NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: South Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, colonization

Objective(s): To determine what decolonial learning looks like in Northwest Territories classrooms; how the Aurora College B.Ed. program can prepare its students to practice decolonial teaching; and, what challenges exist in implementing decolonial learning in the NWT and how can these be overcome.

Project Description: This project is being carried out to answer the following questions: 1. What does/should decolonial learning look like in NWT classrooms? 2. How can the Aurora College B.Ed. program prepare its students to practice decolonial teaching? 3. What challenges exist in implementing decolonial learning in the NWT and how can these be overcome? Between September 2016 and June 2020, the Principal Investigator (PI) and research assistant will work with Aurora College B. Ed. students, graduates, Elders, and instructors in exploring the concepts of decolonized learning. At the beginning of the research program, each participating student will participate in a video-recorded entrance interview. Using a written questionnaire to guide the discussion, students will be asked to share their hopes for Northwest Territories communities, ideas for achieving these goals, and their interest and awareness about the importance of decolonized education. Participants will also be asked what they want to work on personally as they move through the program. At the beginning and end of each school year, student participants will also be asked to participate in a sharing circle to explore their vision and hopes for their B. Ed. journey. Participants will also be asked to participate in an interview and/or survey at the end of each year to help track their journey. Once the preliminary analysis is complete, participants will be invited to review and provide feedback before it is presented elsewhere. The PI will send participants a copy of the final research report. All data will be maintained on a password protected computer in the researchers’ offices. Partners in the national project will also have access to the raw data. Data will be kept indefinitely by the PI, but it will not be shared or used in the future without first requesting consent. A local research advisory group is being developed to help oversee the research. Aurora College Bachelor of Education students and graduates, as well as Elders involved with the program will be invited to participate. Information gathered from this project will help inform programming for the B. Ed. program, and will be shared within the wider Aurora College community, as well as a national network of research partners. Videotaped and audiotaped interviews will be used to develop a documentary about the project which will be shared locally through Aurora College. The research team will also look for opportunities to share results with regional District Education Counsil’s and the Northwest Territories Teachers Association. Project results will also be shared within a national webinar that will explore concepts in decolonized learning. Photos may be shared in the national project booklet, as well as on a project website. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from January 17, 2017 to December 31, 2017.