Academic Success of Aboriginal Students

Promoting the Success of Aboriginal Students in Today's Education

Aboriginal education has experienced significant developments throughout the first half of the 20th Century because of the establishment of several learning institutions and programs that primarily focus on providing Aboriginal students with a Western education. During this period, several federally-funded schools such as mission residential schools in remote regions have been established to help ensure these students obtain Western education. These efforts have been characterized by development of a framework for providing Western education to Aboriginal students in light of their language and culture. While numerous attempts have been carried out to ensure these students obtain contemporary education, there have been many concerns on how to promote the academic success of Aboriginal students. This is primarily because existing conditions in modern education have seemingly hindered the success of these students, especially in public schools. Therefore, the creation of suitable conditions that promote the success of Aboriginal students is an important consideration in today's education system.

Historical Context of Aboriginal Education

Pedagogical issues in Aboriginal education started receiving recognition by the 1960s, particularly in the federally administered schools. The recognition of these pedagogical issues in Aboriginal education was reflected by the development of federally funded schools during the first half of the 20th Century. During this period, there were numerous federal efforts to offer Aboriginal students contemporary education such as the establishment of several mission residential schools in remote areas. The unique pedagogical issues of Aboriginal students became increasingly recognized throughout the first half of the 20th Century as more Aboriginal status and non-status students were enrolled in provincial schools (Western Canadian Protocol, p.1). As a result of recognition of these unique needs, provincial and territorial ministries started to develop and establish policies and support programs that were geared towards providing Aboriginal students with contemporary education.

The development of policies and support programs included creation of Aboriginal language programs and integration of the cultural content of Aborigines into mainstream curricula. While initial initiatives towards this objective were temporal and underdeveloped, these programs have evolved significantly following the involvement of the Aboriginal people. Actually, policies and programs that focus on and support Aboriginal students have evolved and continue to evolve in both provincial and territorial schools / learning institutions. Despite the development of provincial regulations for language curricula, language curriculum development is the cornerstone of initiatives towards Aboriginal language education.

Most of the support programs developed for Aboriginal students are created and established as second language courses. In some cases, provincial and territorial ministries establish bilingual or immersion programs, especially in learning institutions where most of the students speak Aboriginal languages as their first language. In remote areas or frontier regions, schools establish support programs that focus on bridging students into instruction that is usually provided in English. However, in the recent past, there have been numerous efforts to establish a wider and more consistent policy in provincial and territorial institutions that promote integration of Aboriginal cultural content into various subject areas like physical education, arts, social studies, and science.

These significant developments in the education of Aboriginal students were initiated as part of addressing the pedagogical issues of the oppressed. According to Freire, the pedagogy of the oppressed is a tool for their important discovery (p.48). The involvement and participation of the Aborigines in the creation of these policies and support programs is a reflection of the engagement in creating the pedagogy of their freedom. Aboriginal students were largely oppressed in the education system before the first half of the 20th Century when important initiatives were undertaken to provide them with a modern education. This oppression was evident in the failure to include Aboriginal culture and language in educational programs and activities that largely focused on non-Aboriginal students. In essence, prior to the development and introduction of these varying initiatives, the education system largely focused on non-Aborigines and designed its programs and activities based on the needs of these people. This contributed to the oppression of Aboriginal students because of the lack of suitable educational programs and activities that were tailored based on their pedagogical needs and issues.

In addition to addressing the pedagogy of the oppressed, the main objective for the adoption of policies and support programs was to enhance awareness and acknowledgement of the Aboriginal cultures in the broader non-Aboriginal population and society. Moreover, these initiatives were focused on providing Aboriginal students with content that is increasingly responsive to their specific needs and issues. Currently, several territories including British Columbia have created Aboriginal studies programs, curricula, and learning resources and programs that focus on supporting Aboriginal cultures. Furthermore, all provinces and territories are increasingly encouraged to integrate Aboriginal content throughout curricula in order to incorporate the Aboriginal perspectives in the education system.

Issues Facing Aboriginal Students in Today's Education System

Regardless of the numerous initiatives undertaken to integrate Aboriginal perspectives in the modern education system, Aboriginal students have continued to face significant challenges and issues that have hindered their academic success. Aboriginal students consider school as the training-ground to become an individual capable to give back to society (Manguel, p.2). Generally, for this population, school or education is the start point for demonstrating personal responsibility, which later translates to ability to give back to the society in light of the emerging issues or concerned care. Despite their recognition of the importance of education in development and growth of an individual, Aborigines understand that education requires sacrifice. This is primarily because of their socio-economic status, which implies that they must sacrifice something such as clothing in order to be in a position to buy books and access education like non-Aboriginal population. The need for Aborigines to sacrifice in order to access education like other populations and cultures is partly fueled by the visible pedagogical oppression of Aboriginal students. The lack of significant attention on educational programs and activities that are tailored to meet the pedagogical needs of Aborigines implies they have to undergo significant challenges in accessing education, which hinders their academic success.

