Awakening vision: examining the reconceptualization of Aboriginal education in Canada via Kaupapa Māori praxis

Kaupapa Māori theory was conceptualized in the 1980s in New Zealand as a framework for revolutionizing Indigenous education. Its success marks it as a transformational praxis beneficial to educators beyond the shores of Aotearoa. This theory propounds a practical, proactive stance that enables a shift in thinking away from the psychology of de-colonization towards a “conscientization” or consciousness raising which Friere says can occur when a people take action against the oppressive elements in their lives. In this paper I provide an overview of the current state of Aboriginal education in Canada, citing examples of Canadian instructors who envisage similar self-empowering pedagogy. In addition, I highlight a Canadian case study to demonstrate the process of critical consciousness underway at a First Nations school in Aklavik, NWT, where teachers are employing Kaupapa Māori theory and culture-based curriculum for positive outcomes. This focus serves as a critical lens to educators, policy makers, and other stakeholders who might want to draw more from the transformative power of the Māori framework as counter strategy to Eurocentric curricula and colonial paradigms.     

教育即解放——试析保罗·弗莱雷的“解放教育学”

保罗·弗莱雷的“解放教育学”是当今世界最具影响的教育思潮。“教育即解放”是弗莱雷的核心教育观。文章试图通过揭示该教育观的基本内涵,对《被压迫者教育学》的框架进行概貌式的勾勒。     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Assistencialism</Emphasis> and the Politics of High-Stakes Testing

In this article I argue that the current high-stakes testing accountability model is an assistencialist model, derived from deficit thinking paradigms. Such models, like the No Child Left Behind Act, sanction low performance with serious consequences for students and educators. Drawing from Freire, I propose an anti-assistencialist accountability model based on local community culture and needs that would include critical, problem-posing education, dialogue as a means toward raising social consciousness, and appropriate assessments according to local community needs. I further argue that such an accountability model can be implemented through cultural immersion programs that include three levels of immersion, (1) classroom culture, (2) local community culture, and (3) trans/cultural, or transnational exposure.     

Contributors in this Issue

After going through Assertive Discipline training, a student teacher entered her new first-grade class. The mentor classroom teacher did not use Assertive Discipline, but gave permission for the student teacher to use this management system. After teaching students her rules, rewards, and negative consequences—and appropriately implementing Assertive Discipline—it was found that students responded to both the student teacher and the regular classroom teacher in the appropriate ways each expected.     

在沉默中爆发的解放教育行动

弗莱雷为第三世界国家的人民提出了解放教育学。他号召人们联合起来共同追求人的本体使命,即人性化。他具体分析了在追求这一使命过程中的种种意识及心理现象,并提出了被压迫者的任务,即解放。     

Language Death: A Freirean solution in the heart of the Amazon

‘Language death’ is an undeniable phenomenon of our modern times as languages have started to disappear at an alarming rate. This has led linguists, anthropologists, philosophers and educationists to engage with this issue at various levels in an attempt to try to understand the decline in this rich area of human communication and culture. In this article I refer to some interesting and innovative educational projects in the Amazon region of Brazil, which are revitalizing local languages, cultures and communities. I analyse these projects in the light of some of Paulo Freire’s ideas, particularly his views on conscientization, praxis and contextualization, and will argue that these educational ventures might be viewed as useful templates for other countries and peoples seeking to reverse or avoid ‘language-culture’ death.