Trent University-trained teachers will be further equipped to take traditional Indigenous knowledge into the classrooms of tomorrow, following the introduction of a mandatory new comprehensive nine-week course in Indigenous and Environmental Sustainability Education for all Bachelor of Education candidates.

The course, set to be delivered for the first time this fall, will explore what Indigenous knowledge and history will be taught, and how, in Ontario's junior kindergarten to grade 12 classrooms. The course is mandatory for all second-year students in the Bachelor of Education program and builds upon the School of Education's long-standing commitment to infuse Indigenous knowledge into all of its courses.

"While we're all addressing the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge in our courses, this new stand-alone course will allow us to dig deeper," says Dr. Nicole Bell, senior Indigenous advisor to Trent University’s School of Education and Professional Learning, adding the course supports the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action as they relate to teacher education. Professor Bell developed the course in partnership with Dr. Paul Elliot, a fellow faculty member in the School of Education.

"We recognize that a lot of our teacher candidates come to us with very little knowledge of the Indigenous experience in Canada, and what that then means in our classrooms. If we are ever going to repair the relationships between First Nations and settler societies, then we need to do a better job in educating," explains Prof. Bell.

The course is a combination of Indigenous and environmental education, reflecting Indigenous world views of the natural world. Teacher candidates will be challenged with exploring individual Indigenous or environmental problems and working toward solutions. In doing so, they'll create resource materials for their classmates, the teachers of tomorrow.

"This way, the students will walk away with content in a number of areas. There's so much ground to cover, so we had to think carefully about our own pedagogy," adds Prof. Bell. "Regardless of where these aspiring teachers find themselves teaching, the bottom line is that everyone needs to learn this content, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit students need to see themselves in the curriculum in a way that speaks to them."

The School of Education has also instituted a mandatory Indigenous Studies course for all undergraduate students in the Teacher Education Stream, the program which precedes the two-year concurrent Bachelor of Education program and prepares students for careers in teaching. Students can select from a range of courses offered by the Indigenous Studies department at Trent.

“This response to the education-related calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is one key part of a comprehensive strategy in the School of Education and Professional Learning," said Dr. Cathy Bruce, dean of Education at Trent.

For more than 50 years, Trent has incorporated traditional teachings and perspectives into its curricular and extra-curricular programming. Trent’s ground-breaking leadership in Indigenous Studies dates back to our beginnings, when we became the first university in Canada, and only the second in North America, to establish an academic department dedicated to the study of Indigenous peoples.