Indigenous Curriculum in my Context
A great deal of professional development in my district during the last five years has been focused on increasing Indigenous content in the curriculum. We have been instructed on how to implement two comprehensive programs with this as the primary goal. Both programs have since been deemed inappropriate due to varying levels of cultural appropriation and/or inauthenticity. Since then, there has been very little in-district support for any type of specific formal program or content. Instead, teachers have been encouraged to seek out and develop their own content and programs, ideally forming relationships with local Indigenous groups and organizations in order to do so. Naturally this has led to a lot of confusion and anxiety among my fellow teachers.
In order to avoid “false starts” such as this in the future, I believe that programs and/or content should be examined carefully when deciding whether to include them in our curriculum. Firstly, a preference should be given to content that has been designed by Indigenous organizations. In this way, teachers can be assured that the content is authentic. If permission is given by the organization for the content to be used for educational purposes, then a teacher can avoid the problem of cultural appropriation. In my district, efforts are underway to develop local content by our local Indigenous groups, with the understanding that this content will be more relevant and interesting to our local students – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. These resources can come in many forms, from retelling of personal experiences to family histories and legends, artwork and language. Although incorporating Indigenous content is currently very complex, there are many important lessons for Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners and we should continue to seek out and incorporate Indigenous content in our curriculum.
