Education Commons^™

Forest Schools, Ecofeminism, The Gender Binary, And Androcentrism, Jana Elizabeth Schwai

Theses and Dissertations

Gender in forest schools is a topic that should be at the forefront of discussion when creating a forest school, its pedagogy, curriculum, and principles. Gender is a large part of who we are as humans and having teachers aware of its complexities, presentation, and presence in the forest school setting is imperative. This study consists of interviews and focus group data collected at a midwest United States public forest preschool and an eastern United States private forest preschool. The teachers at these schools were cisgender, as were the students ages three through five who were observed. This paper analyzes …

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 …

We Have Arabic At This School?: The Impact Of Neoliberalism And Orientalism On Arabic Education In The United States, Ella V. Pastore

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines Arabic education in the United States at the undergraduate level, highlighting the question: How do forces such as Orientalism, globalization, and neoliberalism affect the way that the Arabic language is taught and recognized in the United States? The Arabic programs of three highly accredited American universities are presented, in relation to their Japanese programs. While Japanese is a language that faces its own Orientalisms and imperial history with the West, Japan is currently not a country that is prioritized through national security interests, with Arabic being designated as a “Critical Language”. Through examination of the advertisement of …

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, …

Centring Indigenous Worldviews And Perspectives: Deepening The Implementation Of The Curriculum, Perry N. Smith ~ Kꙻ Anilqꙻ A?

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

School districts throughout British Columbia are grappling with indigenizing and decolonizing classroom instructional practices. The redesign of British Columbia’s curriculum has allowed educators to support indigenization and decolonization by including Indigenous curricular learning standards in each subject and every grade. Each district is responsible for ensuring that teachers at all levels implement the Indigenous curricular Learning standards in their classrooms. Implementing curricular learning standards that embed Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, and perspectives is challenging for many teachers. As many teachers do not have the background knowledge or skills to weave Indigenous worldviews and perspectives into the classroom effectively, implementing these new …

The Integration Of Indigenous Knowledge In Education, Andrew Paquin

M.Ed. Literature Reviews

Abstract

This project consisted of a rational, literature review, action plan, and discussion on the topic of Indigenous knowledge integration in education. The literature review consisted of three main sections, decolonization through education, best teaching practices for integration, and how ontological differences shape the integration process. Going into this project I predicted that before proper integration can happen, Western and Indigenous communities have to build authentic relationships that go beyond just recognizing another viewpoint. My literature review consisted of 30 sources involving Indigenous communities from all over the world. The most common recommendation found across all studies was the importance …

No One To Save, And Everything To Learn: Decolonial Possibilities For Global Ngos Facilitating Education In Emergencies, Megan N. Patterson

Master's Theses

The field of Education in Emergencies is an emerging field which aims to offer solutions for the continuation of learning in humanitarian settings, but also navigates dynamics of global development in the pursuit of delivering quality learning and universal learning access. In this study, qualitative content analysis is used to examine the beliefs, values, and motivations of three Education in Emergencies (EiE) programs implemented by NGOs. These were selected to offer insight into programming designed for global, regional, and local implementation, as well as nuanced dynamics of power, agency, and saviorism through seven criteria: (1) Purpose of learning, (2) Instructional …

“Nope. Don’T Like That.” In Search Of Justice And Commitment To Nonmaleficence In Dance/Movement Therapy, Johnee Border

Dance/Movement Therapy Theses

The American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) and Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (DMTCB) have ensured those dance/movement therapists who have been educated, registered, and board-certified share a commitment to equity, justice, and nonmaleficence according to the ADTA and DMTCB’s Code of Ethics and Standards (The Code) (ADTA, 2015). “Nope. Don’t like that,” has been the actual, verbal, expression of the embodied experience of intersectional harm from a lack of assessed, decolonized dance/movement therapy practice and pedagogy. The ADTA, students, educators, and credentialed dance/movement therapists hold an established, ethical responsibility to justice and nonmaleficence, and as such, must demonstrate a commitment to …

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 …

Critical Latino Studies: Combatting The (Mis)Education Of Latino Students In U.S. Public Schools, Heidi Kern

West Chester University Master’s Theses

In this thesis, I will explore the historical undervaluing and miseducation of Latino youth in U.S. public schools using a lens of decolonial theory to combat the systems of oppression that continue to affect our Latino youth today. First, I explain what experiences brought me to this concern and provide a clear theoretical framework to explain my philosophy of education. I also articulate key concepts from decolonial scholars and educational activists that inform my own work on the educational experiences of Latino students. In Chapter Three, I provide a historical review of how a public school system rooted in colonialism …

