Using a bifocal, place conscious Anishinaabe-Western/Euro-Canadian lens, the evolution of Aboriginal education is examined from a personal and professional perspective. Meaning surfaces from the lived-experiences of the author, an Anishinaabe woman, educator, parent, community member and Aboriginal education specialist, and what continues to unfold at national, provincial and local levels as “Aboriginal education” with an emphasis on what is taking place in south central Manitoba. The thesis highlights the resurgence of Indigenous ways of knowing, teaching and learning, specifically Anishinaabe pedagogy, and identifies goals for education from an Anishinaabe lens that looks beyond academic success to pedagogical tools that can help restore wellness and well-being for all Canadians. / October 2016

The following study, in examining theoretical constructs and their practical implications, as they relate to organization management, innovation, and ethnicity, notes the inter-relationship of all aspects of administration. It also recognizes that organizations are social entities which have a nonrational component. These non-rational elements can lead to prejudice, discrimination, and hostility, particularly across organizations and across ethnic boundaries. In the field of education it is contended that innovation or change is only acceptable where effective communication across all involved groups occurs; and in ethnic settings educators must heed the feelings of the ethnic community accepting that the community has knowledge about its culture that they do not possess. Educators are often unprepared, or unwilling, to do this, hence the move towards change stagnates, and hostility between the groups festers. To overcome the stalemate appropriate cultural forms of communication between the participating groups must be established. To demonstrate the application of the various theories under review, an inter-organizational conflict situation between the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Aboriginal Education Consultative Committee was examined. The reasons leading to the conflict are cited, along with their relevance to theory, and proposals to overcome the obstructions facing each group are delineated. In putting forward these notions there is a realization that closer bonds must be forged between the University and the TAECC if the conflict is to be resolved. To do this it is advocated that the change strategy, Organization Development, be utilized, using outside change agents who are acceptable to both organizations.

The present study investigated the cognitive styles of Indian, Metis, Inuit and non-native adults and adolescents of northern Canada and Alaska. The study identified three relational and two analytical cognitive styles. The styles differed significantly from each other in relation to cultural background, language facility, level of post-secondary education, sex and age of the respondents. Cultural background was found to be the most significant discriminator of those under investigation.<p> Procedure of the study involved the collection of verbalized responses to five open-ended questions concerning education from one hundred northern residents. A total of 528 minutes 32 seconds of taperecorded responses was available from twenty treaty and status Indians, twenty Metis, twenty Inuit and forty non-natives. Subjects included parents, university students, high school students, teacher trainees, teachers, education administrators, native politicians and general community members. The data were submitted to content analysis procedures with items coded according to the Data Analysis of Cognitive Style (DACS) Scale which had been adapted for use in the present study from the work of E. S. Schneidman (1966). Scale item frequencies for each respondent were tabulated and submitted for statistical analyses to the SPSS program discriminant analysis. This analysis identified significantly different functions which translated into patterns of thinking or cognitive styles. In addition this analysis identified the relative importance of functions as discriminators among groups and computed predictability scores which showed the percentage of respondents who were correctly classified according to cognitive styles. and demographic variables.<p>Findings of this study must be considered in relation to the following limitations: the size and nature of the stratified random sample; the reliability of the coders; the use of the unvalidated DACS scale; the ability of the analytical procedures to correctly discriminate among the study groups.<p> The study found that the groups which tended to think in relational styles were: Natives (Indian, Metis, Inuit), people with no university education or with less than one year at university; bilinguals (English and a native language); males; people under twenty years and over forty years of age. The terms Conflict-relational, Moral-relational and Inexactrelational were used to more precisely identify differing cognitive behaviors within the overall relational category. The groups which were found to exhibit analytical cognitive style behaviors included: the nonnative group; those respondents with two to four years of university education; and respondents between thirty and forty years of age. Subcategories within analytical styles were Conflict-analytical and Inexactanalytical.<p>When the Indian, Metis and Inuit respondents were combined into a "native" cultural group they strongly identified with the Moral-relational cognitive style (people-oriented, subjective, holistic, concerned with morals and ethics). The non-native group showed a strong negative relationship to this style. However, when each cultural group was analyzed separately, it was found that the Indian and Inuit subjects were somewhat more analytical (objective, linear, field-independent) than the Metis but less so than the non-natives. On the analysis of four groups, the nonnatives were found to relate to both relational and analytical styles of thinking, indicating a wide range of differences within the group.<p>It was concluded that significant differences existed in the cognitive styles preferred by respondents of different cultural, language, education, sex and age groups in this study. Cultural background was found to be the strongest discriminator in relation to cognitive style differences. It was further concluded that according to extrapolation of findings to the theoretical model it may be possible and desirable to modify curricula content and teaching techniques to achieve a closer match between teaching styles and cognitive and learning styles of. students of indigenous cultural backgrounds.

