WIPCE Conference

One Fire Dance Troupe

The conference was really good with many interesting sessions, lots of cultural activities, and much music and dancing. I attended mostly post-secondary sessions from technical colleges, community colleges and universities in Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, Canada and Japan. The information was invaluable for the rest of my leave and has left me with lots to think about and questions to ask when I'm away.

I went on a site visit to the Kangan-Batman TAFE - a technical college in Broadswater (just outside Melbourne) where we were treated to welcoming dances, lunch, tours and music.

We also visited LaTrobe University - a bit further out from Melbourne - where we were welcomed, took part in a smoke ceremony and had tea and scones while listening to stories about where the platypus came from. Our hosts were gracious and welcoming.

FNESC update

While waiting at the airport in Vancouver, I thought I'd give a quick update on the FNESC conference I attended last weekend. It was the 14th Aboriginal Education conference - a provincial affair with 700 participants, a great exhibition hall with post-secondary program information, jewelry, books, fabulous First Nations art done by a young guy who's really talented, and other bits and pieces.

Overall, the tone of the conference was positive -- good relationships between First Nations educators, the Ministry of Education, and FNESC. Positive announcements about reciprocal tuition, development of English 10 and 11 First Peoples courses (down the road) - given the success of English First Peoples 12 course, and a mention to the House of Commons apology to those who were in residential schools.

Several sessions stand out, but kudos to Eric Wong from FNESC who did an excellent presentation called "More than putting out the welcome mat" which talked about developing welcoming and inclusive work places and schools. He also showed an excerpt from What I Learned in Class Today developed at UBC that was excellent.

I'll fill in a bit more later on sessions, but the things I heard over and over were language revitalization and culture and making sure that children learned their language and culture from birth to keep the people strong and the culture alive. Makes sense.

Off to Australia tonight for the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education. Stay tuned for further posts..with pictures.

Other Blogs

A couple of posts from iPortal News at the University of Saskatchewan have caught my eye: Aboriginal issues discussed in the classroom at UBC and the AFN Special Chief Conference on Education in December.

Recent Reads

A couple of interesting items lately -- one is the proceedings from the International Indigenous Librarians' Forum which is held every two years in different spots around the world. The next will be held in New Zealand in February, 2009. While I won't be attending, I am looking forward to hearing about it from people who go and I'm hoping to be able to get the proceedings for our library when they're published. Also, I've started to read The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes about the history of Australia as a penal colony, only told from the convict's point of view. First published in 1986, it won a heap of awards and is a huge book.

And more planning

I've just submitted the research grant in lieu of salary application form. Essentially, this can make a portion of my monthly salary tax free during my leave. Having a bit more money each month will go a long way to helping with travel costs. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Planning

Since receiving approval for my leave, I've started to contact people in Australia and New Zealand. I'm hoping to meet with librarians, faculty and students when I'm there for 3 months in the new year. I've explored university web sites for schools that offer Indigenous Studies programmes and/or Education programmes, or some combination thereof. There are many down under. During the last 3 months of my leave, I want to visit select schools and libraries in British Columbia and for good measure, attend a 4-day institute for Tribal Librarians in Montana in June.

Everything is connected to everything else. I have this written on a small note which I've posted to my office telephone.

So far, I've met with UVic's CRC Chair in Indigenous Knowledge and Learning to ask for her advice about my leave, and she gave me invaluable ideas and suggestions for who to meet. I've started a literature review to learn more about First Nations education and library services. I've made a lovely connection with a librarian in Sydney (through our University Librarian) who is helping me to meet the authors of some of those articles I've been reading. I've signed up for two conferences in November and December: the First Nations Education Steering Committee Conference on Aboriginal Education (where the FNESC is currently under the leadership of the graduate student who got me started) and the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education where I will be fortunate to meet people who were suggested to me by our CRC Chair in Indigenous Knowledge and Learning. Which brings me back to planning and which I need to go do now.