‘Crossing the bridge’: land education teacher professional development

ABSTRACT

We propose that the Indigenizing framework of land education in teacher professional development offers an opportunity to engage the epistemological constraints of white settler teachers. Building off the work of teacher education researchers who examine settler epistemic formations in teachers and document the gaps between euroamerican epistemic understandings of place and Indigenous understandings of place we identify axiological innovations in program design that help unsettle teachers’ sense of place towards an indigenized framework of relationality. We draw from pre and post survey data collected from teachers that participated in a land education teacher professional development (LETPD) workshop conducted in partnership with a local tribal nation. We identify how settler epistemic positions are expressed, the epistemic gaps produced by settler teachers that prevent them from accessing the full scope of LETPD, and document teacher resistance to relational PD as well as beginning efforts toward transformation. Finally, we propose that future LETPDs work towards encouraging epistemic responsibilities that require deep observation, a disinvestment in western science as the single mode of knowledge, valuing non-western expertise, and a shift from nature as external to being in relation to.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We use the term ‘Land’ and ‘Land education’ in line with prior Indigenous thinkers, that according to Tuck and McKenzie (2014), ‘… is often shorthand for land, water, air, and subterranean earth’ (p. 55).

2. We use the term perpetuation proposed by Corntassel and Hardbarger (2019) instead of revitalisation as a discursive move that we feel connects revitalisation directly to resurgence. We are drawn to educational models that affirm critical revitalisation projects mindful of colonialism, as exemplified by the work of Teresa McCarty and Tiffany Lee.

3. Described in detail by Nicholas Claxton (2015), reef net fishing embodies an intricate Indigenous knowledge system and fishing technique in Coast Salish territories. Claxton depicts the significance of reef net fishing both historically and as a contemporary project of resurgence.

4. We have opted to use gender neutral pronouns and pseudonyms for participants.