Race and racism inform our subjective realities and structure unequal material relations in contemporary society. While researchers have developed substantive theories to explain racism as systemically pervading institutions within society and permeating our consciousness, studies must also examine how people with privilege deny or admit the existence of racism within their institutions in different environments. Studies of how educators understand racism have been emerging; however, there remains a paucity of scholarship addressing this topic in the Canadian Prairies. In this thesis I use discourse analysis to investigate how prairie teachers negotiated the troubling topic of racism in their schools. The data was collected through open-ended surveys and focus-groups exploring teachers understanding of racism and anti-racism within two mid-sized prairie city high schools. First, exploring survey responses, I use text-based discursive analysis techniques to analyze how participants minimize the unsettling presence of racism in the school. In their responses, teachers used techniques of individualization, blaming the victim, displacement, and situating racism as a student problem to avoid implicating themselves or their school within racism. Teachers preserved the colour-blind image of education, maintaining the benevolence of the educational institution and its employees. However, different images of education emerged from focus-group discussions with educators interested in exploring anti-racism in the school. Focus group participants shifted from minimizing racism to problematizing privilege and power within the building. Multicultural, psychological, and institutional approaches to anti-racism emerged, emphasizing the need to engage individuals, cultures, and institutional structures. Exploring how teachers articulated different versions of the school environment, the identities of students, and their own identities within and between these different anti-racist discourses exposed how versions of each approach could be constructed to situate racism as external to education, and how critical conceptualizations of the school opened opportunities for individual, cultural, and institutional change within education. This research develops the understanding of race in the Canadian Prairies, discourse analysis within geography, anti-racist education, the geography of how teachers situate racism, and how teachers construct the relationship between school, teacher identity, and racism.

This study sought to describe the congruence between Aboriginal student citizenship development, as manifested in behaviour, and the prescribed outcomes of Canadian citizenship for selected secondary schools in Manitoba, as perceived by secondary principals and teachers. Citizenship, the condition of living in a shared society and the standard of conduct that allows those in a particular society to live harmoniously and prosper, has become an important goal for public education in the Province of Manitoba. Citizenship is also prevalent concept within many documents and policy developments.<p>The values of Canadian citizenship used in this study were derived from the framework of six values used in the development of Manitobas most recent Social Studies curriculum (2004b; 2004c). These six civic values are equality, respect for cultural differences, freedom, peace, law and order, and environmental stewardship. These same values were employed in the development of the survey to acquire quantitative data using Likert-scale items. Qualitative data were acquired through a set of open-ended questions on the survey and through interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed with the use of chi square analysis and descriptive statistical measures including ANOVAs. Qualitative data were analyzed through a method of constant comparison in order to establish themes.<p>For the most part, Aboriginal students from Manitoba high schools do behave in a manner congruent with the values of Canadian citizenship. There were some differences in the way principals and teachers perceived Aboriginal student behaviour, that Aboriginal students family backgrounds presented challenges to educational attainment, and that educational administration was a subject that can be dealt with in numerous curricular and extra-curricular forums. There were some exceptions to these findings manifest in both the quantitative data and qualitative data. Amongst other things, the qualitative data suggested that citizenship development should be a localized process with genuine community involvement. The implications of these findings suggest a need for the development of curricula that is congruent with traditional Indigenous ways of learning, provision of opportunities for practical experiences in the area of citizenship development, and increased research into schools on First Nations communities in the area of citizenship development. Such developments may facilitate citizenship development for Aboriginal students through the provision of education that is sensitive to Aboriginal perspectives and circumstances.

