Working towards relational accountability in education change networks through local indigenous ways of knowing and being

Abstract Indigenous communities and students have been marginalized by colonial practices, disproportionally referred to special education programs, and encounter systematic prejudice and discrimination in education systems that lack respect for their ways of knowing and being. To disrupt hierarchical practices and structures that enact a hidden curriculum of privilege and racism, reconciliation and educational and system transformation need to work in tandem. Drawing on critical case study guided by Indigenous Storywork principles, we are researching how Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) can support educators and Indigenous community partners’ collaboration to decentre colonizing education practices. Analysis of preliminary data offers a window into the potential and complexity of engaging in decolonizing work that asks educators to unpack their role in reconciliation efforts and unlearn much of what they believed to be ethical practice. Findings include: participants awakening to structural inequities and racism; white/settler participants engaging with difficult knowledge; educators emphasizing their need for external resources to decolonize their practice; and a delicate balance between educators feeling challenged, feeling hopeful, and recognizing the distance yet to be travelled. This study demonstrates that collaboration with Indigenous community partners within education change networks (ECNs) holds potential to support pedagogical transformation and ultimately redefine student success.


Introduction
Indigenous communities and students have been marginalized by colonial practices, disproportionally referred to special education programs, and encounter systematic prejudice and discrimination in education systems that lack respect for their ways of knowing and being (Auditor General of British Columbia, 2015;Hare & Davidson, 2019;Hare & Pidgeon, 2011). According to Battiste (2013), Indigenous Peoples in Canada and throughout the world are experiencing tensions that emerge from being educated in a Eurocentric education system that dismisses their traditional knowledge systems. Indigenous scholars point out that education for Indigenous students must be "viewed in the context of systemic barriers and inequalities inherent in the current education system that marginalize Indigenous knowledge systems and result in significant challenges to the educational success of Indigenous children and youth" (Hare & Davidson, 2019, p. 204). Therefore, reconciliation and educational and system transformation need to work in tandem if we are to disrupt hierarchical practices and structures that enact a hidden curriculum of privilege and racism.

Theoretical perspectives
Following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015) many educators, school districts, and Ministries of Education are seeking ways to better support the needs of Indigenous students while recognizing that schools can reinforce colonial structures or be transformed into sites of change (Battiste, 2013). Indigenous Peoples have always honoured Indigenous knowledges in their pedagogical practices (e.g., Barnhardt & Kawagley, 2005;Hare & Davidson, 2019). According to Battiste (2013), a transformative approach to learning embraces "Indigenous knowledge, experience, and knowing while respecting mainstream knowledge and experience" (p. 176). To meet Indigenous and all students' needs, research suggests the promise of collaboration between teachers and community partners (Bouvier et al., 2016;Canadian Council on Learning, 2009;Goulet, 2001;Goulet & Goulet, 2014). With this study, we are investigating how an Education Change Network (ECN) might support educators to collaborate with Indigenous community members and researchers to better meet the needs of all learners by taking up holistic Indigenous ways of knowing and being in inclusive classrooms. Furthermore, this study explores reconciliation indigenization (Gaudry & Lorenz, 2018) in research by bringing together Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, educators, and community partners.
The unique advantage of an ECN as a collaborative space is that it is, by definition, constituted by a network that comes together from across different locations (Brown & Poortman, 2017). One significant strength within ECN approaches, as applied to professional development, is that they create a space for educators to talk together about issues and reflect on approaches and practices (Daly & Stoll, 2017;Hargreaves & O'Connor, 2018). From the onset of learning, educators engage in questioning, making connections, drawing inferences, challenging, and reconstituting knowledge (Larreamendy-Joerns & Leinhardt, 2006); they articulate and make explicit why they do what they do as the basis for improving their practice. This helps educators to take a step out of "cycles of practice" and become increasingly reflective. Researchers such as Moll (2014), Schnellert et al. (2015), and Sleeter (2012), highlight the potential of equityoriented collaborative inquiry to support teachers to recognize how their own biases, privilege, and practices can smooth over the diversity of students' identities and funds of knowledge. In this study, our theoretical framework explicitly conceptualizes ECNs as dialogic spaces where educators engage with equity-deserving community partners to disrupt colonizing one-size-fitsall conceptions of education and collaborate to bridge from reflective dialogue to making situated, responsive, community-honoring changes to practice (Washington & O'Connor, 2020).
Promising research exists documenting how teachers engaged in collaborative equityoriented ECNs are more likely to sustain attention to goals, try new ideas, persist in efforts at innovation, and transform their teaching practice in response to students' funds of knowledge and evolving needs (Moll, 2014;Schnellert et al., 2015;Timperley et al., 2014). This is particularly important when educators are striving to disrupt systemic injustices, structures, and practices that disproportionately impact equity-deserving communities and students (Ball, 2009;Morrell, 2003;Sleeter, 2012). As Dion (2007) argued, "the majority of teachers, like the majority of Canadians, have a limited understanding of Aboriginal people, history, and culture; rather their understanding is informed by dominant discourses" (p. 330). The approaches to professional development used in ECNs have the potential for significant impact in classrooms and superstructures such as policy. Furthermore, teachers who are engaged in collaborative approaches to professional development may "find themselves more apt to venture into the unknown, to engage in long-term inquiry, and/or to share what they are learning with others' than those who are unsupported by their colleagues" (Van Horn, 2006, p. 61). It follows that, if ECNs are structured to enable collaborative inquiry with Indigenous community partners and researchers, they may have the potential to foster culturally responsive and sustaining practices that recognize more holistic notions and indicators of student success (Canadian Council on Learning, 2009;M. E. Pidgeon, 2008;Paris & Alim, 2017;M. Pidgeon, 2019).
For Indigenous students, the classroom can be considered a contested space (e.g., Zinga, 2019). Eurocentric knowledge and pedagogies are not neutral, as schools transmit perspectives with implicit bias. The role of educators in reinforcing the status quo also contributes to this environment. Of particular relevance here is that educators within these systems often hold and unintentionally communicate deficit perspectives about Indigenous learners, knowledges, and approaches to learning (Cote-Meek, 2014;Zinga, 2019). In this project Indigenous and settler educators and researchers work together with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers to engage in collaborative inquiry. According to Ermine (2007), when Indigenous and Western knowledge systems come together, a space emerges for ethical action and conversation. This ethical space of engagement invites an exchange or dialogue about the assumptions, values, and interests each holds while creating opportunities to engage with learning more deeply and authentically.
Existing research is promising, but not enough is known about how partnering with Indigenous community members and researchers within an ECN might support teacher learning, innovation, and decolonization. For example, school districts across Canada seek to support educators to address the TRC Calls to Action. But, while teachers are typically highly motivated to take up professional development opportunities to advance student learning (e.g., Butler & Schnellert, 2012), they often do not know who to access and how to work with equity-deserving community partners and resources to transform pedagogy and school practices (Pushor & the Parent Engagement Collaborative II, 2015). In this research, we investigate whether and how inquirybased ECNs can support educators to access and collaborate with Indigenous community partners to disrupt and transform teaching and learning in classrooms to increase success for Indigenous learners and expand mainstream notions of success.

