Inuit Education Outline - Assignment Example

Inuit Education Outline Background and Research Topic: The first schools in the Canadian North were residential mission schools established by Anglican and Catholic missionaries. These early schools carried out instruction and religious education in local languages . As government education policy regarding First Canadians consolidated and government support for education in the North increased, there was a resultant shift toward English only instruction in schools that served Inuit students (Patrick, 250-254).

At the time, this was viewed as a solution to unemployment and lack of economic integration (Patrick 251, Aylward). By the 1960’s a global push was underway for “decolonization” of the education of indigenous communities, which included instruction in native languages (Patrick 255). The reasoning behind this shift was that students would be more successful in their academic pursuits when instructed in their native languages, while such instruction would provide avenues for advancement among adults in indigenous communities.

At a deeper level, decolonization of education was linked to the broader political and cultural effort to “decolonize the mind” of indigenous communities, a phrase made popular through the writings of Franz Fanon. Instruction in Inuit languages would allow students to avoid the destructive colonial condition of viewing oneself and ones communities through the eyes of colonial authority, and instead promote the development of a sophisticated, literate Inuit subjectivity. Now, forty years later, bilingual education and other anti-colonial educational reforms have had a chance to take on this enormous task.

This paper aims to assess whether the aims of such reforms have been achieved, to note any unintended consequences of the policy and to assess the potential of future reform policy. Research Question: Did bilingual education achieve its most original aims by empowering the Inuit subject and reversing the cultural imperialism of colonial education policy?1. Introduction (1.5 -2 pages)a. Background/Context: Colonial education in settler states (.5)b. More specific: synopsis of push for bilingual education (1)c.

Thesis: Bilingual education had limited success in achieving its original aims. While Inuit subjectivity has been strengthened in the process of policy change, cultural imperialism in education and society as a whole have not been entirely eliminated. 2. Colonial education (2 page)a. dominant ideology of culture and educationb. residential schools 1. structure 2. impacts 3. criticism3. The push for bilingual education (1 page)a. New theories of culture and educationb. Social context: (land claims, political movementsc.

compromise4. Policy implementation & challenges (1 page)a. Experience of students and parentsb. Funding and supportc. Experience of teachers5. Evaluation and Critique (2)a. benefits of bilingual education; empowermentb. unanticipated consequences; cultural imperialism in new formsc. challenges and recommendations by experts6. Conclusion (1.5page)a. Bilingual education had limited success in achieving its original aims. While Inuit subjectivity has been strengthened in the process of policy change, cultural imperialism in education and society as a whole have not been entirely eliminated. b. Summary: restate benefits consequences and criticismc.

New social context, what is needed to achieve original aims?Additional Sources: Colonial Education:1980 Education in the Mother Tongue: Tokenism Versus CulturalAutonomy in Canadian Indian Schools. Canadian Journal ofAnthropology 1:205-217. Anon 1955 Boarding School of Chesterfield and the Education of the Eskimo.Eskimo 38:12-17.Leibowitz, A.H.1971 A History of Language Policy in American Indian Schools.Bilingual Education for American Indians 3:1-6.Push:Aylward, M. L. (2007). Discourses of cultural relevance in Nunavut schooling.

Journal of Research in Rural Education, 22(7), 1–9.1998 Language, Power and Ethnicity in an Arctic Quebec Community.Doctoral Dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.Policy Implementation & experience:Mackay, R., & Myles, L. (1995). A major challenge for the educational system:Aboriginal retention and dropout. In M. Battiste, & J. Barman. (Eds.). FirstNations education in Canada: The circleDiveky, G1992 The Thirty-year Turnaround: A Teachers View of ChangingEducational and Language Policies in the N.W.I., pp. 87-101in N.

Grabum and R. lutzi-Mitchell (Editors): Proceedings oftheConference: Language and Educational Policy in the North.Berkeley, California.Marynard-Moody, S., & Musheno, M. (2003). Caps, teachers, and counselors: Storiesfrom the front-lines of public service. Ann Arbor: University of MichiganPress.McLaughlin, M. (1987). Learning from experience: Lessons from policy implementation.Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 9(2), 171–178.Criticism & Conclusion:Schwab, R. G., & Sutherland, D. (2001).

Building indigenous learning communities.Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Discussion Paper, # 225.Australian National University.Winkley, J., & McInerney, D. M. (1998). Facilitating conditions and academicachievement in a cultural context. Paper presented at the Annual meeting ofthe American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April 13–17.Young, L. M. (1990). Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press.The bibliography of the ORIGINAL three sources you listed are the best places to find additional relevant sources.

The ones I’ve included above seem particularly relevant and accessible