The second major issue that affects the success of Aboriginal students in today's education system is language and cultural barriers, which make these students, especially newcomers, feel isolated and discouraged (O'Connor par,1). Schools have attempted to create safe environments for Aborigine students through implementing policies and support programs that incorporate Aboriginal perspectives. However, these efforts have not effectively prevented the visible language and cultural barriers that make it difficult for Aborigine students to feel included in the learning environment. For instance, Surrey School District English Language Centre has tried to create a safe environment where Aborigine students will focus on learning English and survive Canadian high school because these students tend to feel isolated without English. Despite these measures, Aborigine students in the school still feel isolated and discouraged because of language and cultural differences as well as the difficulties and frustrations associated with learning English even with support from the learning environment. In some cases, the learning environment has been characterized by factors that exacerbate the language and cultural differences that affect Aborigine students despite measures by the school administration to establish a safe learning environment. In such instances, the school systems are mysterious since students feel lost in these large institutions with constant class transitions. The language and cultural differences act as barriers towards the success of these students in today's education system by creating perceived unfriendliness in the learning system and process.

The third problem that has hindered success of Aborigine students in the modern education system and environment is the rapid decline of the once-vibrant Aboriginal languages, which are increasingly struggling for survival. The future of Aboriginal languages is hanging in the balance, which generates considerable difficulties for the population to maintain its original identity (The Canadian Press par, 1). Since language is the backbone of a culture, the rapid decline of the once-vibrant Aboriginal languages generates challenges of integrating Aboriginal perspectives in the education system. The decline in these languages affects the ability of school administrators and experts in the field of education to understand the actual Aborigine perspectives and effectively integrate them in education policies and support programs. This implies that the perspectives incorporated in the education system do not necessarily reflect the entire cultural aspects of Aborigines. Therefore, efforts that have been developed to address the pedagogical issues of these students are relatively ineffective. The seeming ineffectiveness of these measures implies that it is increasingly difficult to establish suitable conditions in the education system that promotes the success of Aboriginal students.

The success of Aboriginal students in the contemporary education system and setting is affected by numerous identity issues and culture shocks. As previously mentioned, the current education system has been characterized by increased focus on non-Aboriginal population and cultural differences. As a result, these students experience numerous culture shocks in the educational environment because of these issues. The identity issues that affect their success are attributable to the rapid decline in the once-vibrant Aboriginal languages, which makes it difficult to understand their culture. According to O'Connor, immigrant youth experience challenges in navigating identity issues and culture shock (par, 5). These challenges hinder educational success of Aborigine students because of numerous difficulties in reconciling identity and culture. Aboriginal leaders and elders have expressed concerns regarding the problems experienced by new generations with regards to identity in the mainstream or Aboriginal culture.

Ensuring Success of Aboriginal Students in Today's Education

In light of issues facing Aboriginal students in the modern education system and the attempts undertaken to integrate Aboriginal perspectives in contemporary education, it is important to develop and implement conditions that promote the success of these students. School administrations and experts in the field of education are facing increased need to identify suitable conditions in the education environment that would help promote the success of Aborigine students through effective integration of Aboriginal perspectives.

The first measure towards promoting the success of Aboriginal students in today's education is developing and implementing multicultural or anti-racist education. This is an important measure because one of the major issues in the education environment that affect these students is language and cultural differences, which make them feel isolated and discouraged. This type of education will help address these differences and challenges through the creation of academic content and learning environment where these students feel safe and included in the learning processes and activities. Multicultural or anti-racist education is a perspective that applies across all subject areas and deals with people's histories and experiences that have been isolated from the curriculum. The main reason for the use of multicultural or anti-racist education to promote the success of these students is that it helps ensure that the Aboriginal population is included in the curriculum and educational setting. Moreover, this type of education helps school administrators and other stakeholders in the education field to deal equitably with all cultural and racial differences in the learning environment (Au, p.10). This perspective is also beneficial in providing insights on the current status of things in relation to power relationships and equality issues.

Anti-racist education promotes the success of Aboriginal students in the modern education system by influencing decisions made by schools with regards to involvement of various people and cultures in the decision-making process. It also incorporates parents who are sometimes ignored in the decision-making processes in the education system. Therefore, multicultural or anti-racist education influences the numerous aspects in the education system and helps in creating a safe and all-inclusive learning environment that promotes the success of all students including Aboriginal students.