Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Experiences with Residential Schools and Sixties’ Scoop, and their Impact on Emotional Knowledge for Pre-service Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this 2019-2020 exploratory study is to examine pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of Indigenous Peoples and how emotional knowledge could efficiently integrate this sensitive aspect of Canadian history into the B.Ed. Program. Shen et al. (2009) state that emotions improve learning and facilitate retention in long-term memory. Could emotional knowledge be a way of integrating Indigenous knowledge in the Bachelor of Education programs? Could Indigenous experiences with Indigenous Peoples make a difference in the perception of Indigenous Peoples in pre-service teachers? For this study, the sample available to the researcher consisted of 22 pre-service teacher students. The research instruments were a questionnaire about pre-service teachers’ knowledge of Blanket Exercises, Residential Schools, and Sixties’ Scoop, and reflection papers on the same topics. The results show that 72% of Canadian pre-service teachers, who attended elementary and secondary schools, had some, very little or no knowledge of these topics before the former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, apologized to former students of Residential Schools for the harm inflicted to them. After listening to Indigenous Survivors and being part of Blanket Exercises, pre-service teachers’ perception of Indigenous Peoples changed in a range of 26% to 100%.