Unlearning colonialism in relation: reciprocal vignettes from teacher education

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Abstract

In the decade since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released its Final Report and Calls to Action, ministries of education, school boards, schools, universities and educational non-profit groups across Canada have worked to implement education for truth and reconciliation. At the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education, the Calls to Action are realised through several initiatives, including a foundational course in the teacher education programme titled First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Education – Historical Experiences and Contemporary Perspectives. To demonstrate how students are guided through relational and experiential opportunities to unlearn colonialism in courses such as this, the authors—a professor and a former student of the course—engage in a reciprocal dialogue over time, presented as vignettes. Through shared grappling with past and present experiences in Indigenous education, these exchanges contribute to an understanding of relational pedagogies, curricular inquiry, and structural change as foundational to truth and reconciliation processes in teacher education.

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Keywords

truth and reconciliation, teacher education, relational pedagogies, decolonial solidarity

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