This conceptual paper is narrative inquiry into comparisons of curriculum development in my teaching practices and those that I observe during a visit to a school in Finland, particularly focusing on reconciliation, resilience, and inclusion. As an Education Faculty Lecturer in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, I look to Smith, 2024, who refers to a “cloud of unknowing”, the belief that because I belong to a group or movement, I know the truth, and as part of the teaching community, I follow the B.C. curriculum, including impacts of the Canadian Government mandate to include First Nations Learning Principals in all lesson planning (Truth and Reconciliation, 2015). Understanding that Finland has a core curriculum but no prescribed curriculum, Finland like Canada, has an Indigenous population and students who are international, including refugees, my purpose is to consider our countries’ different approaches to inclusion. Smith, 2024, suggests ‘sensory foraging’, exploration of art(s) expressive presentations of individual and group cultural voices that I demonstrate through both lenses of reconciliation and resilience. Regarding students’ cultural histories and relationships in collaborative learning experiences, Donald, 2022, suggests students reach ‘kinship relationality’ through collaborative inquiry around cultural history awareness and identity expressions. When focusing on narrative inquiry and cultural identity, I refer to Southwick et al., 2014, who suggest resilience highlights ‘adversity’, ‘adaptation’, and ‘trauma'. By sharing teaching practices with colleagues from Finland, I open further opportunities to research outside any possible ‘cloud of unknowing’ while championing indigenous and cultural equity and pedagogy of inclusion.

Authors:
Lorna Ramsay, Douglas College, Canada

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Lorna Ramsay,
Programme Facilitator (Special Education), Stenberg College, Surrey, B.C., Canada, and
Oak and Orca Bioregional School, Victoria, British Columbia (online).
Arts self-reflexive narrative inquiry towards reconciliatory pedagogy.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorna-ramsay-b440b9267/

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