Reconciliation in Action: Deepening Awareness of Bias and Racism through Collaborative Introspection
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53103/cjess.v6i1.446Keywords:
Indigenous Education, Bias, Racism, Action Research, Collaborative Professional DevelopmentAbstract
In Canada, education is often referred to as the path to success. For youth to develop into responsible citizens, Eurocentric Canadian education systems claim that the attainment of educational credentials is necessary. However, the current educational attainment of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit learners in Canada is far below that of their non-Indigenous counterparts. The dearth of Indigenous ways of knowing and doing in provincially-mandated education systems hinders the success of Indigenous youth, limits opportunities for advancement, and promotes a system of learner inequity by fostering ignorance among educators. Through critical participatory action research, this study focused on determining the perceived challenges non-Indigenous educators experience when bridging Indigenous knowledges in a blended K-12 classroom. The purpose of this research was to determine how collaborative professional development aimed at promoting self-reflexivity and introspection could lead to a deeper awareness of power, privilege, bias and unacknowledged racism when bridging Indigenous ways of knowing and doing in teacher pedagogy. Over a three-month period, participants became more deeply aware of their own racist and stereotypical underpinnings and sought further support to engage with Indigenous knowledge systems in their daily pedagogical considerations. The results of this study showed that collaborative professional development promoted a deeper exploration of both past and present experiences, how those experiences shaped teachers’ bias and unacknowledged racism relating to Indigenous ways of knowing and doing, and methods through which participants can continue to engage with reconciliatory education in their blended classrooms.
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