The document discusses Aboriginal learning in West Vancouver Schools. It provides an overview of how Aboriginal learning is embedded throughout the K-12 curriculum rather than taught in isolation. It highlights initiatives taken to integrate Aboriginal teachings, values, language, culture and history. This includes staff training, new resources on residential schools, focusing on local First Nations in the science curriculum, and creating a scope and sequence for Aboriginal learning across subjects and grades. It also discusses the pedagogical shift towards student-centered inquiry learning and an attitudinal shift to present Aboriginal knowledge authentically rather than as separate from the dominant culture. References are provided for further information on the district's Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement and resources on truth and reconciliation and BC's

1. West Vancouver Schools
Aboriginal Learning

2. Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family,
the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.
Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational
(focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a
sense of place).
Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions.
Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities.
Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge.
Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
Learning involves patience and time.
Learning requires exploration of one’s identity.
Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and
only shared with permission and/or in certain situations.
Indigenous Principles of Learning K-12

3. Part of Coast Salish
people
Aboriginal
First Nation – Metis – Inuit
Squamish Nation

4. • Embedded throughout K-12 curriculum vs in isolation
• Focus on a long, rich cultural history
• Not a reference through first contact or simply in relation to the dominant
culture
• Oral tradition – language so important to identity
• Gleneagles Ch’axay naming ceremony example
• Primary students – understanding community, sense of
belonging, culture, rich history – literature based
• Grade 5 – Residential Schools – new – teacher training district
wide and new resources made available
• http://www.fnesc.ca/grade5irsr/
Cultural narrative for elementary…

5. In West Vancouver we’re already….
• Staff Book Club – story of a residential school experience from a survivor’s perspective
• Innovation Grant, “How can the integration of Aboriginal teachings and values into the
curriculum impact our school community’s attitudes and understanding of localized
Aboriginal language, culture and history?”
• In Science, we are looking at the big ideas of ecosystems, the environment and
interdependency through the lens of our First People
• Our plan has three core understandings that relate to the Positive Personal and Cultural
Identity Competency: our experiences become stories we tell ourselves; our stories, along
with our sense of belonging and place, shape our identity; some people have the courage
to share their stories with others or carry them alone.
• entire K-7 scope and sequence of the Aboriginal connections and links in Science and
Social Studies
• focusing on the First Principles of Learning as it connects to the Personal and Social
competencies (inter-generational learning, restorative justice)
• creation of an Aboriginal Education lead teacher and the beginning of a school-wide scope
and sequence for Aboriginal Learning
• increased awareness of good First Nations literature to augment our library and
classroom collection and support the curriculum in our classrooms. The collection, in
addition to supporting new curriculum, lends itself so well to oral language development
and storytelling.

6. New curriculum
- Pedagogical shift to a student centered approach
- Inquiry
- 21 Century skills, such as:
- Critical and creative thinking
- Collaboration
- Communication
Aboriginal Education
- Attitudinal shift
- Material not presented as separate from dominant
culture; relevant to local area; authentic
- Continuous throughout curriculum and integrated

7. References to Aboriginal knowledge and
worldviews are both explicit and implicit in the
redesigned curricula and are evident in the
rationale statements, goals, learning standards
and some of the elaborated information

8. What we do now…
Mainly identified/covered as distinct curricular elements/issues in
Social Studies
SS 10: Fur Trade, the metis, Louis Riel, NWMP, NW
Rebellion, Fraser River Gold rush, Douglas Treaties, Chilcotin
uprising 1864, bison hunt
SS 11: Indian Act 1876, Residential Schools, Joe Capilano,
Potlatch Ban, Aboriginal poverty and health, Berger Commission,
Nisga’a Treaty, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Meech Lake
1987
Law 12: Pipelines, Aboriginal policing, fishing rights,
sentencing circles, Aboriginal legal rights (Sparrow vs Van der Peet
1996)

9. Aboriginal Education as a lens across all curriculum...
Math: Apply cultural perspectives of First Peoples to the concepts of
locating, measuring, and numbering
English: Identify the role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in
expressing First People’s perspectives, values, beliefs, and points of
view
Science: Examine how diverse worldviews influence individual and
societal interactions with the environment; place-based approach
PE: Explain and describe factors that shape personal identities,
including social and cultural factors
SS: Understand and use the First People’s Principles of Learning and
other indigenous pedagogies

10. Shifting our thinking…
From information about Aboriginal
people, to how Aboriginal
perspectives and understandings
help us learn about the world and how
they have contributed to a stronger
society

11. Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement
http://westvancouverschools.ca/aboriginal-education/wp-
content/uploads/sites/4/2014/10/aboriginal-education-
enhancement-agreement.pdf
Familiarize yourself with…
Truth and Reconciliation Summary Report
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/H
onouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_
July_23_2015.pdf
Building Student Success; BC’s New Curriculum
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/f
iles/pdf/aboriginal_education_bc.pdf