Indian Education in Canada: Volume 2: The Challenge

Ethel King-Shaw is a professor emeritus of curriculum and instruction at
the University of Calgary.

The Nadoka Learning Centre publishes a series of occasional papers which addresses the issues of Indian education in Canada. This book is the second volume in a series. The first volume, The Legacy, analyzed the history of Indian education; The Challenge presents the changes that have occurred since the new federal policy was implemented in 1973.

The 15 native and non-native contributors represent a wide variety of backgrounds, but all are uniquely qualified through practical experiences, advanced studies, and research to offer leadership in Indian education. Unlike some collections of articles, this volume has a clear focus and is well co-ordinated. This may be attributed to the fact that nearly all the articles were written specifically for this project. Detailed notes included for each chapter reflect the attention to details and methodology.

A general overview is provided of the challenges that arose when the First Nations moved towards autonomy in education. Descriptive case studies provide more details on the implementation of changes in different cultural and administrative jurisdictions. Such changes included pursuing the goals of children learning more of their linguistic and cultural heritage, establishing independence in running a school, and gaining control of the school board. Attention is also directed to the need for compensatory education for native children in urban areas. The final chapter provides a valuable summary and discussion of the evaluation studies that have been conducted in Canada on Indian education.

This book may be viewed as a progress report on the successes and problems that have been discovered as Indian education moves increasingly towards the goal of the right to self-determination. From past experience it is clear that diversity in programming will be important in responding to the diversity of needs.