Education Commons^™

Creating Pathways To Reconciliation Through Incorporating Indigenous Voices And Culture Into The Development Of Impact Benefit Agreements (Ibas) On First Nation Traditional Territory, Hannah M. Caicco Ms

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Dissertation-in-practice (DiP) is a declaration for leaders to engage in ongoing and edifying activism in the form of Indigenous advocacy. Due to the unjust generational trauma of Indigenous peoples, this work promotes Indigenous authorship, participation, and empowerment, specifically in negotiated land agreements, commonly known as Impact Benefit Agreements (IBAs). Red Pine Economic Development Corporation (EDC) (pseudonym), a for-profit Indigenous organization owned by Red Pine First Nation, holds two IBAs that lack Indigenous participation, voice, and culture. To address this omission, Red Pine EDC must work with Red Pine First Nation to redraft a more fulsome cultural chapter of the …

Principal Leadership From A Settler Canadian's Perspective, Cheryl Ricco

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s (TRC) Calls to Action #7 and #63 focus on the Indigenization and decolonization of schools to create positive change for Indigenous students. To address these specific Calls to Action in an Ontario Catholic elementary school, a critically responsive transformative school leadership approach is required. This approach emphasizes individual and organizational reconciliation that seeks to improve Indigenous students’ academic achievement and well-being in the current colonial structures of the Ontario education system. To create an awareness of these structures, Catholic school leaders must acknowledge their own Settler Canadian identity. In doing so, they develop authentic relationships …

Indigenization Of Postsecondary Education Applied Learning Curriculum Development, Gabriel Y. Chung

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (2015) Calls to Action have awoken Canadian society to the reconciliation. Although there is a growing body of knowledge on the individual topics of Indigenous education, knowledge, and leadership, there is relatively little research bringing together these topics in curriculum development practices in a postsecondary education skilled learning context. My problem of practice (PoP) is one that strives to address a low enrolment of Indigenous adult learners and lower positive outcomes from skilled training programs. Situating this problem from my perspectives as a Canadian-born visible minority Settler on Turtle Island and postsecondary education …

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 …

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

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

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

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, …

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

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 …

Anishinaabe Values And Servant Leadership: A Two-Eyed Seeing Approach, Tori Mcmillan

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

This meta-synthesis explores the connections between the Mishomis Teachings (also known as the Seven Grandfather Teachings within the Anishinaabe culture) and the principles of Servant Leadership. Through a systematic literature review of methodology and the theoretical frameworks of Two-Eyed Seeing and Ethical Space, The Mishomis Teachings and their connections to Servant Leadership are researched to answer: How is a Two-Eyed Seeing approach to Servant Leadership informed by Anishinaabe Values? The literature reveals significant connections between the Mishomis Teachings and Servant Leadership that provide an Indigenized perspective on values-based leadership practices. The implications of this study highlight a growing need …

Transforming Together For Equity, Well-Being, And Decolonization, Terry Taylor

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Decolonization, equity, and well-being in K-12 education have become pivotal aims for educational leaders in the province of British Columbia, in Canada, and around the globe. By dismantling coloniality in pedagogical praxes and learning leadership structures within school and district systems, this paper maps a bold and essential journey for change and presents a disruptively anti-colonial amalgam of theory and practice for well-being and equity. In the central Problem of Practice, these complex system leadership goals are investigated through the case of a small and innovative BC school district. Learners—both student and adult—are at the centre of this powerful vision …

Enduring Indigeneity: Community Consultation As A Process For Indigenizing Curriculum At A College In Ontario, Camille C. Di Iulio

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its report which included 94 Calls to Action to address the legacy impacts of the Indian Residential School System in Canada. With education at the forefront of reconciliation, Call to Action #62 calls on post-secondary educators to integrate First Nations, Métis and Inuit content into their curriculum, to Indigenize teaching and learning within an education system built on Eurocolonial worldviews. A post-secondary institution located in southern Ontario (referred to by the pseudonym SCAAT) is making decolonization an institutional priority, especially as it is aligned with their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) …

The Trickiness Of Settler Colonialism: Indigenous Women Administrators’ Experiences Of Policy In Canadian Universities, Candace Brunette-Debassige

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Since the release in 2015 of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, a plethora of new administrative policies has emerged in universities. A variety of interconnecting Indigenous administrative roles has also arisen, many of which have been taken up by Indigenous women who find themselves working in challenging and complex contexts steeped in settler colonialism. Studies of the challenges these women face—indeed of Indigenous educational leadership and policies in higher education in general—are, however, sorely lacking. The present study is a qualitative exploration of the embodied experiences of twelve Indigenous women administrators (including the primary researcher) …

Beyond Colonizing Epistemicides: Toward A Decolonizing Framework For Indigenous Education, Samuel B. Torres

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

American schooling and Indigenous peoples share a coarse relationship mired by devastating periods of forced removal, indoctrination, and brutal assimilation methods. Over the course of more than a century of failed education policy—though often veiled in good intentions—Indigenous peoples have yet to witness a comprehensive Indigenous education program that fundamentally honors the federal trust responsibility of the United States government. On the contrary, with a contemporary approach of apathy, invisibility, and institutionalization, it is not difficult to see the legacy of settler colonialism continuing to wield its oppressive influence on Indigenous communities. Wolfe’s (2006) claim that “invasion is a structure, …

Applied Critical Leadership: Centering Racial Justice And Decolonization In Professional Associations, Rachel E. Aho, Stephen John Quaye

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

With a history steeped in exclusion, segregation, political unrest, and glacial-paced progress, it is no surprise that higher education professionals continue to experience and illuminate issues, such as racism, colonization, and identity-based harm, particularly under the divisiveness of today’s presidential administration. Knowing this, leaders within higher education must prepare to meet these realities. To prepare students for navigating these challenges, educators often rely on the direction, guidance, and thought leadership produced via professional associations. As such, those involved in professional associations play a critical role in determining the priorities of the field. Given the tumultuous national climate, these priorities, now …

Teachers’ Nascent Praxes Of Care: Potentially Decolonizing Approaches To School Violence In Trinidad, Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

Zero tolerance, punitive and more negative peace-oriented approaches dominate school violence interventions, despite research indicating that comprehensive approaches are more sustainable. In this article, I use data from a longitudinal case study at a Trinidadian secondary school to focus on the role of teachers and their impact on school violence; I show that institutional constraints are not fully deterministic, as teachers sometimes deploy their agency to efficacious ends. In combining Noddings’ postulations on care and Freire’s notions of praxis as a symbiosis of reflection and action, I explicate the nascent praxes of care of six teachers at this school, as …

Toward Epistemic Empowerment Of Indigenous Youth, Nazia Bano

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Using a grounded-theory approach this study critically examines a development education program of an NGO, the Institute for Development Studies and Practices (IDSP) in Balochistan, Pakistan. IDSP’s Academic Development Program (ADP) is influenced by critical pedagogy, and post-colonial and post-modern studies. IDSP targets out-of-school youth and young adults of marginalized communities who are politically and socially conscious and looking for openings, inspirations, and direction to solve the issues confronting their communities.

In addition to grounded theory itself, theoretical perspectives used in this study include: postmodern critical theory, transformative learning theory, critical pedagogy, and post-colonial studies. Data sources include ADP-related documents …