LITERATURE REVIEW

THE LITERATURE ON BUILDING POST-SECONDARY SUCCESS

Prepared for the National Committee on Inuit Education

Frances Abele and Katherine Graham[1]

March 29, 2010

Introduction and Scope of Research

We shall have more to say about specific gaps in existing literature at the conclusion of this paper, but it is important to note from the outset that the state of scholarship on post-secondary education for Inuit in Canada matches the state of northern post-secondary institutional development. Both scholarship and post-secondary institutional development in Canada lag far behind those of other comparable countries, such as the United States (Alaska), Greenland, and Norway.

While there are universities in the northern parts of several provinces (Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia) there are no universities in Inuit Nunaat, and none in any of the territories.[2] Perhaps partly as a consequence, the body of published research on northern post-secondary attainment in Canada is scanty and unbalanced, with most of it only very weakly relevant to policy development and public decision-making on educational matters. We were unable to find sufficient relevant, independent analysis to answer the basic question: what factors contribute (and will contribute) to the post-secondary success of Inuit students?

Some of the published research is of very good quality. The problem is that there is not yet sufficient volume of good quality work to support scholarly discussion, comparison and testing. Many issues of immediate pertinence to post-secondary institutional development are not covered at all.

In this review, we discuss the existing literature on Inuit post-secondary educational success in terms of five themes:

·  the “hidden curriculum” of colonialism and the possibility of bicultural education;

·  the importance of a northern university;

·  the tension between adult education (including but not limited to vocational training) and post-secondary education;

·  new approaches to curriculum design and delivery (including on-line options), and;

·  gender differences and the post-secondary experience.

The Literature on the Hidden Curriculum and the Possibility of Bicultural Education

The ‘hidden curriculum’ is a term used to draw attention to the reality that university education (and indeed all education) is not only a matter of acquiring skills, accumulating knowledge and developing insight; it is also a process of socialization that changes behaviour, attitudes, and self-image, and supports the internalization of certain norms (Dunnegan 2006). Dunnegan quotes “Meighan” who notes that, in school, students are “picking up an approach to living and an attitude to learning.”

All children entering school, and all university entrants, encounter a hidden curriculum of sorts. University students learn norms of polite disagreement, verbal argumentation, and time management. They learn which forms of challenge to authority are rewarded, and which punished, and, with luck, they learn by practice the joy of individual and group discovery, learning and analysis. The critics of the hidden curriculum are not, by and large, seeking to eliminate these features of education. Rather, they are concerned about an unintended consequence of the process of individual transformation that occurs as a person pursues post-secondary learning: devalorization of the student’s own culture, and alienation of interest based upon cultural difference.

In response to the problem of cultural devalorization as an unintended consequence of formal education, a range of authors and practitioners are exploring the concept of bicultural education. Bicultural education, as an ideal, would be built upon the highest ideals and best practices of Indigenous and other cultures, and most authors assume the possibility of substantial common ground. Dunnegan 2006 finds that reform is more than a matter of curriculum, but rather requires a thorough reconsideration of how post-secondary institutions are organized. Reflecting on a case study of university education in northern California, Dunnegan argues that university classrooms are subject to a socialization process where societal values are translated into norms that govern the general behaviour of the “participants”. The hidden curriculum is embodied in the very organization of the school or university. Dunnegan proposes a number of specific measures that can help diminish the gap between the mission and operating structures of an educational institution. (See Implications for Practice, below) The goal is to make such influences visible and subject to careful choice, and then to create consistency in content and method between academic curriculum and governance.

Dunnegan works with the concept of hidden curriculum and attention to reforming it to better align practice and formal goals (such as biculturalism), in order to find means to go beyond simply “adding in” cultural practices. A similar observation underlies many suggestions that Aboriginally specific schools or school divisions are necessary in order for Aboriginal ways approaching education to be realized (for example, n.a. 2007). Aboriginal control, of course, is not the same as a restructured educational institution.

