Education Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Reshaping The Narrative, Crystal Little Owl

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Identity Work And Aspirations Of Indigenous Males Navigating Elite Australian Higher Education, James A. Smith, Garth Stahl, Andrew Harvey, Braden Hill, Himanshu Gupta, Sam Moore, Jianing Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In Australia, there has been increased attention to attracting Indigenous peoples into higher education but, despite a recent growth in enrolment numbers, they remain severely underrepresented. This underrepresentation is particularly notable among Indigenous males, who are the least likely to attend. In this paper, we investigate the experiences of four Indigenous young men who attended an elite higher education institution. Aligned with other research on the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic males in higher education, the article captures how their experience in privileged institutions compels them to reflect on their own positionality and the cultural interface between Indigenous and …

Developing Comprehensive Indigenous Education Programs Through Meso Level Leadership To Promote Indigenous Student Success, Lynne Tomlinson

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Abstract

Annual reports to the B.C. Ministry of Education on Indigenous student progress in 2019/2020 indicated notable gaps in academic achievement, sense of belonging, and post-secondary transitions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous students. Meso level leaders are responsible for developing new programs and resources to support Indigenous student success. They do not yet have the skills and knowledge to address the gap that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) presents a collaborative inquiry approach to decolonize the K-12 system that promotes interwoven perspectives of Western and Indigenous epistemologies, pedagogies, and methodologies. A collaborative professional learning community …

Improving Educational Opportunities By Weaving Indigenous Knowledge Into The Academy From An Indigenous Perspective, Kayla R. R. Murphy

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

To address the atrocities that Indigenous people have endured and provide guidance to support reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released its 94 Calls to Action (TRC, 2015). Educational reform is one of the key areas identified as necessary for reconciliation. Educational institutions such as River College (a pseudonym) are working towards the integration of Indigenous knowledge into current educational strategies and practices to achieve the acceptance and inclusion of Indigenous epistemologies, thereby acknowledging that Indigenous peoples are significant to the formation of current day Canada. The colonized approach to education at River College lacks cultural connection …

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) …

Shapeshifting Power: Indigenous Teachings Of Trickster Consciousness And Relational Accountability For Building Communities Of Care, Ionah M. Elaine Scully

The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal

Difficult dialogues are necessary work in order for communities to form coalitions, yet often these dialogues pose challenges for engaging in long-term work for social justice and systemic change. Power dynamics, microaggressions, and discomfort unlearning power and privilege can make long-term collaboration difficult. It is for this reason I discuss thinking of coalitions as communities of care and offer practical strategies for collaborating differently for sustainable action. Using Indigenous epistemology and methodology, Indigenous feminist and Indigequeer scholarship, as well as Indigenous land-based pedagogy and storytelling, I offer interventions using trickster teachings or trickster consciousness which I describe as comprised of …

Invisibility As Modern Racism: Redressing The Experience Of Indigenous Learners In Higher Education, Amy R. May, Victoria Mcdermott

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Indigenous Peoples represent the smallest group of ethnic minorities in the United States, and they are significantly underrepresented in the academy. The tumultuous relationship between institutions of higher learning and First Nation Peoples can be explained in part by the use of education to colonize and force the assimilation of Native Peoples. The end result of centuries of dehumanization and marginalization is invisibility, “the modern form of racism used against Native Americans” (the American Indian College Fund, 2019, p. 5). Educators are challenged to identify institutional inequities and redress barriers to promote social justice through informed and genuine practice, indigenization, …

Two-Eyed Seeing To Support Indigenous Education, Mark Dolmont Mr.

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its 94 ‘calls to action’ to address the atrocities of residential schools, while providing guidance to support reconciliation. Education was identified as one area where reform is necessary. Within the Nikosis Public School Division (NPSD) (a pseudonym), Indigenous students experience significantly lower academic results than their non-Indigenous peers. The colonized approach to education founded heavily on Eurocentric ideology lacks cultural connections that relate to Indigenous students. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) will focus on Buffalo Elementary (a pseudonym) and look to support stronger cultural connections as a method to provide …

"It’S A Lot Of Work To Be Native": Using Storytelling To Examine The Needs Of Native American Students At The University Of San Diego, Kasandra Tong

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The University of San Diego’s (USD) Race/Ethnicity Federal Reports show that for the last 17 years, the percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native students at USD has not risen above 1% (University of San Diego, n.d.). This data requires further disaggregation because the current data only represents students that solely checked American Indian/Alaska Native and does not include students who identify as biracial or multi-racial. The purpose of my research was to identify what efforts are needed to improve the experience of Native American students at USD. My research question was what factors are needed to improve the existing experience of …

