Department:
Language & Literacy Education
Project lead(s):
Dr. Derek Gladwin and Dr. Kedrick James
Reflection:
What led you to your project/inspired your work? What values and principles guided the development of your project?
Building on the mandate of the Ministry of Education in British Columbia to prioritize environmental and sustainability curriculum in K-12 education, as well as drawing on the UBC climate initiative, we set out to develop course curriculum that would provide a working knowledge of theories and practices for future teachers about environmentalism and ecology from a literacy perspective. We also acknowledged the importance of finding synergies with Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies and systems/network approaches to environmental literacy. This led us to also draw on the UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan, which highlights seeking truth before reconciliation, with meaningful reconciliation at the centre, and transforming intent into action. Environmental literacy is not only about producing socially aware and engaged youth, but also understanding the interrelations between environmental and Indigenous justice. Some of the values and perspectives that underscore this project include:
- Affective and experiential ways of developing relational experiences with the land
- Decolonized approaches to environmental education and critical pedagogies
- Land-centred Indigenous philosophies
- Narrative and storytelling about place
- Comparative analysis between ecological systems approaches and Indigenous ways of knowing and being
- Indigenous environmental action
We acknowledge that it is increasingly important for non-Indigenous educators to build on and teach Indigenous curricula in education, but doing so responsibly and ethically as a way to decolonize education. Consequently, we view this course curriculum as an opportunity to unite two symbiotic epistemologies – environmental and Indigenous education – that are both integral to teacher education and graduate programs in the Faculty of Education at UBC.
(Land-based forest walk in Pacific Spirit Park with grant holders and Indigenous knowledge keeper)
What have you learned so far?
One of the primary goals of this project was to work directly with an Indigenous knowledge keeper. We already had a relationship with an Indigenous educator – with extensive experience in K-12 teaching and curriculum development, educational administration, and higher education. We organized a series of workshops with this knowledge keeper that afforded open dialogue and experience about building relationships with Indigenous communities, approaching land-based education respectfully, positioning oneself in a specific land-based context, and non-Indigenous accountability, among other topics.
Out of the many teachings that we have learned from this knowledge keeper, perhaps two most stand out: how to develop trust in indigenous-settler relationships and how to listen. Throughout our workshops, we learned the value of building relationships not only with Indigenous communities, colleagues, and students, but also with each other – as faculty, educators, and citizens. One key aspect to developing relationships – or being in the process of relational learning – is the quality of listening. This includes deep listening, or respectful listening, predicated on shifting normative Eurocentric paradigms. By engaging in these dialogues and developing trust, we have had the opportunity to explore challenging, controversial topics that underlie contemporary issues in environmental education and broaden the scope of our curriculum to embrace new eco-pedagogical models that can counter historical injustices both among the human and more-than-human inhabitants of this planet.
Where do you plan to go? What impact/influence have you or do you see your project making?
Our first piloting of the curriculum we have developed occurs in Winter Term 1, September-December, 2021. This course is cross-listed as an undergraduate-graduate special topics course. We anticipate having the opportunity to continue to hone and develop this curriculum with the assistance of indigenous colleagues, as we aim to incorporate the undergraduate version as a cross-curriculum, Bachelor of Education Secondary program mandatory course, one that will build upon knowledge students acquire in EDUC 440 Aboriginal Education in Canada. We also intend to mobilize the knowledge we have gained and shared developing this course by co-publishing results of our work and the learning we gain from the pilot delivery of this curriculum. To date we have presented our findings at one conference (CSSE), and intend to follow up on this with future opportunities that look at ways of increasing the reach and impact of Indigenous pedagogies, respectful listening, and open dialogue in the context of environmental literacy among learners across higher education settings in Canada. In addition, we hope to broaden the network of colleagues who share these aims to enhance Indigenous-informed environmental education across UBC.
Short Summary/Project Description of your project:
In 2019, UBC officially acknowledged the environmental crisis by declaring a climate emergency and beginning to divest from fossil fuels as a primary investment source. In response to this concrete action, and building on the mandate of the Ministry of Education in British Columbia to prioritize environmental and sustainability curriculum in K-12 education, this course development process aimed to provide a working knowledge of theories and practices for future teachers in the Bachelor of Education Program (B.Ed) and graduate programs about environmentalism and ecology from a literacy perspective.
The foundation of this course relies on Indigenous approaches, as well as understanding the historical trends in which these approaches are responding to – reductive, patriarchal, and colonial paradigms. We acknowledge that it is increasingly important for non-Indigenous educators to build on and teach Indigenous curricula in education responsibly and ethically as a way to decolonize education. Consequently, we view this course curriculum as an opportunity to unite two symbiotic epistemologies – environmental and Indigenous education – that are both integral to teacher education at UBC.
In broad terms, this course will demonstrate the interconnections and interrelations that cultivate a socially and ecologically sustainable world. It will accomplish this through theories, concepts, and practices that: (a) draw of the interdisciplinarity of systems thinking and holism – ecology is an applied subject that needs to be integrated with other disciplines and experiences; (b) pursue interrelationships and interdependence with the Earth, knowing how to use language and alternative ways of knowing (epistemologies) and being (ontologies) in Indigenous education; (c) incorporate aesthetic learning, appreciation, and expression, considering arts and storytelling forms of education alongside other complementary subjects in the sciences; and (d) teach how to activate empathy for ecosystems, animals, and organisms outside of the human world.