Nourishing the Learning Spirit:

Findings from a National Project on Knowledge Exchange in Aboriginal Learning

ABLKC Leadership and GovernanceCo-Managed: Aboriginal Education Research Centre (AERC),

College of Education, University of Saskatchewan First Nations Adult and Higher Education

Consortium (FNAHEC) and Governed Steering Committee, from Consortium of First Nations,

Inuit, and Métis scholars, leaders, educators National Advisory Committee of informed researchers

and policy makers (both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal).

Knowledge Exchange and Information SharingBundle Approach and

Priorities Review what we know (literature reviews/scans/surveys/ inventories of programs/report syntheses/meet with informed

people…) Ask and listen to what people say (dialogues, roundtables,

workshops, conferences, schools, workplaces, forums,…) Share with others what we heard (webpage, news bulletins,

media, conferences, speakers, community talks, reports, papers, journals, On-line Resource Centre…)

Identify success (es) and find ways to report progress and celebrate these with each other and to the Canadian public (Composite Learning Index, State of Learning Report, National Recognition Program, national and regional conferences…)

Partner with learning organizations to make Aboriginal learning more visible, to identify good community work and publicize promising practices in learning.

Six Animation Theme Bundles Intersecting and Interdependent

6Technology

and Learning

5Pedagogy of Professionals

and Practitioners

4Diverse

Educational Systems and

Learning

3Aboriginal Language Learning

2Nourishing

the Learning Spirit

1Learning from

Place

The Aboriginal Learning

Knowledge Centre

Nourishing the Learning Spirit Explores the capacity and potential we have as human beings for learning and the impact of culture and how our ‘location’ (cultural, social, economic, political forces) in life affects the capacity to learn as individuals and groups.

Dr. Marie Battiste, Lead – Aboriginal Education Research Centre

College of Education, University of Sask

Aboriginal Perspectives on Learning

The Aboriginal worldview is holistic – we are Spirit, Heart, Mind and Body.

We are a part of Creation; we are not separate from it. We all have a purpose for being here, and we have

Gifts from the Creator that are to be used for fulfilling that purpose.

Everything is/has Spirit/Energy. We need to be mindful of our feelings, thoughts, words and actions. What we put out there affects everybody and everything else.

Elders Perspectives of Elders Perspectives of LearningLearning“Knowledge is held by the spirits, shared by the spirits and comes from the spirits…Our body then can be seen as carrier of the learning spirit.”

(Elder Danny Musqua, in D. Knight,1998)

“Learning and spirit are foundational to the ethos of Aboriginal culture and pedagogy.” (Ermine, 1998, 26)

Diverse First Nations, Métis, Inuit Peoples, languages, cultures, traditions, and beliefs

Common strands of shared understanding

Place informs knowledge, knowing, and learning

We can all learn from each other regardless of diverse origins

What did We Learn?

What is the Learning Spirit?What is the Learning Spirit?

Personal and collective energy that influences our being, acting, living together Present from conception through life Characterized by combination of learning strengths, gifts, capacities, choices.and life consequences Supported through interrelationships with relations, culture, language, tradition, community, natural world

Learning is In Relation Experiential, holistic, life-long, spiritual With Mother Earth With Ourselves: Care for Self:

mind, body, spirit With Collective Community

Lifelong Learning Opportunities

Choices (will/desire) Positive energy activates more positive energyNegative energy draws more negative energy

Conditions that create consequences (natural-floods/drought)+

(Social Cultural Economic Political Strategic-poverty/colonization/racism/politics)

Learning Spirit Reveals…

Before birth (Mother/father/Elders dreams) Birth/Naming ceremony Dreaming/visioning/in-spiration Talents and Gifts emerge Self-inner Talk Finding Purpose in Convictions Propensities to service, teaching, occupations, etc. Life path and choices

Identified Learning Blocks Loss of spiritual connection Disconnections with others/natural world Forced assimilation (residential/public

schools) Trauma Anger Negative energy in others (low

expectations, prejudices, pathologizing, some pedagogy etc.)

Processes for reconnecting

Nourishing spirit, mind, body to reveal gifts Visiting Elders and the Land (Protocols for

seeking/committing to learning Tobacco, cloth, gifts, etc)

Attentive listening/uninterrupted spaces Inviting spirit (back) into lives Reconnecting to the collective (language, ceremony

and traditions, history) Caring for others Sharing learning and learning lessons

Aboriginal Learning Knowledge CentreDirectors: Dr. Vivian Ayoungman (FNAHEC) and Dr. Marie Battiste (AERC)

Rita Bouvier, ABLKC CoordinatorAERC, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan

Room 1212, 28 Campus Drive Saskatoon, SK S7N 0X1

Ph: 306-966-1362 Fax: 306-966-1363

Genevieve Fox, ABLKC CoordinatorFirst Nations Adult Higher Education Consortium (FNAHEC)

#132 - 16 Avenue NE Calgary, AB T2E 1J7Ph: 403-230-0072 Fax: 403-212-1401

Maria Wilson, Coordinatorc/o   Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK)

170 Laurier Ave. W, Suite 510 Ottawa, ON  K1P 5V5

Ph: (613) 238-8181 ext. 267 Fax: (613) 234-1991

Canadian Council on Learning Website: www.ccl-cca.ca