Indigenous Models

“Lack of rituals is lack of values.”
— Paul-Yves Weizineau, Elder, Atikamekw of Opitciwan

Going back to Chapter 2 with the theories on children’s thinking and learning, we learned that there is a complex and wholistic view of the child that does not separate domains and integrates aspects of what it is to be a person in a community and in a natural world. As we consider Indigeneity and learning from our perspective on thinking, we must again recontextualize the conversation within a broader one on values and the view of the child. To begin that consideration, we go to the voices of Elders from the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (2017) in the video below.

Video: Children as Seen by Elders (duration: 7:32)
Captions were not provided from the authors of this third-party video, but a transcript is available.

As we think about how to support children’s thinking and learning that respects diverse cultural values, we discover just how diverse those views may be. The very conception of the child and of childhood is highly specific and often deeply value-based. In our school systems, I would argue that the same challenge of having “neutral culture” is evident in “neutral values”. That is, just as there is no culture-free thinking, there is also no culture-free learning. And just as no culture has “neutral values”, so we must look at the values that are embedded in our pedagogies and in our choices as educators.

Can we teach from a perspective that incorporates all cultures? No, but perhaps our starting point is identifying our own cultural biases and the institutional biases of our culture that are deeply embedded into our curricula.

Land-based Pedagogy

Land-based learning (sometimes called land-based pedagogy or land-based curriculum) has a broad influence on pedagogy in Canada. In a 2019 report, Danielle Cherpako outlined the components of land-based education derived from consultation with Elders in the Misipawistik Pimatisiméskanaw land-based learning Program in Misipawistik Cree Nation. She offers a definition for land-based learning:

“Land-based learning typically uses an Indigenized and environmentally-focused approach to education by first recognizing the deep, physical, mental, and spiritual connection to the land that is a part of Indigenous cultures” (Cherpako, 2019, p. 3).

Cherpako’s work helps us to understand how simply going outside or having a forest school (as many of us in ECE are aware of) is not actually land-based education. The origins of land-based pedagogy predate Western models and are not only a way forward for Indigenous education but they offer teachings to non-Indigenous communities in ways of incorporating learning with the land as teacher.

Increasingly, teacher education programs in Ontario are incorporating these perspectives that are shared by Indigenous educators and researchers working in implementation beyond Indigenous communities. For an example of this, watch this short video below from Humber College (2021) on Etuaptmumk, or Two-Eyed Seeing.

Video: Two-Eyed Land-Based Play and Co-Learning (duration: 1:00)

Indigenous perspectives on development are bound to the land and the environment, and land-based pedagogy is built upon this important cultural perspective. As we think about lessons learned from Indigenous pedagogies, consider this situation in practice.