School failed coyote so fox made a new school : Indigenous Okanagan knowledge transforms educational pedagogy

• Main Author: Cohen, William Alexander
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/30469

This project examines how Indigenous Okanagan knowledge embedded in traditional stories, life histories and people’s practices, responsibilities and relationships are relevant and applicable to current and future Okanagan people’s educational and cultural aspirations. Okanagan language proficiency, cultural and territorial knowledge and practice, provincial curriculum and world knowledge are all important elements in creating Okanagan identity. The focus of this thesis is to identify, understand and theorise the transforming potential of Okanagan pedagogy through the development of an Okanagan cultural and language immersion school where language and cultural knowledge recovery are key elements, and express a new and current understanding, through a Sqilxw-Okanagan, children centred, extended family pedagogical approach and curriculum structure for current application in schooling projects and communities. Indigenous and world knowledge that improves, complements, and is compatible with evolving Okanagan knowledge and practice is included to generate an interconnected web; a convergence that may be useful in Okanagan, Indigenous and world educational contexts.