Nourishing the Learning Spirit:
Findings from a National Project on
Knowledge Exchange in Aboriginal Learning
ABLKC Leadership and Governance
Co-Managed:
 Aboriginal Education Research Centre (AERC),
College of Education, University of Saskatchewan
 First Nations Adult and Higher Education
Consortium (FNAHEC) and
Governed
 Steering Committee, from Consortium of First Nations,
Inuit, and Métis scholars, leaders, educators
 National Advisory Committee of informed researchers
and policy makers (both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal).
Knowledge Exchange and
Information Sharing
Bundle Approach and Priorities





Review what we know (literature reviews/scans/surveys/
inventories of programs/report syntheses/meet with informed
people…)
Ask and listen to what people say (dialogues, roundtables,
workshops, conferences, schools, workplaces, forums,…)
Share with others what we heard (webpage, news bulletins,
media, conferences, speakers, community talks, reports, papers,
journals, On-line Resource Centre…)
Identify success (es) and find ways to report progress and
celebrate these with each other and to the Canadian public
(Composite Learning Index, State of Learning Report, National
Recognition Program, national and regional conferences…)
Partner with learning organizations to make Aboriginal
learning more visible, to identify good community work and
publicize promising practices in learning.
Six Animation Theme Bundles
Intersecting and Interdependent
1
Learning from
Place
2
Nourishing
the Learning
Spirit
6
Technology
and Learning
The
Aboriginal
Learning
Knowledge
Centre
5
3
Aboriginal
Language
Learning
Pedagogy of
Professionals
and
Practitioners
4
Diverse
Educational
Systems and
Learning
Nourishing the Learning Spirit
Explores the capacity and potential we have as human beings for learning and the
impact of culture and how our ‘location’ (cultural, social, economic, political
forces) in life affects the capacity to learn as individuals and groups.
Dr. Marie Battiste, Lead – Aboriginal Education Research Centre
College of Education, University of Sask
Aboriginal Perspectives on Learning




The Aboriginal worldview is holistic – we are Spirit,
Heart, Mind and Body.
We are a part of Creation; we are not separate from it.
We all have a purpose for being here, and we have
Gifts from the Creator that are to be used for fulfilling
that purpose.
Everything is/has Spirit/Energy. We need to be mindful
of our feelings, thoughts, words and actions. What we
put out there affects everybody and everything else.
Elders Perspectives of Learning
“Knowledge is held by the spirits, shared by
the spirits and comes from the spirits…Our
body then can be seen as carrier of the
learning spirit.”
(Elder Danny Musqua, in D. Knight,1998)
“Learning and spirit are foundational to the
ethos of Aboriginal culture and pedagogy.”
(Ermine, 1998, 26)
What did We Learn?
 Diverse First Nations, Métis, Inuit Peoples,
languages, cultures, traditions, and beliefs
 Common strands of shared understanding
 Place informs knowledge, knowing, and learning
 We can all learn from each other regardless of
diverse origins
What is the Learning Spirit?
Personal and collective energy that
influences our being, acting, living
together
 Present from conception through life
 Characterized by combination of
learning strengths, gifts, capacities,
choices.and life consequences
 Supported through interrelationships
with relations, culture, language, tradition,
community, natural world

Learning is In Relation




Experiential, holistic, life-long, spiritual
With Mother Earth
With Ourselves: Care for Self:
mind, body, spirit
With Collective Community
Lifelong Learning Opportunities

Choices (will/desire)
Positive energy activates more positive energy
Negative energy draws more negative energy

Conditions that create consequences

(natural-floods/drought)+
(Social Cultural Economic Political Strategicpoverty/colonization/racism/politics)
Learning Spirit Reveals…








Before birth (Mother/father/Elders dreams)
Birth/Naming ceremony
Dreaming/visioning/in-spiration
Talents and Gifts emerge
Self-inner Talk
Finding Purpose in Convictions
Propensities to service, teaching, occupations, etc.
Life path and choices
Identified Learning Blocks
Loss of spiritual connection
 Disconnections with others/natural
world
 Forced assimilation
(residential/public schools)
 Trauma
 Anger
 Negative energy in others (low
expectations, prejudices,
pathologizing, some pedagogy etc.)

Processes for reconnecting







Nourishing spirit, mind, body to reveal gifts
Visiting Elders and the Land (Protocols for
seeking/committing to learning Tobacco, cloth, gifts,
etc)
Attentive listening/uninterrupted spaces
Inviting spirit (back) into lives
Reconnecting to the collective (language, ceremony
and traditions, history)
Caring for others
Sharing learning and learning lessons
Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre
Directors: Dr. Vivian Ayoungman (FNAHEC) and Dr. Marie Battiste (AERC)

Rita Bouvier, ABLKC Coordinator
AERC, College of Education,
University of Saskatchewan
Room 1212, 28 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 0X1
Ph: 306-966-1362 Fax: 306-966-1363
Genevieve Fox, ABLKC Coordinator
First Nations Adult Higher Education Consortium (FNAHEC)
#132 - 16 Avenue NE Calgary, AB T2E 1J7
Ph: 403-230-0072 Fax: 403-212-1401

Maria Wilson, Coordinator
c/o Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK)
170 Laurier Ave. W, Suite 510
Ottawa, ON K1P 5V5
Ph: (613) 238-8181 ext. 267 Fax: (613) 234-1991

Canadian Council on Learning Website: www.ccl-cca.ca