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This Indigenous-led course from IndienEYEZ and OC's Continuing Studies supports school teachers and support workers to foster cultural safety and reconciliation in the classroom. Implementing the new curriculum and the First Peoples Principles of Learning can be challenging for teachers with limited experience with Indigenous peoples and histories. This experiential training supports participants to practice tools that increase their comfort with teaching Indigenous students and topics, creating classrooms that are more inclusive and hold safe space for students to navigate challenging material and conversations. The course provides an orientation to the shared history of colonization that lies between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and familiarizes participants with key aspects of Indigenous worldviews. Teachers gain easy-to-use tools and build skills to create a classroom culture that embodies the First Peoples Principles of Learning and lays a foundation for implementing Calls to Action identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in their classrooms. The pedagogical approach to the training is grounded in Indigenous principles of relationship and reciprocity, creating a rich environment for learning by doing.

At the conclusion of this course, learners will be able to:
• Develop classroom plans that apply First Peoples Principles of Learning in the classroom
• Describe cultural safety and why it is important in the learning environment
• Recognize features of the classroom that diminish cultural safety for Indigenous students and their families
• Create a classroom environment that increases cultural safety
• Describe key features of local Indigenous worldviews connecting to individual backgrounds and knowledge.
• Develop a plan for creating the kind of classroom culture they want and demonstrate tools they will use to make this happen

Course dates run Aug. 16, 23, 26 and Sept. 13. For details, click on the button below.

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