Wihak 2005 considered management studies curricula of the periods before and after the creation of Nunavut. She identifies two principles for reflecting culture in institutional approaches. (1) non-essentialism – recognition by cross-cultural educators that culture is heterogeneous; in the specific case of the north each individual and group has different history and so traditional knowledge is neither homogeneous or static and (2) cultural reciprocity in both the content of courses and in pedagogy. For non-Inuit instructors this means demonstrating interest and respect for cultural diversity and cross-cultural pressures and conflicts and pressures as expressed by students. She also recommends altering teaching strategies to be more “eclectic,” with less emphasis on written course material and more on oral teaching and assignments.

Reflecting on Aboriginal education, some authors object to the socialization embedded in the hidden curriculum. McLean 1997 identifies adult education as a kind of moral regulation, rooted in the “objectification and naturalization of individuality” that matches official interpretations of policy purposes. He finds an explanation for, for example, high attrition rates in adult education classes in students’ resistance to personal transformation. McLean does not draw an explicit policy or program consequence from his analysis, but it would perhaps not be stretching his analysis too far to suggest that aiming for cultural reciprocity along the lines envisioned by Wihak would be an improvement.

Programmatically, Nungak 2004 recommends that 1/3 of the school year at all levels should be devoted to Inuktitut and Inuit experience. He notes that this would require a national funding program devoted to strengthening Inuit schooling –in short, adequate resources—couple with a system of certification for Inuktitut instructors comparable to those in place for English and French teachers. Nungak’s emphasis on the importance of the language of instruction is reinforced by an early analysis of Sami language instruction in Norway. Corson 1995 discusses Norway's Sámi Language Act, and its effects in all government operations, including the education system. The main effect of the act is expected to be enhanced cultural revitalization and greater local control by Sami, of the education system. It is important to note that both Nungak and Corson are reporting in aspirations, not research on measures that have been in place for some time. Corson’s method was ethnographic, involved no testing of outcomes, and his assessment made very soon after Sami Language Act was passed.

Nungak’s recommendation of the use of regulation to advance bicultural education has been taken quite far in Alaska. The Alaska Native Knowledge Network 1998 promotes the addition of “cultural standards” to the performance measures already in place in Alaskan schools. Such standards --non-coercive and meant as “touchstones”-- might well be appropriate for a new post-secondary system in northern Canada. A similar idea appears in Wilson 2003. Wilson studied the evolution of research practices and rationales in Canada and Australia through the entire contact period, arguing that scholars in both countries have come to an “Indigenist” phase of research in which Indigenous perspectives are acknowledged and to some degree accepted in academe. As more people understand the richness of Indigenous knowledge and the potential to supplement it with Western research methods, Wilson proposes principles for Indigenous research methods, as a ceremony to be respected.

Elsewhere, Barnhardt (2008) argues that fostering a new generation of Indigenous academic leaders is a key factor in setting appropriate research priorities that are appropriate and reflects aboriginal values, which in turns furthers self-determination and sustainable governance. While the Alaska Rural Systematic Initiative is one example of reconciliation between the Indigenous world view and western education system, allowing the benefits of indigenous knowledge to be realized, there is room for further research particularly in areas of scientific processes of knowledge construction and use. With references to the Circumpolar Indigenous PhD network, Barnhardt agrees with the Arctic human development report that the University of the Arctic provides an important foundation for international collaboration.

Pulpan and Rumbolt (2008) write about the difficulties they encountered in attempting a minor form of institutional change: having an Inuk authority (Rumbolt) recognized as a member of Pulpan’s thesis examination committee. They were ultimately successful, but in the process identified underlying assumptions and principles in the academy that they argued, did not recognize “Aboriginal ways of knowing.” It is unknown whether a similar pattern of behaviour would have emerged in other Canadian universities, or whether an institutional solution to this difficulty has already been found elsewhere.

The Literature on the Importance of a Northern University

As many commentators have observed over the last fifty years, the absence of a northern university system in Canada likely limits northern young people’s access to post-secondary education and hampers social and economic development.