The present study investigated the cognitive styles of Indian, Metis, Inuit and non-native adults and adolescents of northern Canada and Alaska. The study identified three relational and two analytical cognitive styles. The styles differed significantly from each other in relation to cultural background, language facility, level of post-secondary education, sex and age of the respondents. Cultural background was found to be the most significant discriminator of those under investigation.<p> Procedure of the study involved the collection of verbalized responses to five open-ended questions concerning education from one hundred northern residents. A total of 528 minutes 32 seconds of taperecorded responses was available from twenty treaty and status Indians, twenty Metis, twenty Inuit and forty non-natives. Subjects included parents, university students, high school students, teacher trainees, teachers, education administrators, native politicians and general community members. The data were submitted to content analysis procedures with items coded according to the Data Analysis of Cognitive Style (DACS) Scale which had been adapted for use in the present study from the work of E. S. Schneidman (1966). Scale item frequencies for each respondent were tabulated and submitted for statistical analyses to the SPSS program discriminant analysis. This analysis identified significantly different functions which translated into patterns of thinking or cognitive styles. In addition this analysis identified the relative importance of functions as discriminators among groups and computed predictability scores which showed the percentage of respondents who were correctly classified according to cognitive styles. and demographic variables.<p>Findings of this study must be considered in relation to the following limitations: the size and nature of the stratified random sample; the reliability of the coders; the use of the unvalidated DACS scale; the ability of the analytical procedures to correctly discriminate among the study groups.<p> The study found that the groups which tended to think in relational styles were: Natives (Indian, Metis, Inuit), people with no university education or with less than one year at university; bilinguals (English and a native language); males; people under twenty years and over forty years of age. The terms Conflict-relational, Moral-relational and Inexactrelational were used to more precisely identify differing cognitive behaviors within the overall relational category. The groups which were found to exhibit analytical cognitive style behaviors included: the nonnative group; those respondents with two to four years of university education; and respondents between thirty and forty years of age. Subcategories within analytical styles were Conflict-analytical and Inexactanalytical.<p>When the Indian, Metis and Inuit respondents were combined into a "native" cultural group they strongly identified with the Moral-relational cognitive style (people-oriented, subjective, holistic, concerned with morals and ethics). The non-native group showed a strong negative relationship to this style. However, when each cultural group was analyzed separately, it was found that the Indian and Inuit subjects were somewhat more analytical (objective, linear, field-independent) than the Metis but less so than the non-natives. On the analysis of four groups, the nonnatives were found to relate to both relational and analytical styles of thinking, indicating a wide range of differences within the group.<p>It was concluded that significant differences existed in the cognitive styles preferred by respondents of different cultural, language, education, sex and age groups in this study. Cultural background was found to be the strongest discriminator in relation to cognitive style differences. It was further concluded that according to extrapolation of findings to the theoretical model it may be possible and desirable to modify curricula content and teaching techniques to achieve a closer match between teaching styles and cognitive and learning styles of. students of indigenous cultural backgrounds.

Race and racism inform our subjective realities and structure unequal material relations in contemporary society. While researchers have developed substantive theories to explain racism as systemically pervading institutions within society and permeating our consciousness, studies must also examine how people with privilege deny or admit the existence of racism within their institutions in different environments. Studies of how educators understand racism have been emerging; however, there remains a paucity of scholarship addressing this topic in the Canadian Prairies. In this thesis I use discourse analysis to investigate how prairie teachers negotiated the troubling topic of racism in their schools. The data was collected through open-ended surveys and focus-groups exploring teachers understanding of racism and anti-racism within two mid-sized prairie city high schools. First, exploring survey responses, I use text-based discursive analysis techniques to analyze how participants minimize the unsettling presence of racism in the school. In their responses, teachers used techniques of individualization, blaming the victim, displacement, and situating racism as a student problem to avoid implicating themselves or their school within racism. Teachers preserved the colour-blind image of education, maintaining the benevolence of the educational institution and its employees. However, different images of education emerged from focus-group discussions with educators interested in exploring anti-racism in the school. Focus group participants shifted from minimizing racism to problematizing privilege and power within the building. Multicultural, psychological, and institutional approaches to anti-racism emerged, emphasizing the need to engage individuals, cultures, and institutional structures. Exploring how teachers articulated different versions of the school environment, the identities of students, and their own identities within and between these different anti-racist discourses exposed how versions of each approach could be constructed to situate racism as external to education, and how critical conceptualizations of the school opened opportunities for individual, cultural, and institutional change within education. This research develops the understanding of race in the Canadian Prairies, discourse analysis within geography, anti-racist education, the geography of how teachers situate racism, and how teachers construct the relationship between school, teacher identity, and racism.

