Page 274 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

248 S.L. Stewart

my lens in terms of some of the most important issues in teacher education for
Indigenous teachers and for non-Indigenous teachers working with Indigenous
students. The goal of this chapter is to describe some of the issues in Indigenous
teacher education that epitomize my understandings of the context, and to apply
them to Chinn and Hana’ike’s chapter. Much of the existing literature presents
therapeutic interventions or theoretical frameworks for working with Indigenous
populations within the public education system and to a lesser degree, from
Canadian and American Indigenous band-operated schools. This chapter is
designed to appeal to educators who wish to increase cross-cultural consciousness
and practices from an Indigenous paradigm. Through a process of exploration of
current intersections between Indigenous epistemologies, Indigenous pedagogies,
and Chinn and Hana’ike’s work, this discussion seeks to generate more questions
about Indigenous learning and the postsecondary institution’s role. Thus, there is a
focus on both the development of an Indigenous paradigm of education in the

academy and future research into teacher education in the context of Indigenous

epistemologies in the postsecondary system.
Indigenous education is a broad topic in terms of teacher education. For the
purpose of this discussion, three of the issues relevant to Indigenous learning in
teacher education in postsecondary contexts are presented in-depth. These issues
are (1) historical context of education, (2) educational attainment, and (3) cultural
ways of knowing (an Indigenous pedagogy).

Historical Context of Education

In examining how Indigenous peoples of all ages learn and exist in a society domi-
nated by a culture not their own, understanding sociopolitical historical realities are
necessary in order to set the context for discussion of the issues. According to oral
tradition, prior to first contact with Europeans in the sixteenth century, North
America’s Indigenous peoples’ societies existed with successful methods of deal-
ing with educational and health challenges. In Canada, implementation of federal
government policy through the creation and enforcement of the Indian Act in 1876
has also destroyed Indigenous cultures through the creation of land reserves, resi-
dential schools, and bureaucratic control. Indigenous settlements were chosen by
non-Indigenous governments, who forced Indigenous groups off their traditional
lands and onto other territories, often grouping bands together that had previously
no history of living together (Dickason 1997). These groupings were forced to
make new social structures and sustainable ways of life. Indigenous groups were
also relegated to lands with little or no natural resources, that is, lands not deemed
habitable or desirable for European settlers (Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples 1994).
Through the colonization, bureaucratization, missionization, and education pro-
cesses of the Canadian colonial governments, the control of education, healing,
and other health practices were largely transferred from Indigenous peoples to