I've been getting this question a lot lately, so I thought I'd take a stab at answering it for folks visiting our site.
The short answer: there isn't one definitive answer. As tribes around the country (and the world) increasingly reclaim influence and assert their own values into education systems, the definition of "indigenous education" continues to evolve and deepen.
My personal answer would be to define it broadly: Indigenous education means a system of education whose school design, core values, curriculum, pedagogy, and faculty reflect tribal values, aspirations, history, and epistemologies, while focusing deliberately on indigenous identity development, holistic health, and self-determination.
Looking at examples from the Maori, or from schools like Hawaiian immersion schools, the American Indian Magnate School in St. Paul , or the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque, there are trends. Teaching Native languages--for language revitalization; for learning cultural traditions and stories; for the sake of positive self-identity; for the building of inter-generational relationships--is common. Ensuring that content covers a truthful examination of Native history, government, and literature is another common element. In terms of methods, Indigenous Education models that I have seen might keep a standard school and classroom structure, or might embrace significant experiential and cross-curricular learning. Importantly, there is still plenty of room to define what Indigenous Education can be.
Looking at scholarship on the topic can be helpful, too. I always gravitate back to Dr. Greg Cajete's words, "The goal of revitalizing Indigenous education is really about 'coming back to our power'." In this sense, he recognizes the political identity of sovereign Indigenous Peoples and borrows from the school of liberatory pedagogy and Paolo Freire. For the interested, I have found Dr. Cajete, Cornel Pewewardy, Vine Deloria, and Lomawaima and McCarty to be particularly helpful--though I'm sure there are many reputable sources I'm leaving off this list.
* As a caveat, this is my personal answer, and it is therefore prone to the biases and habits of mind I have as a non-native, white educator. For instance, this is a particularly intellectual answer. I would love to get varied and personal answers to the question "What is Indigenous Education?" on the blog. Hopefully we can see some of those come up soon.
The short answer: there isn't one definitive answer. As tribes around the country (and the world) increasingly reclaim influence and assert their own values into education systems, the definition of "indigenous education" continues to evolve and deepen.
My personal answer would be to define it broadly: Indigenous education means a system of education whose school design, core values, curriculum, pedagogy, and faculty reflect tribal values, aspirations, history, and epistemologies, while focusing deliberately on indigenous identity development, holistic health, and self-determination.
Looking at examples from the Maori, or from schools like Hawaiian immersion schools, the American Indian Magnate School in St. Paul , or the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque, there are trends. Teaching Native languages--for language revitalization; for learning cultural traditions and stories; for the sake of positive self-identity; for the building of inter-generational relationships--is common. Ensuring that content covers a truthful examination of Native history, government, and literature is another common element. In terms of methods, Indigenous Education models that I have seen might keep a standard school and classroom structure, or might embrace significant experiential and cross-curricular learning. Importantly, there is still plenty of room to define what Indigenous Education can be.
Looking at scholarship on the topic can be helpful, too. I always gravitate back to Dr. Greg Cajete's words, "The goal of revitalizing Indigenous education is really about 'coming back to our power'." In this sense, he recognizes the political identity of sovereign Indigenous Peoples and borrows from the school of liberatory pedagogy and Paolo Freire. For the interested, I have found Dr. Cajete, Cornel Pewewardy, Vine Deloria, and Lomawaima and McCarty to be particularly helpful--though I'm sure there are many reputable sources I'm leaving off this list.
* As a caveat, this is my personal answer, and it is therefore prone to the biases and habits of mind I have as a non-native, white educator. For instance, this is a particularly intellectual answer. I would love to get varied and personal answers to the question "What is Indigenous Education?" on the blog. Hopefully we can see some of those come up soon.