Page 276 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

250 S.L. Stewart

Educational Attainment and Achievement

Indigenous university students represent an elite population within the greater
population of Canadian Indigenous peoples because compared to non-Indigenous
Canadian populations, very few Indigenous adults enter and complete postsec-
ondary studies. Statistics show that in the case of status Indians, only 20% of those
under the age of 24 have pursued some form of postsecondary education, compared
with 42% of their non-Indigenous peers (Junor and Usher 2004). However, the gap
in university graduates remains wide. In 1996, 6% of Indigenous people aged
25–64 completed university education. This increased to 8% in 2001. For non-
Indigenous Canadians, 23% of the population aged 25–64 had a university educa-
tion in 2001, up from 17% a decade earlier (Statistics Canada 2003). Thus, the
actual number of Indigenous graduates remains very small, as Indigenous people
currently account for about 3.9% of the overall population of Canada (Statistics
Canada 2003).
The assimilative nature of postsecondary education is considered a barrier to
educational achievement by Malatest and Associates (2002). These authors con-
ducted a study in which they interviewed Indigenous postsecondary students in
British Columbia. Results from the study indicate “strong assimilative forces are
still seen as a prominent feature of postsecondary education for many students.
These results have led to an over-arching distrust and hostility to education in many
parts of the Aboriginal community” (p. 15). Malatest and Associates further sug-
gest that this distrust and hostility have been factors in poor secondary performance,
which result in a lack of academic preparedness for Indigenous youth.
Nevertheless, often, Indigenous youth express a desire to achieve secondary and
postsecondary education, especially when supportive factors such as family and
community sobriety are present (Juntunen et al. 2001). Postsecondary institutions
however remain unconcerned with the role of culture when it comes to understand-
ing or accommodating the learning needs of indigenous students. A detriment to
Indigenous educational success is the problem of untrained educators who work
with Indigenous students (McCormick 1997). Educators are inadequately (or not at
all) educated in issues facing Indigenous learning, development, and assessment
(Thomason 1999). Hampton (1993) states that “western education is hostile in its
structure, curriculum, its context, and its personnel” (p. 262). It is clear that western
academic practices often fail to meet the needs and expectations of Indigenous
students entering universities in Canada.

Discussion of Chinn and Hana’ike’s Work

The issues articulated by Chinn and Hana’ike are important to Indigenous teacher
education because the authors carry the cross-cultural discourse one step further
past the need to look at alternative ways to service culturally different students.
The authors make an urgent call for culturally competent teachers in the context of