Educational Leadership: A Narrative case study on How Ontario Principals Successfully Integrate Indigenous Perspectives

Who am I? My position as a practitioner-researcher

Research has found that the principal plays a crucial role in the success or failure in the implementation process of planned change (McCoy & Shreve, 1983).

Indigenizing education from a Canadian context.

Reform in the Ontario Public School system

Role of Principal in reform

Historical context: colonization 1700-1800, residential schools, superior/ inferior relationship around knowledge

Decolonizing educational spaces: Why do principals play a pivotal role?

How are Ontario principals in the public school system successfully integrating Indigenous perspectives into their educational learning spaces?

According to the Annual Report on Ontario’s Publicly Funded Schools 2015, the Auditor General states concerns for the lack of detail, goals and measures in the implementation section of the FNMI framework. As an Indigenous researcher in the field of educational leadership, I am concerned with the percentage of Ontario principals who are not integrating Indigenous perspectives into their formal educational spaces. According to People for Education, 2015 “the majority of elementary schools (61%) do not offer any Aboriginal education opportunities” (p.10). As a result, many schools are not providing a culturally safe, inclusive environment for the advancement of Aboriginal education as part of Canada’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission. Young, Madsen and Young, (2010) suggest a strategic cultural plan for the school that principals can implement. For example, if the principal “cultivates the necessary conditions to establish an organ

After review of the literature I have identified many barriers that stagnant principals from achieving this reform goal of integrating Indigenous perspectives. Some of these barriers include: the lack of detail laid out for the principal’s role in integrating Indigenous perspectives (IP) in the implementation plan for the First Nation, Metis and Inuit Education Policy Framework (FNMI), resistance to change, lack of funding, professional development on Aboriginal education that encompasses action model, and cultural bias that tend to stagnate intercultural understanding.

1. Frawley, J. & Fasoli, L. (2012). Working together: international leadership
capabilities for both-ways education. School Leadership & Management. 32(4), 309-320.

2. Julien, M., Wright, B. & Zinni, D. (2010). Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from Aboriginal leaders. Leadership Quarterly, 21, 114-126.

3. Lewthwaite, B. (2007). From school in community to a community-based school: the
influence of an Aboriginal principal on culture-based school development. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 64, 1-18.

4. People for Education (2015). Ontario’s schools: The gap between policy and reality (Annual
Report on Ontario’s Publicly Funded Schools 2015). Toronto: People for Education.

Qualitative
"Qualitative researchers approach their studies with a certain paradigm or world view, a basic set of beliefs or assumptions that guide their inquiries" (Creswell, 1998, p.73)

Instrument:
I will be using semi-structured interviews and document analysis

Participants:
A retired Indigenous and non-Indigenous principal from Ontario’s public school system.

Paradigm: Constructivism
I have decided to carry out multiple narrative case studies because I am interested in the “close collaboration between the researcher and the participant, while enabling participants to tell their stories” (Daymon, C. & Holloway, I., 1999, p.545), which is considered a constructivist approach.

I will be exploring a qualitative method approach to interpret the data I collect from two narrative case studies I will be performing.

My study involves human participants; therefore I will need to apply for ethics approval through Western University’s Research Ethics Board (REB). I will also be required to complete an ethics approval form, which will be reviewed by REB for approval.

Ethical concerns:
confidentiality, gaining voluntary informed consent, my personal biases/ interpretations, not leaking confidential information, and integrity of data, keeping data in a secured place

I chose to conduct two narrative case studies where I can explore the differences in methods and similarities in the participant’s approaches to integrating Indigenous perspectives.

literature connections sub-themes: cultural, personal and professional

For the study I will use primary data taken from in-depth interviews with an Indigenous and non-Indigenous principal in Ontario’s public school system, to explore how they successfully integrate Indigenous perspectives.

Primary data (interviews)

First Nation, Metis, and Inuit education policy document

Educational Journals

Industry Reports

Books

Prepare research proposal for second edits by October 16, 2016

Complete document analysis November 10,2016

Complete review of literature November 20, 2016

Complete research proposal to defend November 26, 2016

Primary data collection January 2017

Completed transcriptions January 2017

Coding February 2017

Paper completion March 2017

1. The Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (CJEAP). This journal is peer reviewed and online based. The journal fits well with my research study because they only accept articles that address administrative or policy issues related to education and educational systems in Canada.

2. The Leadership Quarterly: An International Journal of Political, Social and Behavioral Science. One of the first papers I read on educational leadership came from this journal. The journal reviews studies of leaders from all walks of social life including school principals which hons well with my research.

3. Canadian Journal of Education has a broad readership of diverse educators from across Canada and globally. They only accept articles that address a question or issue in Canadian education, which is what my study does. Because my study contributes to a scholarship in education it will reach my potential target market and potentially encourage educational leaders in Canada and abroad to take action in decolonizing our public schools. I plan to submit in April 2017.

References

1. Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative research
journal, 9(2), 27-40.

2. Creswell, J. W. & Miller, D. L. (2000). Determining validity in qualitative inquiry. Theory into
Practice, 39(3), 124-131.

3. First Nations Centre. (2007). OCAP: Ownership, Control, Access and Possession. Sanctioned by
the First Nations Information Governance Committee, Assembly of First Nations. Ottawa: National Aboriginal Health Organization.

4. Frawley, J. & Fasoli, L. (2012). Working together: international leadership
capabilities for both-ways education. School Leadership & Management. 32(4), 309-320

5. Julien, M., Wright, B. & Zinni, D. (2010). Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from Aboriginal leaders. Leadership Quarterly, 21, 114-126.

6. Lewthwaite, B. (2007). From school in community to a community-based school: the influence of an Aboriginal principal on culture-based school development. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 64, 1-18.

7. McCoy, S. & Shreve, G. (1983). Principals-Why are some more successful than others in implementing change? NASSP Bulletin, 67(464), 129-130.

8. Michell, H. (2012). The canoe trip: A Northern Cree metaphor for conducting research. Education, 18(1), 2-8.

9. Ontario Ministry of Education (2007). First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework. Retrieved from https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal/fnmiFramework.pdf

10. People for Education (2015). Ontario’s schools: The gap between policy and reality (Annual Report on Ontario’s Publicly Funded Schools 2015). Toronto: People for Education.

11. Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: design and methods. California: Sage Publications.

12. Young, B. L., Madsen, J. & Young, M. A. (2010). Implementing diversity plans: Principal’s perception of their ability to address diversity in their schools. NASSP Bulletin: 94(2) 135-157.