Study Of Native Colombian Tribes: Art As A Means Of Inspiration, Sofia Fernandez

Honors Theses

Study of Native Colombian Tribes: Art as a Means of Inspiration, examines Latin American art, particularly Indigenous Colombian art as a source of inspiration for the creation of a series of artworks. This project considers two Colombian tribes: Wayuu and Okaina. It emphasizes these tribes’ ancestry, history, purpose, and traditions, with the objective of giving them a voice in a community where they are underrepresented and unknown. This thesis provides a critical look into the tribe’s traditions and artistic techniques through the creation of a variety paintings, drawings, and prints. This body of work concentrates on textiles and patterns from …

Autoethnography As A Decolonizing Methodology: Reflections On Masta’S What The Grandfathers Taught Me, Dung T. Pham, June E. Gothberg

The Qualitative Report

As an Asian graduate student and a Native professor at a U.S. Midwestern Predominantly White Institution, we reflected upon Masta’s (2018) article, What the Grandfathers Taught Me: Lessons for an Indian Country Researcher, to examine the decolonizing aspects of autoethnography. Masta’s use of autoethnography to explore her experiences provides a deeply personal view into the phenomenon of living and researching Indigenous in an America that is inherently White in character, tradition, structure, and culture. The use of participatory and constructivist Indigenous autoethnography places the lived experience of an Indigenous woman at the center of the study, using the Indigenous …

A Call To Revitalize Mental Health Wellness Practices For Black, Indigenous, & College Students Of Color, Tyra Jean

Population Health Research Brief Series

Given the challenges faced by the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities within the U.S. this year, it is more important than ever to ensure BIPOC college students are provided with access to mental health care.

Improving Physical Literacy In Middle School Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Students, Jarod-Lee P. Milko

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Physical activity levels in Canadian youth are decreasing. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) focuses on improving physical literacy in middle school Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in a Northern Ontario urban school. The Daily Physical Activity (DPA) policy in Ontario public elementary schools has achieved about 50% fidelity in classrooms since its inception in 2005 (Allison, et al., 2016; Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, 2015, p. 60). Leading a physically active lifestyle is essential for education outcomes, public health, and general health and wellbeing. Improving physical literacy in youth increases their motivation to be physically active, and through a …

Weaving The Braid Of Culturally Responsive Leadership Within Policy And Governance To Improve Indigenous Student Success, Shelly L. Niemi

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that highlights the need for why the Board of Education and the Senior Administration team within the Raven Bay School Division (RBSD, pseudonym) would benefit from using a culturally responsive leadership approach when making decisions and how this may be achieved through policy and governance to guide their practice. The goal of this OIP is to examine why this leadership approach would be relevant for the Board of Education and the Senior Leadership team when they are making any policy and governance decisions, as it relates to Indigenous …

Sustaining Our Communities Through Care And Action: An Exploration Of Indigenous, Feminist Environmental Care Ethics, Kate Rayner Fried

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Dominant Environmental ethics have particular relationships with place that are predicated on ongoing settler colonialism and relationships to land that are exploitative and disconnected from the self. Understanding Indigenous, Feminist, and Indigenous Feminist care ethics between people and the environment as actors with agency and responsibility to each other disrupts this framework and provides an alternative path that gets at the root of systems of exploitation and oppression. Understanding these ethics as multifaceted and pre-colonial, as well as emerging from the current time period differentiates an ethic of care and the centering of indigenous epistemologies from the appropriation of indigenous …

Review Of Reclaiming Indigenous Research In Higher Education, Rose Buchanan

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education challenges basic assumptions of Western methodologies by demonstrating the value of Indigenous approaches to social scientific research. Contributors argue that Western institutions have long marginalized Indigenous perspectives in higher education, overlooking or outright dismissing the unique experiences of Indigenous students as well as the efforts of Indigenous researchers to explore and understand them. This volume is a necessary read for anyone wanting to promote greater diversity and inclusion in the academy and in supporting institutions like archives.

Cultural Proficiency For Indigenous Student Success, Karen Penney

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is directed toward leveraging the position of the school principal toward changing hegemonic practices within a small rural school division that includes practices of meritocracy (hard work equals success) and color-blindness (refusing to see color in others) . These practices affect the academic achievement of the off-reserve Indigenous student- considered a provincial student by virtue of moving off reserve- thus receiving education from the provincial rather than federal, government. These students bring strong epistemologies and ontologies that are not currently acknowledged or employed by the dominant society and should be explored to determine how best …

Organizational Improvement Plan, Jenny Morgan

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Within the constraints of competing ideologies; Indigenous vs Western knowledge, health service leaders committing to embedding cultural safety and humility into health care services for Indigenous peoples, and the broader change of direction laid out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015), is the overall need to improve health care services, experiences, and outcomes of Indigenous peoples. This need includes increasing the number of Indigenous peoples working at all levels and disciplines in health, and signifies the organizations responsibility to retain those employees once they enter the system. A mainstream tertiary health care centre located in Western Canada …

