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Full-Text Articles in Education

Head, Heart, And Hands: A Relationships First Approach To Indigenizing And Decolonizing Education, Sherra Lee C. Robinson Dec 2023

Head, Heart, And Hands: A Relationships First Approach To Indigenizing And Decolonizing Education, Sherra Lee C. Robinson

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Student engagement within District X is at an all-time low. As District X strives for more equitable learning opportunities, they also work to serve the unique and varying needs of students despite the rising physical and mental health concerns, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that shook students and adults alike, resulting in a global collective trauma and led to the shutdown of schools worldwide in March 2020. These issues are especially prevalent within our most underfunded and underserved populations, such as Indigenous populations. As Canadians, Indigenous relations and calls to adopt Indigenous ways of knowing and being …


The Histories We Inherit: Concordia's Reckoning With The Pasts Of Its Founding Institutions, University Of Maine Canadian-American Center Oct 2023

The Histories We Inherit: Concordia's Reckoning With The Pasts Of Its Founding Institutions, University Of Maine Canadian-American Center

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

A University of Maine alumnus, Professor Graham Carr is president and vice-chancellor of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. A historian by training and a long-time leader in higher education in Canada, Carr returns to his alma mater to explore the role universities can and should play in addressing the legacy of colonialism and anti-Black racism on campuses and in greater society. He will explore two case studies from Concordia’s recent history: a formal apology it issued for the role systemic racism played in student protests and their aftermath in 1969 as well as its response to the role two religious …


Indigenous Research Methodologies Conference, Wabanaki Center, Native American Programs Oct 2023

Indigenous Research Methodologies Conference, Wabanaki Center, Native American Programs

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Flyer promoting the October 24, 2024, Indigenous Research Methodologies Conference on the University of Maine campus. The conference features keynote speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Sumida Huaman, an indigenous scholar focusing on indigenous knowledge systems and place-based education, indigenous rights, and decolonial research design.


Building A Culture Of Relevancy And Decolonization In A Community School, Minou Morley Aug 2023

Building A Culture Of Relevancy And Decolonization In A Community School, Minou Morley

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan is based on a problem of practice at an inner-city school in a medium-sized Ontario city. There is an achievement/opportunity gap between minoritized students and those in the majority, that run along the Regular English/Specialized Program and Early French Immersion Program lines. Minoritized students are overrepresented in the former two programs. When viewed through a decolonizing lens, built on a framework of culturally relevant and responsive leadership, and informed by Indigenous theoretical frameworks it is a problem of social justice and equity. Using Shields conception of transformative leadership, the problem is examined through an asset-based approach …


The Amplification Of “At-Promise” Middle School Student Voice To Foster School Success, Nathan J. Ngieng Aug 2023

The Amplification Of “At-Promise” Middle School Student Voice To Foster School Success, Nathan J. Ngieng

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Transformative actions towards the collective vision of the educated citizen have been central to the change efforts of educational leaders in British Columbia. Through a challenge to the status quo, utilizing a critical and post-structuralist lens, this paper charts a path towards revisioning middle school student success nested in listening stances and reflective practices. At the heart of this Problem of Practice is the disengagement and lack of voice that middle school students are experiencing, viewed through the context of a large and diverse suburban school district in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Theories of social learning, adult learning, …


The Ripple Effect: How One Rural School Can Embrace Indigenous Learning On A Journey Towards Truth And Reconciliation, Catherine A. Usher Aug 2023

The Ripple Effect: How One Rural School Can Embrace Indigenous Learning On A Journey Towards Truth And Reconciliation, Catherine A. Usher

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In a K–9 rural school in Alberta, the lack of opportunities for land-based learning and understanding of Indigenous truths, histories, and ways of knowing creates a significant gap in knowledge that is an ethical obligation to address. For the school to engage in social justice and transformation to address this problem of practice, it is crucial to address this gap and work towards decolonization and indigenization. The goal of this Organizational Improvement Plan is to ensure that staff gain a deep awareness and understanding of the historical oppression and marginalization of Indigenous peoples in Canada due to colonization, both historically …


Cultivating Compassion: School Discipline Through A Lens Of Equity, Wellbeing, And Decolonization, Kristi L. Blakeway Jul 2023

Cultivating Compassion: School Discipline Through A Lens Of Equity, Wellbeing, And Decolonization, Kristi L. Blakeway

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Punitive and exclusionary discipline practices cause harm to elementary aged students weakening their connection to school. Such practices are reactive in nature and fail to understand the needs of students who demonstrate challenging behaviour. This organizational improvement plan provides a framework to reimagine school discipline through a lens of equity, wellbeing, and decolonization. It is an invitation to look under the surface to better understand students who struggle with behaviour in elementary classrooms. The school discussed is a large, suburban public school in British Columbia serving students in kindergarten through to grade seven. A conceptual change model, the transformative wheel, …


Becoming The Imperfect Friend: Sḵwx̱Wú7mesh And Contemplative Pathways To Healing And Reconciliation In Higher Education, Denise Marie Findlay Apr 2023

Becoming The Imperfect Friend: Sḵwx̱Wú7mesh And Contemplative Pathways To Healing And Reconciliation In Higher Education, Denise Marie Findlay

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Throughout this reflective essay I explore Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Indigenous philosophy and contemplative education as ethical pathways to healing and reconciliation in higher education. I put forth the idea of becoming the imperfect friend in a world ethos of death by a thousand cuts as a response to the violence of colonialism perpetuated in academia. I reflect on the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh values of eslhélha7kwhiws and stélmexw as contemplative dispositions that lend themselves to the process of becoming the imperfect friend. I conclude by describing a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh -led program hosted by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in 2022-2023, named Moving Together In The Ways …


Professional Development In Indigenous Education: By Teachers, For Teachers, Devin Green Feb 2023

Professional Development In Indigenous Education: By Teachers, For Teachers, Devin Green

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Many school boards have been developing Indigenous frameworks and funding Indigenous programming as a response to the 94 “Calls to Action” published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015). The actions of these school boards are a form of reconciliation. Within the Southern Alberta School Board (SASB, a pseudonym), there are strong policies in place that support Indigenous students; these policies ensure the students never have to experience the unfair treatment that past generations did through the residential school system. Teachers in this school board are also supported through professional development programs to improve their practice. However, these …


Dismantling The Master's House: A Decolonial Blueprint For Internationalization Of Higher Education, Bhavika Sicka, Minghui Hou Jan 2023

Dismantling The Master's House: A Decolonial Blueprint For Internationalization Of Higher Education, Bhavika Sicka, Minghui Hou

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

While critical scholars have attempted to decenter internationalization, limited research has aimed to understand internationalization efforts in the context of the socio-historical particularities of the postcolonial condition. This paper takes a decolonial perspective in the study of internationalization, in light of the Eurocentric tendencies of modernity, whose major manifestation in higher education is neoliberal globalization. We unpack internationalization in the U.S. and examine how it is embedded in and reproduces neoliberalism, racism, and colonialism. Since decolonization is not merely deconstructive but also regenerative, we reconceive what it means to be international and recommend how internationalization can be deployed as a …