Digging Up the Roots of Educational Policy: Curriculum Infusion and Aboriginal Student Identity Development

Abstract

Since 2002, Alberta teachers have been required to infuse Aboriginal perspectives into the K-12 curriculum across all subject areas in order to positively impact Aboriginal children’s identity development. There are several assumptions inherent in the policy of infusion that this study uncovers and examines using Cree knowledge and research methods as the foundation of inquiry. The questions that guided the study were threefold. The first task was to understand what Aboriginal identity is and how it develops and functions. Second was to examine what happened to Aboriginal identity to impact its development in Aboriginal people. The final query was to explicate the roles and impacts of Canadian teachers and schools on Aboriginal identity development. Based on the knowledge and understanding of three Cree knowledge holders, this study presents a model of Aboriginal identity as a living entity that grows and develops within a cultural ecosystem. The model is then used as an analytical framework to evaluate the policy of infusion for its potential efficacy in contributing to the development of Aboriginal identity in schools. The study concludes that Aboriginal identity development requires a cultural ecosystem that includes Aboriginal peoples, ceremonies, histories, knowledges, languages, and lands as inherent elements of identity and its development.