develop educational leaders’ sense of responsibility to ensure FNMI learners are supported in the public school system. Keywords: Indigenous education; educational leadership; educational administration; critical race theory; Whiteness theory; red pedagogy; culturally relevant pedagogy; teacher educatio
Confronting Race and Colonialism: Experiences and Lessons Learned From Teaching Social Studies
No full textLiterature on teacher education and encounters with race highlight some of the difficulties that teacher candidates face when they confront their own racialized subjectivities. However, many of these projects focus exclusively on Whiteness studies, explicating how White teacher candidates come to witness their own racialized Whiteness in relation to their epistemological understandings of the world. In this paper, I diverge from this pattern of thought, exploring a subset of the tenets of critical race theory, that of silences and exclusions, pervading my own teaching in a primary/junior social studies methods class and exploring how these structured my lessons. Specifically, I look at how counternarratives, critiques against liberalism, and multiculturalism and encounters with racialized and colonial supremacy were involved in my pedagogical strategies. I conclude by suggesting that although these methods may seem daunting for the primary/junior classroom, they can provide valuable insights for teacher candidate orientations to their own pedagogies. Keywords: social studies pedagogy; anti-racism in practic
Disrupting Colonial Mindsets: The Power of Learning Networks
No full textIf changes that make a difference to Aboriginal learners are to be effected in public schools, then transformational change is required (Menzies, Archibald, & Smith, 2004). How is transformational change best achieved? In this article, I argue, based on a recently completed study (McGregor, 2013) that teacher learning—particularly among non-Aboriginal teachers—is critical to effecting transformation in how teachers think about Aboriginal learners as well as how they plan and deliver fully inclusive learning opportunities. After outlining a theoretical framework for transformation focused on networked, inquiry-based learning and culturally inclusive practices, I explore how one particular teacher-learning network—the Aboriginal Enhancement Schools Network (AESN) in British Columbia, Canada, offers a powerful example of how teacher learning networks can enable deep and transformational change among participating teachers and leaders. I provide exemplary stories of transformation to illustrate the power of this model to effect changes in teacher beliefs and mindsets about Aboriginal learners and culturally inclusive practices. Following this, I identify several key enabling features of the AESN, including socially just, distributed forms of leadership, relational accountability (Wilson, 2008), and affiliative, catalytic models of implementation, a focus on “new, strong and wise ways” (Halbert & Kaser, 2012, p.11) of learning, and provincial and district resources that support network learning activity. The conclusion highlights implications of this study for school jurisdictions and policy makers. Keywords: networked teacher learning; transformational change; socially just leadershi
First Nations in Canada: Decolonization and Self-Determination
No full textThe study of geo-political and policy relationships between First Nations and Canada enables one to consider how Canada has used education as a process of colonizing First Nations, and to consider decolonization and self-determination as processes in education that can derail oppression in First Nation communities. From the position of an Indigenous paradigm, I use histography as an organizing element and consider power relationships through the metaphor of Foucault’s (1991) conceptual framework of panopticism. Colonization processes are deeply rooted in the historical context, policies, and institutions of Canada. Paternalistic power structures and colonization has impacted many generations in First Nation communities. Decolonization and self-determination processes provide an opportunity for First Nation communities to find their own answers. Keywords: Indigenous education; decolonization; self-determinatio
The "Ontario First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework": A Case Study on its Impact
No full textIn 2007, the Ontario Government implemented the Ontario First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework. Some schools and school boards have been active in piloting and supporting these initiatives. Because this is a newly implemented policy direction, I wanted to begin to assess best practices and challenges, so I asked participants at one school board and one high school what impact their participation in the Aboriginal education program initiatives had on them professionally, academically, and personally. The Aboriginal programming initiatives, like the ones in which I have participated and studied, have been found to be personally and academically/professionally transformative for administrators, teachers, and youth. As Indigenous-focused curriculum is brought into the mainstream, and as a space is created to consider and include Indigenous perspectives, there is potential for Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants to experience powerful learning opportunities, some of which may transform their perceptions of Canadian history and for contemporary Indigenous people to be valued, though many challenges remain systemically to decolonize the educational realm
Synthesis: A Poetic Exploration of the Integral Model Investigating the Interconnected Strands of Mindfulness in Our Educational Landscapes
No full textAs a researcher, I am seeking a mode of inquiry that would allow for a reflection on mindfulness and the role it plays in curriculum and learning. Needing to merge my personal voice with the diverse educational landscape, I found that poetic storytelling allowed me to “present possibilities for understanding the complex, mysterious, even ineffable experiences that comprise human living” (Chambers, Hasbe-Ludt, Leggo, & Sinner, 2012, p. xx). Using first-person auto-ethnographical narrative as a research methodology and the Integral Model as a theoretical framework (Wilber, 2000, 2006, Wilber, Patten, Leonard, & Morelli, 2008), the interconnected strands of mindfulness are synthesized within the four quadrants of the model. Self, Science, Storytelling, and Systems are components of mindfulness that together formulate a holistic understanding as “integral theory weaves together the significant insights from all major human disciplines of knowledge, including natural and social science as well as the arts and the humanities” (Visser, 2003).Keywords: education; narrative inquiry; qualitative researc
The Many Paths to Sophia: Toward a Deeper Philosophical Appreciation of Poetry
No full textAlthough the argument against poetry may have had its locus classicus in Plato’s Republic, the philosophical qualms against poetry are deeply rooted and are not unique to Plato’s philosophy. We begin by considering the reasons why some philosophers once believed that philosophy was superior to poetry, and then we regard some of these prejudices and how they have been debunked in contemporary philosophy. Our main purpose in this paper is to move beyond this inadequate understanding of poetry to a deeper philosophical appreciation of it.Keywords: poetry; philosophy; educatio
“The Receiver No Longer Holds the Sound”: Parents, Poetry, and the Voices We Create in the World
No full textIn this article, we explore how poetic inquiry informed by duoethnography enables us to know our parents better and to reflect on our relationships with them after their deaths. We are interested in how this process of inquiry deepens our thinking about the nature of research and writing as well as about teaching and community work. Through the lens of poetry, we have been able to see beyond the received family histories of whom our parents were and to fashion a more layered and nuanced picture not only of them, but also of the social forces that shaped them, and in turn shaped us as researchers and social activists. Sources for our work include Heather’s father’s poetry and Gisela’s poems, which draw from interviews with her mother and anecdotes her mother told her as she was growing up.Keywords: poetic inquiry; duoethnography; parent