First Nations Control of Education: One Community's Experience

Abstract

The voices of First Nations communities, families, and people are acknowledged andrecognized in this research, along with the current tensions created by subtle andovertly imposed processes of colonization. This research uses ethnographic techniquesto describe a First Nations community's experience in controlling its education, andidentifies challenges related to the effects of colonization and the impacts that commu­nity control has had on its education system.First Nations control of education is central: education systems modelled on Eu­rocentric paradigms have generally proven to be unproductive in First Nations com­munities and have undermined Indigenous ways of knowing. Efforts towardself-determination and reorganization within First Nations education in a communitythat the research was based on have led to a range of successes and failures, but as thisstudy ultimately illustrates, community control of First Nations educational systemsis paramount if the processes of external domination are to be eliminated.