Teachers' Perspectives On Decolonizing U.S. Curriculum For Latinx Through Ethnic Studies Programs At The Middle And High School Levels, Richard Varela

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the implementation of an ethnic studies program with an emphasis on Mexican American Studies at the middle and high school level, in a district located along the Mexican/U.S. frontera. Ethnic Studies are a critical, interdisciplinary academic field of study that acknowledges that race, and racism are embedded in every U.S. system, especially our educational institution. As a critical pedagogy, ethnic studies validate and encourages the voices and viewpoints of the marginalized, while analyzing and criticizing dominant influences that promote â??normalizingâ?? of racialized inequality (de los Rios, 2013). At the center of ethnic …

Re-Envisioning Self And Community: The Experiences Of Pilipina American Students With Colonial Mentality And Decolonization, Kristine Angelica Din

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the invisibility of Pilipina American narratives in higher education by investigating colonialism and colonial mentality and how they may shape the experiences of Pilipina American undergraduate students in higher education. This study was framed by Pinayism (Tintiangco-Cubales, 2005; Tintiangco-Cubales & Sacramento, 2009), Strobel’s (2001) decolonization framework, and the Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) (David & Okazaki, 2006b). Participants reflected upon their life stories to explore and make meaning of the ways their lives have been informed by events that have occurred and the messages they received from their families, peers, teachers, and communities. Participants also engaged with indigenous, …

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) …

Remembering The Bracero Program: Decolonizing Community Spaces & Expanding Migrant Representation In Children’S Literature, Ariadna Santoyo Zarate

Master's Projects and Capstones

This applied project explores the history of Bracero workers in the United States. This history of Braceros serves the purpose of deepening immigrant farm working communities’ understanding of who they are. This research study aims to expand narratives of the migrant experience by highlighting the Bracero program and addressing the lack of diverse representation in children’s books. This research gathers the personal experiences of Braceros through the book ‘OUR GRANDFATHERS WERE BRACEROS AND WE TOO’ by Abel Astorga Morales & Rosa Martha Zarate Macias and explores articles teaching us about decolonizing frameworks and indigenous ideologies. I’m writing a book that …

Decolonizing My Classroom During The Covid-19 Pandemic: An Autoethnographic Study, Nadia Khan-Roopnarine

Theses & Dissertations

American schooling is a colonized construct that seeks to maintain white patriarchal hegemony (Battiste, 2013). As a critical educator whose personal epistemologies are shaped by Indo-Caribbean feminism and Coolie feminism, I continually grapple with a large bureaucratic system that thrives on the perpetual dehumanization of teachers, families, and students. The sudden shift to remote learning surfaced the particular cognitive dissonance I navigate, both within myself and in my professional spaces, as I work to decolonize my classroom spaces while inadvertently perpetuating them.

As a high school English teacher serving a population of exclusively BIPOC students in a small urban school, …

Empowering Silenced Voices: Implementing Critical Pedagogy To Move Toward Decolonizing Music Education, Alexis Adams

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Throughout this thesis, I will delineate the historical and current issue of Eurocentrism and racism being perpetuated in K-12 music education and music teacher education programs. I will argue that music teacher education programs need to be decolonized and radically transformed so that music classrooms and curricula are anti-racist and counterhegemonic. Through utilizing theoretical frameworks, a historical review, and a literature review, I will further contextualize this problem. Lastly, I will propose a two-pronged intervention to address this over-arching issue: an undergraduate course entitled Critical Pedagogy in Music Education and a radically transformative professional development series for current music educators.

