Browsing by Author "Kinzel, Cheryl A."

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    Experiences with Indigenous Education in College: Stories from the Early Childhood Education Classroom
    (2018-09-05) Kinzel, Cheryl A.; Poitras Pratt, Yvonne; Kawalilak, Colleen; Simmons, Marlon
    Drawing from socio-constructivism, I work from the qualitative methodological approach of narrative inquiry through storytelling, oriented by critical pedagogy and informed by Indigenous methodology, in order to understand non-Indigenous adult learner perspectives in how Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing were experienced in the early childhood education (ECE) program at an urban post-secondary college in western Canada. Exploration and analysis of these stories through the lens of critical pedagogy and within a storytelling approach helped identify the participants’ initial transformative learning experiences with Indigenous knowledges and Reconciliation. Critical reflection on these themes led to the identification of several key findings: 1) the promise of transformative learning may be found in the students’ initial reflections en route to, 2) understanding reconciliation as an acceptance of the truths and realities of Canadian history, and 3) the necessity of experiencing Indigenous knowledges. Through the metaphor of building a nest, I see the promise of transformative learning as the foundation, or the sticks and twigs of this nest. The work of Reconciliation provides the string and the mud that, although messy, with perseverance can bind this nest together. Finally, Indigenous knowledges, or Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing, represent the contextual feathers that line this nest and provide a place of comfort.