Date of Submission
8-7-2022
Document Type
OIP
Degree
Doctor of Education
Department
Education
Keywords
Indigenous Cultural Safety, Post-secondary, Critical Race Theory
Abstract
Abstract
Anti-Indigenous racism has become entrenched throughout Canada’s higher education system. Anti-Indigenous racism is most commonly evident in higher education in the form of covert systemic organizational practices and policies, and to a lesser degree it emerges as overt individual racism. The barriers and obstacles that systemic racism presents in higher education, combined with the intergenerational impacts of colonization on Indigenous communities, has resulted in a system where Indigenous students are less likely to transition to post-secondary education and less likely to persist towards credential completion. The purpose of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is to identify transformative strategies which can be implemented to increase Indigenous cultural safety and decrease the harm caused by anti-Indigenous racism within the Faculty of Health and Human Services (FHHS) at a rural BC college. This OIP is framed by the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Indigenous Cultural Safety, and transformative learning theory. This OIP recommends utilizing both transformative and adaptive leadership approaches to address this complex, adaptive, Problem of Practice (PoP), as both of these leadership approaches are both consistent with CRT principles. Furthermore, this OIP recommends that the first 24 months be focused on increasing knowledge for FHHS member regarding how Indigenous Cultural Safety can be enacted to build the confidence and racial stamina of faculty and staff to engage in meaningful conversations about race, racism, and white privilege both inside and outside of the classroom.
Recommended Citation
Michaud, L. M. (2022). Developing Indigenous Cultural Safety in a Post-Secondary Context. The Organizational Improvement Plan at Western University, 273. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/273