A Student Led Assessment Of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Environmental Science And Management Department At Portland State University, Aneesha Gharpurey

University Honors Theses

In the summer of 2020, the world watched as Black communities and allies responded to the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. An intensification of social and racial justice awareness provoked many entities like higher education institutions (HEI) to evaluate how they support marginalized people and update their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plans. In an attempt to maintain excellence, many HEIs implement DEI plans through top-down methods where high-level administrators target recruitment and retention, campus climate, community engagement, and curriculum. These plans rarely incorporate students as co-collaborators and administer DEI changes that have little effect on students' self-belonging, …

The Need For Spanish In Mainstream Classrooms: A Celebratory Reclamation Of Linguistic Identity, Keila Torres

Art of Teaching Thesis - Written

This paper is a testament to the sociocultural importance of bilingualism in mainstream U.S. classrooms, specifically pertaining to the Spanish language and communities in which there is a large percentage of Spanish speakers. Approximately 13% of Americans are native Spanish speakers, this is equivalent to 40 million people. States like Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Texas can boast populations that include over 1 million Hispanic people (United States Census Bureau, 2019). However, our school curriculums do not reflect the large percentage of Spanish-speaking students who roam their hallways. I argue that traditional …

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) …

Coming Out As Complex: Understanding Lgbtq+ Community Writing Groups, Hillary Weiss

Wayne State University Dissertations

Though composition studies has increasingly studied writing spaces outside of the classroom and workplace, LGBTQ+ community writing groups have received little focus in composition research. This dissertation studies four LGBTQ+ community writing groups across North America to find why people choose to join these groups and how power and conflict function in these spaces. I argue that LGBTQ+ writing groups improve writing and offer emotional support, friendship, and community, as other writing groups do, but these particular spaces also provide group members with opportunities to improve one’s self, publish, and educate the community about LGBTQ+ issues. I also find that …

The Duality Of The Black Student Activist: A Decolonial Approach To Reframing Student Activism As Student Leadership, Kaileik Asbury

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This thesis addresses how reframing activism as leadership allows student activist to be viewed as student leaders on college campuses. More specifically, I explore how the Black student existence and experience on college campus and their desire for an equitable education has always been considered a form of activism that had continuously been suppressed. I used the methodology of critical action research to examine the structures of Eurocentricity, colonization, racialization and domination that affect the educational experiences of Black student activists, while also utilizing my personal experience. I propose a leadership building program that promotes racial justice, decolonial methods and …

The Importance Of Interdisciplinary Education, Jennifer Liegeot

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This thesis work explores the concept of Interdisciplinary Education and how it can improve the educational experience for students while also creating citizens more capable of participating in a democratic society. In order to create more well-rounded citizens, schools should provide an interdisciplinary approach to education that centers the perspectives of the those who are traditionally excluded. Much of the education curriculum today is based on a system that favors the majority leaving out entire groups of students from minority populations. As a result, schooling overwhelmingly does not help oppressed students become critically conscious citizens who are equipped to participate …

Guides And Guidance: Subverting Tourist Narratives In Trans-Indigenous Time And Space, Shanae Aurora Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation is a study of the ways in which Indigenous writers and theorists suggest we decolonize the sites of knowledge production through our pedagogical and methodological practices. Ultimately, my dissertation is about the power of story and finding the necessary strategies to change the narratives that do harm in our daily lives. I focus on the sites of knowledge production because these are the institutions and practices with which I am the most familiar. The purpose of this work is beyond metaphorical as I strive to forefront the narratives that change the ways in which settler-Indigenous relationships are formed …

Indigenization Of Genocide Healing: A Grounded Action Of Culturally And Contextually Relevant Educational And Psychosocial Strategies To Reduce Impacts Of Societal Toxic Stress In Rwanda Post-Genocide, Jean Pierre Ndagijimana

Master's Theses

Sixty percent of the current Rwandan population were born after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and those born since or who were young at the time of the genocide have remained among those affected most. Although Western trauma theorists and interventionists have played the role of experts in the genocide healing, the exclusion of the indigenous population’s experiences, knowledge, and wisdom has limited them from meeting local needs. The post-genocide situation raises various issues, genocide ideology, and increasing family homicides; however, locals do not want to seek counseling services, or run the risk of being labeled as mentally ill. …

Alliances And Accomplices Rise: A Critical Look At A Partnership With A School Serving An Indigenous Community, Alicia Brianna Saxe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional research in the social sciences roots itself in the colonial surmise behind the supremacist ideologies of Western and White knowledge, ways of living, people, and institutions. The well-established hegemony of the Western positivist research paradigm encourages a paternalistic and asymmetrical researcher-researched relationship, which reserves “legitimate” knowledge creation for an elite few. In this way, research traditions have largely functioned to uphold the status quo, especially when conducted with Indigenous peoples. Community-based research challenges the positivist empire by emphasizing community knowledge in researcher-community collaborations for the sake of taking action on community-identified issues. Mutually-beneficial researcher-community partnerships are especially relevant to …