4. Reconciliation: are folks in education ready?
This is the question I am now asking myself. Yes, there is dialogue at the national level. Yes, investments and committees have been dedicated to Reconciliation and movement has been made in a positive direction. But what is the readiness of teachers, curriculum planners, and publishers to engage Reconciliation?
To begin, let's look at a few sources that talk about how teachers are feeling. In a CBC video, Isaiah Shafqat, the Indigenous Student Trustee for the Toronto District School Board, is interviewed. He states that, in his district, students are more than willing to learn about indigenous perspectives, and teachers are more than willing to teach (CBC The National, 2021). In PEI, Nancy Peters-Doyle says things are moving in the right direction. She is Mi'kmaw herself, is a member of the Indigenous Education Advisory Committee and teaches at 2 island schools, one on reserve and another in a small nearby non-aboriginal community. She states, in her interview, that cogs are turning, ears are listening and, [she] think[s], in a genuine way – more than they ever have (Government of Prince Edward Island, 2022).
So, it would seem that teachers are willing to learn to navigate these uncharted waters, with their students, but are they being supported by their curriculum developers?
Ontario has pledged to begin teaching about Residential schools to students in grades 1-3 by September 2023 and are actively developing curriculum to support teachers in this endeavour (CBC/Radio Canada, 2021). This curriculum will be mandatory, which would be a huge positive, according to Bobbie-Jo Leclair, the Indigenous Education Consultant for the Louis Riel School Division, in Manitoba. She explains that when young students learn about Indigenous life before the arrival of settlers, they will be ready, when they are older, to have more difficult conversations in class about contact (CBC The National, 2021). In PEI, a committee was formed to help guide Reconciliation Education in 2021. I couldn't find much online about The Indigenous Education Advisory Committee that is composed of members representing a variety of groups, including the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI, Abegweit First Nation, Lennox Island First Nation, L’Nuey, the Department of Education and Early Learning, the Public Schools Branch, and UPEI’s Faculty of Education. Also, in PEI, Jack Headley, a Social Studies and Innovation Leader with the Department of Education and Early Learning is quoted as saying the Department wants to heighten all students’ awareness and understanding of Indigenous values, perspectives, and culture, and that work has begun on several initiatives, including a professional development course that helps raise awareness on the history of residential schools in Canada (Government of Prince Edward Island, 2022).
Finally, I came across some interesting quotes in these articles that, I would say, show a deep commitment on the part of National Publishers (employees from Nelson Publishing were interviewed in particular) to design materials in consultation with Indigenous knowledge keepers and support teachers as they move forward with their own ongoing learning. The first important detail is that Nelson Education has hired a National Director for Indigenous Education, Linda Isaac, member of Alderville First Nation. Her job is to travel from coast to coast to converse with Indigenous knowledge keepers and bring suggestions and ideas back to Nelson. All of the current resources and textbook entries that have to do with Indigenous communities at Nelson, have been written by Indigenous authors, as are the illustrations (Francis, 2021). To her, having students learn about Reconciliation at school and bring this knowledge home to their families, often places them in the role of educators, which, to her, is the true essence of Reconciliation, the education of others (CBC The National, 2021).
I'd like to close this post with a powerful quote from the President and CEO of Nelson Canada, Steve Brown. He says he is committed to keeping teaching materials up-to-date as the curriculum is developed. He is committed to quickly updating online learning materials, so they don't have to wait years for textbooks to be reprinted. Furthermore, he says that when "you wait to change those things on a publishing cycle, you lose a generation and let's face it, if you can't have truth in the classroom, what chance do we have in society" (CBC The National, 2021)?
Although I did not find a national survey to report on the readiness of teachers, curriculum developers and publishers, the articles I read presented interviews with many who are open and actively taking on this new direction. They are helping to forge new roads in education that will, in my opinion, lead to more empathy, more truth, more Reconciliation.
CBC/Radio Canada. (2021, September 29). Ontario announces New Indigenous curriculum for grades 1-3 . CBCnews. Retrieved July 12, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/indigenous-curriculum-announcement-1.6193600
CBC The National. (2021, September 30). Incorporating indigenous perspectives inside classrooms. YouTube. Retrieved July 9, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNmH7Gixero&ab_channel=CBCNews%3ATheNational
Government of Prince Edward Island. (2022, May 20). Education and empathy: Teaching the truth of Canada's indigenous peoples. Government of Prince Edward Island. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/news/education-and-empathy-teaching-the-truth-of-canadas-indigenous-peoples
Francis, A. (2021, June 21). How this first nations educator is working to bring the truth of indigenous lives to Canadian textbooks. thestar.com. Retrieved July 12, 2022, from https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/06/21/how-this-first-nations-educator-is-working-to-bring-the-truth-of-indigenous-lives-to-canadian-textbooks.html
Hi Melanie,
ReplyDeleteThank you. Thank you. Thank you.
This is a great post. I was a little surprised to see that Ontario hadn't already mandated Residential School education in the younger grades already. I come from a high school background and I assume that all elementary grades in Saskatchewan are teaching about Truth and Reconciliation. I know we had a curriculum renewal that embedded curricular outcomes dedication to Truth and Reconciliation along with Treaty Education at every grade level in nearly every subject. Now that you bring this up, I'm going to have to ask my colleagues if this is actually happening or if I am in a dreamworld.
I find it interesting (and often sadly horrifying) teaching grades 9-12 in a high school to see how students have interpreted the education they received in elementary school about Indigenous culture, Truth and Reconciliation, and Treaty Education. The reactions vary widely. Some students are shocked and seem like they have never heard of the Calls to Action (which is weird because we have a poster with every education-related call to action in each classroom in both English and French...). Some students are very well-versed. I had one student this year who scoffed at any time we made a connection to residential schools. I have a pretty short fuse for crappy attitudes, so I had her stay back after class one day and I asked her what was up. She told me her grade five teacher was "really into this stuff" and she learned everything then. Fortunately, I have a wicked-awesome support team at school and our Indigenous advisor came in and chatted with my class for an hour and her attitude softened a bit.
I really hope that Ontario can get Residential school teachings into the younger grades and I also sincerely hope that the teachers do a bang-up job teaching it too. I know I still get really nervous when I am teaching and a student probes further than my own understanding about Residential schools or Truth and Reconciliation. My sincere hope is that every teacher (and student) has adequate access and support to help discuss these challenging topics.
Sorry if I am rambling, but I also worry that families of youngsters need to be involved in this education. I see the ingrained beliefs that teenagers come from home with, and I can only imagine the comments like "well, my mom said..." or "my dad told me that..." could get pretty uncomfortable.
Anyway, thank you for a very interesting read!
Sara
Hi Melanie,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your blog post. It is so important to address and bring up topics and questions such as these. I am happy to read from your blog post that you found that most teachers are ready, open, and actively willing to educate students and begin to reconcile in the classroom. I have found that within my own school board and among other teacher educators, many are in agreement that this is a step in the right direction and what is necessary to begin to bridge the gap. What I am concerned about is the lack of preparedness, training, and support given to teachers to be prepared for this in our education system. I know within my own school board that many teachers still feel ill-prepared and do not feel confident teaching Indigenous topics. They are longing for more training and support. This is cumbersome as we have all of these teachers who WANT to educate our youth and learn more themselves, however we are lacking the resources to do so.
I really hope that we can continue to grow and that school boards in Ontario will continue to outsource teachings, professionals, and curriculum programming that will allow for teachers to feel more supported to best support, learn, and teach, towards reconciliation in the classroom.
Thank you so much for creating such a powerful post!
Amy