Journal Conversations: Building The Research Self-Efficacy Of An Aboriginal Early Career Academic, Michelle L. Dickson

The Qualitative Report

This paper shows how I used my research journal mainly as a reflective tool throughout the process of applying for and completing a PhD. Embarking on a PhD can be daunting for anyone and I was challenged by my lack of academic self-efficacy. In the absence of a formal academic mentor my research journal became my confidante, a tool that helped me make progress at times when barriers to research seemed insurmountable. It helped me decrease the cognitive dissonance I was experiencing about issues of subjectivity/objectivity and the positioning of my self in the research. This paper shares research journal …

Investigating The Relationship Between Equity And Graduate Outcomes In Australia, Sarah Richardson, Dawn Bennett, Lynne Roberts

Dr Sarah Richardson

Australian higher education equity policy focusses mostly on access and participation with the implicit assumption that disadvantage will be ameliorated through educational achievement. Less is known as to whether patterns of disadvantage continue post-completion. In a context in which graduate employability is becoming an important yardstick against which to measure institutional effectiveness, this question is of fundamental importance to higher education equity practitioners and policymakers. This study employed Commonwealth graduate outcome data to investigate relationships between disadvantage and graduate outcomes in Australia, with disadvantage defined as a graduate belonging to one or more of the following groups – low SES, …

Investigating The Relationships Between Education And Culture For Female Students In Tertiary Settings In The Uae, Beverley Mcclusky

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research is about the higher education of Indigenous Emirati women and how they balance the intricate demands of higher education with the social customs of a traditional society and the expectations placed on women. The study sought to identify and comprehend the issues which have affected the educational changes that are taking place, including culture, gender, religion, the influence of Western education processes, and the desire of an Indigenous population to raise their educational practices to an internationally recognised benchmark.

The research was aimed at providing insights into the distinctiveness of this group of women from their social and …

Investigating The Relationship Between Equity And Graduate Outcomes In Australia, Sarah Richardson, Dawn Bennett, Lynne Roberts

Higher education research

Australian higher education equity policy focusses mostly on access and participation with the implicit assumption that disadvantage will be ameliorated through educational achievement. Less is known as to whether patterns of disadvantage continue post-completion. In a context in which graduate employability is becoming an important yardstick against which to measure institutional effectiveness, this question is of fundamental importance to higher education equity practitioners and policymakers. This study employed Commonwealth graduate outcome data to investigate relationships between disadvantage and graduate outcomes in Australia, with disadvantage defined as a graduate belonging to one or more of the following groups – low SES, …

University Completions And Equity, Daniel Edwards

Dr Daniel Edwards

University students from disadvantaged groups have a lower completion rate than their more advantaged peers, but most disadvantaged students do complete their degrees, research reveals.

Creating Cultural Empathy And Challenging Attitudes Through Indigenous Narratives, Cobie Rudd, Moira Sim, Colleen Hayward, Toni Wain

Research outputs 2013

The poorer health status of Indigenous Australians has been largely attributed to social disadvantage and their marginalisation within mainstream society (Marmot, 2011). This includes access to health care, as well as proximity to health services, availability and cultural appropriateness of health services, transport availability, health insurance, the affordability of health services and patient proficiency in English (AIHW, 2011).

The interpersonal attitudes and behaviours of non-Indigenous health providers, both conscious and unconscious, are also known to contribute to disparities in treatment, impairment of communication between health providers and patients, and consequently, patients’ mistrust of the health system due to negative past …

Restoring Relationships: Indigenous Ways Of Knowing Meet Undergraduate Environmental Studies And Science, Nancy Leigh Rich

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As places to engage with changing and complex ideas, institutions of higher education offer a logical site for bringing Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science. However, profound differences between Indigenous and Western knowledges, as well as ongoing colonialism, cultural biases of science, and the nature of mainstream academia, have discouraged this endeavor. Recent developments in undergraduate pedagogy now point the way.

Using critical inquiry and qualitative methodology, this comparative study developed recommendations for practice based on current undergraduate teaching practices that bring Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science across a diversity of …

American Indian Doctorate Receipt 1980-2000: A Quantitative And Qualitative Analysis, Timothy Lintner

Faculty Publications

This research presents a quantitative and qualitative analysis of American Indian doctorate receipt between 1980-2000. A quantitative analysis of American Indian doctorate receipt by sex and by broadfield category is initially presented. This research also sought to qualitatively explore the multiple factors that influence American Indians to receive and utilize their doctorate in the field of Education. Interviews with 16 American Indian doctorate recipients in the field of Education from the University of Oklahoma, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University were conducted. Findings revealed that issues of community, personal and professional interest, and voice and access were all …