Nord and Weller 2002 provides a analytical tour of northern universities (historical and contemporary) in all of the circumpolar countries. In the case of Canada, Weller discusses universities in the northern parts of provinces, but does not comment on the absence of universities in the territorial north. At least three points are evident from the chapters in this collection: (1) sustained and substantial public investment is needed to create viable universities appropriate to northern conditions; (2) in most cases, Indigenous political leaders led demands for the establishment of northern universities that would serve the needs of their peoples for accessibly, bilingual education, and (3) northern universities have a substantial, positive economic impact in their regions.

Poelzer 2009 makes the case for a northern Canadian university very forcefully. He provides an overview of northern education policy and institutions, showing how Aboriginal, territorial and federal policy-makers see education as a policy instrument for achieving sustainable development. Defining the key educational policy tensions in the North as the oft-perceived (but unnecessary) trade-off between adult literacy and access to university education, Poelzer provides data on educational attainment reveal that the north in general lags substantially behind Canadian norms on both of these measures. He concludes that it is imperative to address traditional knowledge and culture and language retention while providing education and skills suitable to a globalized world. Several educational initiatives that might serve this goal are highlighted. A “bricks and mortar”, if unconventionally designed, northern university is “a major part of the post-secondary education solution.” (456) Citing the example of the University of Tromso in northern Norway and OECD research, he argues that a northern university in Canada would (1) improve access to post-secondary education for northerners; (2) contribute to regional economic development and (3) help ensure that northern residents are prepared to contribute to innovation and knowledge generation in their region and in Canada. Poelzer argues that the often posited dichotomous choices between ‘traditional knowledge’ and ‘science’, and between addressing basic literacy and providing post-secondary education, are false dichotomies. Under the right conditions, these are complementary. He argues for a strong federal role, as a partner with northern governments, in advancing northern education.

The Gordon Foundation recently commissioned Blair Stevenson to open discussion of the possibility of a northern university in Canada. Stevenson 2010 is an environmental scan that revealed there was substantial interest across the north in discussing practical aspects of establishing a northern university system. Stevenson’s main conclusion was that the Gordon Foundation should convene a “dialogue session” in the North to help “stakeholders” develop a common vision. Stevenson’s consultation was selective, with sparing engagement with citizen constituencies (such as recent university graduates living in the north) and southern universities who are currently delivering university education in the North. The Gordon Foundation intends to continue to convene broader discussions on the establishment of a northern university, moving in their usual careful fashion to avoid ‘leading’ while hoping to facilitate and stimulate.

Northern post-secondary institutional development has received some international attention. Todal 2003 looks at the question of why Sami have been relatively successful in gaining traction in the education field. He argues that the achievement of a Sami specific curriculum was made possible by two main developments: the backdrop of an international movement toward acknowledging and improving minority rights and desires for autonomy from national minority groups and Indigenous people; and the willingness of the national government to take a new approach. Focuses on the first, arguing that the international networks of Sami were very significant – relationships with other Arctic In peoples – sharing of research, ideas and experience, knowledge and strategies and the development of educational institutions and research centre across the Arctic.

Roland 1993 also discusses the importance of Sami political organization in Norway in stimulating the establishment of appropriate post-secondary opportunities for Sami. She notes in turn that education can in turn that “education can effect social change on behalf of a minority in the long run, especially when brought about at top levels of governance.” Roland concludes: “Once the Saami elite entered the democratic process in the 1980 by participating in government committees with mandated Saami majorities, they were able to advocate specialized teacher training for Saami. Their line of reasoning was that a program to train Saami teachers would abate the shortage of teachers in areas with Saami populations. Yet their intention was that such a program be only a stage toward the development of a Saami university. This university in turn would be an intellectual home for Saami and non-Saami researchers whose work would include synchronic and diachronic studies of Saami language, Saami religion, legends, history, etc. The retrieval and preservation of Saami culture would ensue. In this way, Saami ethnic identity and status were to be secured in Scandinavia.”