ETEC 521 Culminating Task

1. Improving Teaching and Learning
for First Nation Students in Ontario
By Sharon Korpan
For ETEC 521 – Dec 2011

2. Learning Goals
• Examine your own assumptions and bias‟
regarding First Nations (FN) populations
and its impact on teaching and learning in
your classroom / school
• Explore the current demographic snapshot
of FN in Ontario
• Explore shifts in teaching and learning that
include a FN perspective

3. Reflect upon your own bias‟ or stereotypes
regarding the FN population - identify three.
Photo Credit: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives

4. What role has the media played in shaping
your perceptions of FN populations?

5. Exploring Facts
• How large is the FN population in
Ontario?
• Where are the FN communities?
• What does the term Aboriginal mean?
• What is the post-secondary educational
attainment of FN people, especially
women?

6. Aboriginal peoples represent a small proportion
of the total Ontario population. However, there
are more Aboriginal people in Ontario than in
any other province in Canada, and the City of
Toronto has one of the largest, if not the
largest, Aboriginal population in the country.
Spotton, N. (2005).
Photo Credit: vinod.sankar

7. Map Highlighting FN communities
in Ontario
Click map to
enlarge to PDF
posted online

8. Aboriginal Identity Population,
Ontario, 2006
This pie graph compares Aboriginal identity population and Non-
Aboriginal identity population in Ontario, 2006. The Aboriginal population
is about 2% of the population of Ontario.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006

9. Aboriginal Identity Population,
Ontario 2006
There are three groups of Aboriginal peoples in Canada: North American Indian
(hereafter referred to as First Nations people), Métis and Inuit.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006

10. Educational Attainment of the
Aboriginal Population (aged 25-34)
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006

11. Breakdown of Major Field of Study
of the Aboriginal Population, 2006
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006.

12. Postsecondary education holds widely-
recognized benefits for both the individual
and society. Research has shown that
achieving a postsecondary education:
- increases employment opportunities,
- increases income opportunities,
- provides a stronger economic and
community base.
These relationships hold true for FN people,
as they do for the population as a whole.
(Hull, 2005)

13. FN Women and
Post Secondary Education
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006

14. • In 2006, the proportion of FN women with
a postsecondary education was highest
among those aged 35 to 39 (48%),
whereas for women in the overall
Canadian population, this proportion was
highest for adults aged 30 to 34 (72%).
• This suggests that more FN women may
defer their postsecondary studies until
later in life compared to women in the total
Canadian population.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006

15. Provincial
Breakdown of FN
Women and
Post Secondary
Education
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006

16. • Factors that contribute to differences in
postsecondary educational attainment
across regions include:
– geographic location of FN people, geographic
location of postsecondary institutions,
availability and types of programs, as well as
the nature of labour markets in each region.
• In 2006, Yukon, the NWT, and Ontario had
the highest proportions of FN women aged
25 to 64 who were college graduates,
while Quebec had the highest proportion
with trades credentials, and P.E.I. had the
highest proportion of university degrees.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006

17. The „warriors‟ of yesterday were „disciplined‟
and would surrender their lives to protect
the land and the food supply.
Today's version of the „warriors‟ are working
towards goals - professionals and lawyers
– and are using education and technology
to fight, in their way, to protect the land
and the people of the land.
Source: Fraser River Video

18. What We Can Learn from FN
Philosophy to Improve Teaching and
Learning?
Photo Credit:
Smithsonian Institution

19. Research in the Walpole Island FN in
southwestern ON found an emphasis on:
– inseparable relationship between people and
the natural world
– respect for all aspects of the environment,
everywhere – not just in the community
– recognition of the dependence of people on
the physical environment
– view of the land as sacred
– responsibility to future generations
– respectful and responsible use of resources
– preservation, conservation, and enhancement
of the natural environment
– belief in the link between environmental
quality and quality of life
Source: Ontario Ministry of Education, 2011.

20. Shifts in Teaching and Learning
1) Be open-minded and prepared
– Recognize traditional and indigenous ways of
knowing as valid and useful
– Understand the benefits of including FN
perspectives in lessons
– Understand the potential of these perspectives
to precipitate interrogation of current
mainstream human and environmental
interactions, broaden and deepen students‟
sources of information and promote social
transformation

21. 2) Avoid sentimentalism,
romanticism, and stereotypes
– FN knowledge should not be romanticized
– FN societies do not possess a single view or
type of relationship with nature or community
– Recognize your own bias‟ toward FN culture
based on your personal experiences
– Become aware and knowledgeable of FN
current and historical issues

22. 3) Utilize aboriginal expertise
- Invite aboriginal persons – including elders,
local community members, parents, business
and community leaders - into classrooms, live or
virtually as resource persons and guest teachers
- Add FN traditions, cultures and perspectives
across the curriculum
- Build a bank of Aboriginal books, resources,
websites and classroom activities for student
use

23. 4) Meet the needs of FN students in your
class / school
- Plan curriculum delivery and tasks according to
their individual learning style and needs
- Differentiate instruction by allowing for process or
product to be altered
- Allow for student choice
- Adopt the philosophy of “good for all, necessary
for some”
- Include FN perspectives to help foster FN
student engagement through increased relevance
to their own experiences and culture, leading to
increased self-esteem and increased student
success
- Promote positive FN leaders and role-models

24. Success Criteria
After completing this interactive presentation and
exploring links provided…
1) Do your cultural bias‟ toward FN effect how
you teach – how your students learn?
2) Has there been a change as a result of this
presentation?
3) How could you better meet the needs of your
FN students?
4) What further questions do you have?

25. References
Chiefs of Ontario. (2008). http://chiefs-of-ontario.org/Default.aspx
Faries, E. (2007). Closing the Gap for Aboriginal Students.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/research/eFaries.pdf
Simon Fraser University (2007). Fraser River Video
http://media.elearning.ubc.ca/det/ETEC521/FraserRiver-H.264-800Kbps-
Streaming-16x9.mov
Hull, J. (2005). Post-secondary education and labour market outcomes:
Canada, 2001. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
Marker, M. (2000). Ethnohistory and indigenous education: A moment of uncertainty.
History Education, 29(1), 79–85.
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2009). Aboriginal perspectives: The teacher‟s toolkit.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/toolkit.html
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2011). Teaching for ecological sustainability, what
works? research into practice.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_
Teaching_Ecological.pdf

26. References
Spotton, N. (2005). A Profile of Aboriginal Peoples in Ontario. Ipperwash Inquiry.
http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/policy_part/resea
rch/pdf/Spotton_Profile-of- Aboriginal-Peoples-in-Ontario.pdf
Statistics Canada. (2006). First Nations Women and Postsecondary Education in
Canada: Snapshots from the Census http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004-
x/2009004/article/11017-eng.htm#c
Statistics Canada, 2006. Census and INAC Ontario Region.
http://www.aboriginalaffairs.gov.on.ca/english/services/datasheets/first_nations
.asp
Statistics Canada. 2007. Ontario (Code35). Aboriginal Population Profile.
2006 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 92-594-XWE. Ottawa.
Released January 15, 2008.
http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-
594/index.cfm?Lang=E
Statistics Canada. 2010. Visual census. 2006 Census. Ottawa. Released December
7, 2010. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census- recensement/2006/dp-pd/fs-
fi/index.cfm?Lang=ENG&TOPIC_ID=4&PRCODE=35