Indigenous Education for Teachers: Starting with Story
Program Overview
This four-course M.Ed. Interdisciplinary option engages K-12 teachers in Indigenous education for teaching and learning. Teachers in K-12 settings have the responsibility to engage in Indigenous education work, but often do not feel confident to do so. This program begins there, offering foundational knowledge and introductory approaches to build educator confidence.
Across the four courses, students will build understandings by exploring the following provocations: who am I; where do I come from; where am I going; what are my responsibilities? These questions, shared with our School by Saulteaux leader Jacqueline Ottmann, offer a framework to help educators begin their work in Indigenous education. These questions allow teachers to find their place in the work, build relevance to their roles, understand why Indigenous education matters, strengthen their professional practices, develop approaches to leadership, and carry forward these ways of knowing, doing, connecting, and being beyond this program.
Program Details
Teachers engaging in this program as learners will be supported in
- beginning to understand Indigenous Education as an area of study, practice, and leadership
- exploring and articulating their own stories and positionalities in relation with Indigenous education
- starting with story as a way of entering into Indigenous education work
- listening to Indigenous oral storytelling and reading/viewing Indigenous texts to build understanding and relationality
- understanding why place, land, community, and context matter in teaching and learning
- building foundational knowledge of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples and knowledge systems
- grappling with contexts that shape Indigenous education work in the past/present/future
- addressing the responsibilities laid out for educators and educational leaders in professional standards
- applying concepts, theories, and understandings to teaching and learning practice in and beyond the classroom
- engaging in the bigger project of transforming education systems through Indigenous theories of change like decolonization and Indigenous resurgence
Experiential learning is learning by doing that bridges knowledge and experience through critical reflection. This program offers the following kinds of experiential learning opportunities:
- Land-based learning: such a sit spot practices
- Intergenerational learning / mentorship: Auntie/Uncle advising
- Capstone project: To document your growth as an educator / leader, e.g. visual essay
This four-course topic will be of interest to K-12 teachers (across the curriculum) and leaders who:
- are interested in developing their competencies and foundational knowledge in the area of Indigenous Education.
- feel that they do not have the knowledge to engage in this work in a meaningful way and who wish to know how and where to begin.
- are interested in storytelling as a methodological approach/way of entering into the work of Indigenous education.
A registration package will be sent to new students after they have been admitted. Registration for the summer term will be available in late winter. Fall and Winter registration opens in the spring. Your Graduate Program Administrator will send more information about registration to you.
Fee details are available on the Faculty of Graduate Studies website.
The University of Calgary offers multiple ways to meet the cost of your education. Please refer to the Awards, Scholarships and Bursaries page to learn more about options available to students. For additional information, please contact Student Financial Support.
Please refer to Admission Requirements for Master's Programs.
Program Schedule & Course Descriptions
- Program begins each July (summer term 1)
- Outlines are normally available 1-2 weeks prior to the start of term in D2L
- 3 units per course
Term 1 - Summer
Who am I?
This course provides teachers with an opportunity to tell and trouble their own stories and identities personally, professionally, and in relation to Indigenous education. Teachers will begin to orient themselves to the work of Indigenous education, beginning with the question of who they are.
Term 1 - Summer
Where do I come from?
This course requires teachers to develop the background knowledge to do the work of Indigenous education in a meaningful way. Teachers will orient themselves to the contexts and mandates shaping Indigenous education, building understandings of where they come from and why the work matters.
Term 2 - Fall
Where am I going?
This course frees teachers to engage in Indigenous education, building on their growing foundational knowledge. Teachers will build a sense of where they are going and professional purpose and learn to sit with uncertainty, unsettledness, and interdependence.
Term 3 - Winter
What are my responsibilities?
This course draws teachers into enacting relationality in Indigenous education. Having considered who they are, where they come from, and where they are going, this final course offers an opportunity for teachers to recognize and enact their responsibilities.