Educating settler-teachers: ‘Digital Narratives as a Means of Shifting Settler-Teacher Horizons toward Reconciliation’, Alexandra Bissell, Lisa Korteweg, Canadian Journal of Education, 39, 3, 2016 | settler colonial studies blog

Educating settler-teachers: ‘Digital Narratives as a Means of Shifting Settler-Teacher Horizons toward Reconciliation’, Alexandra Bissell, Lisa Korteweg, Canadian Journal of Education, 39, 3, 2016

20Sep16

Abstract: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action report (2015), in the section “Education for Reconciliation” (p. 7, #62–63), calls for the integration of Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into the curriculum and for better preparation of teachers to deliver Indigenous content. Settler-teachers, however, have not been adequately prepared for this mission, nor are they well-prepared to teach Indigenous students. This article discusses a project of dual purpose in support of reconciliation: to give Indigenous students the opportunity to represent their Land-based dogsledding experiences as iMovie digital narratives and to give settler-teacher candidates direct experience for relationship-building in an indigenized context of education. Drawing upon theories of settler-colonialism, decolonization, and reconciliation in education, the article illustrates the imperative of immersing settler-teachers into contexts where Indigenous students self-representing their identities and Indigenous knowledge are at the centre of the curriculum.

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