Origins and Context

Background

While our focus in this resource is the First Peoples Principles of Learning themselves, it is impossible to discuss them without looking back at the complex, destructive, and tragic history and relationship Canada has with its Indigenous People. Canadian systems, laws, and institutions, from justice to education, are rooted in colonialism, and have historically functioned to assimilate Indigenous People. Education in particular, through the Indian Residential School System, played a key role in the attempt to erase the culture, identity and traditional knowledge systems of Canada’s Indigenous People. However, in spite of the destructive role education has played, Senator Murray Sinclair argues that “education holds the key to reconciliation” and that “we need to be mutually respectful” (St. Francis Xavier University, 2016). Recently,through a progressive curriculum overhaul, British Columbia’s education system has moved towards bridging this gap to better serve Indigenous learners, and it has done so in partnership with the First Peoples of the province and The First Nations Education Steering Committee. This movement to aid in the reconciliation process and improve Indigenous education, along with the reciprocal relationships that underpin it, is exemplified by the creation of the First Peoples Principles of Learning.

For more on Canada’s Indian Residential School System and the role education has played in the lives of Indigenous people, please watch the video below.

What are the First Peoples Principles of Learning?

In 2006, The BC Ministry of Education and the First Nations Education Steering Committee, along with work groups, Indigenous elders, knowledge keepers, and teachers, created a provincially recognized and academically rigorous course called English 12 First Peoples (since renamed English First Peoples 12). The course launched in 2008, and was designed to focus on the “experiences, values, beliefs, and lived realities of First Peoples” (British Columbia Ministry of Education and First Nations Education Steering Committee, 2008, pg. 11) while also providing all students with an academic equivalent to English 12. The course was born from two separate but complementary foundations of learning. First, it was based on the principles below, common to all BC curriculum at the time:

1. ​Learning requires the active participation of the student.
2. People learn in a variety of ways and at different rates.
3. Learning is both an individual and a group process

Where English 12 First Peoples differentiated itself from other courses was in the establishment and integration of a new set of principles created to guide student learning, principles woven into the fabric of the course from content through to implementation. They are called the First Peoples Principles of Learning, and they can be viewed on the poster to the right. Explore the poster by clicking the information icon next to each principle, to hear some thoughts and perspectives on the principles from several Indigenous students, as well as both Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers at the Saanich Adult Education Center. We would like to extend our thanks to each and every one who contributed his or her thoughts. It is important to note that the principles are not intended to represent an all encompassing view of Indigenous perspectives and ideals. Rather, they “represent an attempt to identify common elements in the varied teaching and learning approaches that prevail within particular First Peoples’ societies” (First Nations Education Steering Committee & First Nations Schools Association, 2018, pg. 11). The FPPL are meant to serve as a guide for teachers, to help improve the learning of Indigenous learners, but also to help all teachers and learners better understand Indigenous perspectives, ways of being, and ways of knowing.  They should be viewed as a unique holistic instructional theory, one that is both descriptive and prescriptive, in that they describe both how learning occurs, and explain situations in which people can best learn.  Further, the FPPL represent an authentic attempt to being bridging the cultural and educational gap between Indigenous people and the rest of Canada, and their importance cannot be understated.

Why Do They Matter?

The First Peoples Principles of Learning are important for a number of reasons, but two reasons stand above the others. First, they represent a step towards reconciliation, and the recognition that BC’s education system has historically failed to honour the traditions, histories, ways of knowing, ways of learning, and ways being of Indigenous learners. Second, they represent a shift towards making Indigenous students feel like their history and identity are acknowledged and held in the same light as other ways of knowing and being, and they represent action with regards to improving the success of Indigenous students. According to the BC Ministry of Education, Aboriginal Education in BC seeks to “improve the success of Aboriginal students, support all students learning about Aboriginal peoples, and help teachers in their efforts to bring Aboriginal knowledge into their teaching practice” (BC Ministry of Education, 2018). The creation and infusion of the FPPL as a pedagogical foundation into BC’s new curriculum, demonstrates a true desire to incorporate diversity, experiential, and holistic learning into “educational settings that have typically privileged intellectual knowledge to the exclusion of other ways of knowing” (Tanaka, 2016, pg. 6).

The FPPL aren’t a set of tools and rules to use when convenient. Rather, the FPPL offer educators a new holistic way of approaching teaching and learning.  In 2016, the graduation rate for Indigenous students sat 24% lower than non-Indigenous students in BC (Auditor General of British Columbia, 2019).  While this number has climbed slowly since 2010, it is simply not good enough.  If BC’s education system is truly committed to improving success, then Indigenous learners need to see themselves, their values, their histories and their beliefs reflected in the classrooms, textbooks, and interactions with classmates and teachers.  The creation of the FPPL is a start in the right direction, but teachers need to find unique and authentic ways to implement them into classrooms and learning experiences.