This study sought to describe the congruence between Aboriginal student citizenship development, as manifested in behaviour, and the prescribed outcomes of Canadian citizenship for selected secondary schools in Manitoba, as perceived by secondary principals and teachers. Citizenship, the condition of living in a shared society and the standard of conduct that allows those in a particular society to live harmoniously and prosper, has become an important goal for public education in the Province of Manitoba. Citizenship is also prevalent concept within many documents and policy developments.<p>The values of Canadian citizenship used in this study were derived from the framework of six values used in the development of Manitobas most recent Social Studies curriculum (2004b; 2004c). These six civic values are equality, respect for cultural differences, freedom, peace, law and order, and environmental stewardship. These same values were employed in the development of the survey to acquire quantitative data using Likert-scale items. Qualitative data were acquired through a set of open-ended questions on the survey and through interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed with the use of chi square analysis and descriptive statistical measures including ANOVAs. Qualitative data were analyzed through a method of constant comparison in order to establish themes.<p>For the most part, Aboriginal students from Manitoba high schools do behave in a manner congruent with the values of Canadian citizenship. There were some differences in the way principals and teachers perceived Aboriginal student behaviour, that Aboriginal students family backgrounds presented challenges to educational attainment, and that educational administration was a subject that can be dealt with in numerous curricular and extra-curricular forums. There were some exceptions to these findings manifest in both the quantitative data and qualitative data. Amongst other things, the qualitative data suggested that citizenship development should be a localized process with genuine community involvement. The implications of these findings suggest a need for the development of curricula that is congruent with traditional Indigenous ways of learning, provision of opportunities for practical experiences in the area of citizenship development, and increased research into schools on First Nations communities in the area of citizenship development. Such developments may facilitate citizenship development for Aboriginal students through the provision of education that is sensitive to Aboriginal perspectives and circumstances.

This research explores dynamics around Aboriginal language learning and use in Vancouver, British Columbia. With many different First Nations and Aboriginal languages represented in the city, urban Aboriginal language revitalization is complex and challenging. Sixteen research participants talked with me about competing priorities for urban Aboriginal individuals and families, the linguistic diversity of the British Columbia First Nations, and how demographic urbanization of Aboriginal peoples intersects with movements of language revitalization. The resulting analysis highlights some emerging language ideologies connected to urban Aboriginal language use and learning. Language ideologies have been defined as “the cultural system of ideas about social and linguistic relationships, together with their loading of moral and political interests” (Irvine, cited in Kroskrity 2000:5). By identifying some commonalities in research participants’ attitudes around Aboriginal languages in the city, I argue that ‘placing language’ and ‘finding a place for language’ are critical issues for looking at Aboriginal language use and learning in Vancouver. By ‘placing language’, I mean that participants stressed the locality of Aboriginal languages, drawing important connections between land and language. Many honoured local languages by stating that their use and preservation should be top priorities in urban-specific language revitalization initiatives. They also recognized that other Native languages are represented in the city and could be fostered by collaboration with home communities, including reserve language programs. By ‘finding a place for language’, I mean taking time and making effort toward language learning and use in the fast-paced urban environment. Determining a place and a time for language in daily life or during events is crucial for language revitalization efforts in the city. This thesis specifies some suggestions for finding a place for language, highlighting different ideas shared by participants about public school language education, community centres as places for language learning, and use of local languages in service organizations and educational institutions and in the public sphere.

This dissertation is the product of both lifework and a 2007-2010 research study. Working, living and parenting in the largest First Nation community in Canada, the Six Nations Grand River Territory, I believe it imperative that any body of work I produce be of direct use to my community as well fill a needed area of research within the field of Ogweho:weh (Original/Indigenous) Education. In order to design a study that would yield results to both these ends, I spent a significant portion of this dissertation explaining Indigenous Theory and Praxis. Subsequent to the expansion of literature on Indigenous theory and Indigenous methodology is the primary document analysis and dialogues which were intended to answer the two research questions of: (1) What changes has the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) made to Ogweho:weh education in Canada; and (2) How does the community understand success at Six Nations? One hundred seventy-three documents (international, national, provincial, and local) and 52 dialogues with community advocates, educators and parents were analyzed using an original policy discourse web entitled Social Particle Webbing. Based on a sociological perspective of particle theory, Social Particle Webbing is a metaphor for identifying areas where marginalized groups can be platformed to enhance their ability to create social change. Social Particle Webbing is comprised of two-tailed threads, similar to a candle burning at both ends. The two competing themes of each thread may run polar or complimentary to each other, but are the embodiment of the written and oral documents which shape the discourse. The Discourse of Ogweho:weh Education was identified to have fourteen companion themes making up the seven threads of: (1)“Real” Self-Determinants; (2 Responsibility; (3)In the Spirit of Equity; (4)Choice in Education; (5)Rationale for Inaction; (6)Societal Opinion of Ogweho:weh; and (7)Success. Although Social Particle Webbing was created to answer the needs of Ogweho:weh education by creating an enculturated metaphorical image of Ogweho:weh Education, it is appropriately applied to all arenas of social change where a people are marginalized and not readily able to make change due to a lack of space, resources, or power.