Hyper-activating Inukshuks: The renewal of social studies in Alberta

Abstract

A recent study that surveyed close to 500 Alberta social studies teachers concluded that irreconcilable pressures "point to tensions between the formal program of studies and its prescribed outcomes, and the realities and complexities of classrooms where teachers attempt to realize good practices" (Alberta Teachers' Association, 2016, p, 46). As the researchers observed, while there is widespread support for addressing "indigeneity" and "multiple perspectives," such expectations need to be contextualized in the experiences of the lived curriculum in classrooms where teachers are putting in 60-hour work weeks in the midst of ever-increasing prescription and control over their practice (pp. 30-31). By unpacking the narratives of milestones and the linear march of curriculum policymaking, the author summarizes why Alberta cannot make the mistake of assuming that reform will be a clear march forward where a western Enlightenment view of the world continues to frame Indigenous people as "failed versions of ourselves" (Davis in Grainger, 2009). Instead, the author concludes, there is a need to see "decolonization is as much a process as a goal (Harsha Walia in Kino-nda-niimi Collective, 2014, p. 45).