Handbook of Indigenous Education

Abstract

School governance and the involvement of indigenous communities and parents in the affairs of the school contribute significantly to the school performance and educational outcomes of indigenous students. For indigenous peoples and com- munities, parental involvement is strongly influenced by ethnic or cultural back- grounds that are different to the school culture. There is merit in predicting that parental involvement in school governance increases school enrolments and participation by children from indigenous communities because parental involve- ment may motivate both parents and students to identify with the school and its programs. Schools should spend time building positive school-community rela- tionships so that indigenous peoples get involved in decision-making processes that promote the aims and goals of the school and the aspirations of indigenous students. This chapter revolves around the assumption that there are very few indigenous peoples who take up positions in school councils or school boards, not because they are not willing to, but because of structural and systemic disadvan- tages and cultural “impediments.” The chapter argues for the establishment ofthe school-community partnership and the inclusion of indigenous philosophies of school governance within the school in order to build capacity for the local indigenous peoples for them to contribute to the running of the local school. Because schools are institutions within communities, the chapter recommends that effort should be made to facilitate interaction between indigenous commu- nities and school structures through the integration and acknowledgment of indigenous philosophies and epistemologies and rapidly promote indigenous structures and processes of governance