Educational change network design
The design of the ECN involved meeting together as one large professional learning network five times during the 2020-2021 school year. At the large group ECN meetings local Indigenous educators and Knowledge Keepers share(d) stories, teachings, and practices, and researchers share(d) related research, theory and applications. For educators in the ECN this work with the large group was complemented by participation in "small fire" inquiry groups of 5-18 educators engaging with related ideas and practices. Small fires met 5-7 times in addition to the full group ECN meetings (see Schnellert, 2020).
In our sessions in the Fall and Winter, participants learned about foundational concepts and related stories from local Sylix Knowledge Keepers (also members of the planning group/steering committee). Based on the interests expressed by the participants from the previous year, there was also an intentional focus on including connections to the First Peoples Principles of Learning (First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), 2008).
The First Peoples Principles of Learning are a set of Indigenous pedagogical principles that were created by the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Education and used in the development of the current BC curriculum. Our province's Lead Indigenous Learner (from the Ministry of Education) also introduced educators to the concept of white privilege, while our lead Indigenous researcher (second author of this paper) engaged the ECN in exploring decolonization, indigenization, and protocols for sharing Indigenous knowledges.
Over the course of the COVID19 pandemic, communities, schools, and teachers faced constantly emerging issues and challenges (Rahmat et al., 2022;Yoosefi Lebni et al., 2021). This impacted teaching and learning for students (Association of Canadian Deans of Education, 2020; United Nations, 2020), but also professional development for teachers (Campbell, 2020;Schnellert et al., 2022). Leaders and members of ECNs had to rethink the design and delivery of initiatives that were intended to take place in person (Harris, 2020). Catalyzed by the pandemic, a project such as ours that involved local, land-based Indigenous ways of knowing required careful consideration by the steering committee.

Methodology
We conducted critical case study (Grosvenor & Pataki, 2017;Merriam, 2009;Schnellert & Kozak, 2019) guided by Indigenous Storywork principles (Archibald, 2008;Davidson, 2019) to research ECN processes and outcomes. An Indigenous Storywork principle-informed critical case study design enabled us to engage in respectful and responsible data collection, analysis, and knowledge mobilization approaches that position Indigenous community members as curriculum development and educational change partners. In this research approach there is no assumption that methods per se are causal; indeed, particular teaching approaches that work in one setting may not work in another (Dyson et al., 2005). Dyson et al. (2005) described that the "aim of such studies is not to establish relationships between variables (as in experimental studies) but, rather, to see what some phenomenon means as it is socially enacted within a particular case" (p. 10). This research explored what happens when K-12 educators collaborate with Indigenous communities, informal and formal Indigenous educators, and Indigenous and settler researchers to engage in reflexive decolonizing practices.
By honouring Indigenous pedagogies, which invite learning through observing, listening, and then doing (Barnhardt & Kawagley, 2005; Hare & Davidson, 2019), we learned from and with our participants. Through an ongoing iterative, collaborative analysis of ECN-generated reflections and practices (Richardson & St. Pierre, 2005) our program of research is mapping (a) the learning experiences/stories of Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, Knowledge Keepers, and researchers working together towards reconciliation; (b) emergent structures and processes that enable reflexive and culturally responsive and sustaining practices; (c) transformative equityoriented pedagogy in relation to student success (M. E. Pidgeon, 2008); (d) how to honour local Indigenous protocols around knowledge sharing in mainstream schooling settings; and (e) partners' changing perceptions of success and lessons learned when building and working within an equity-oriented ECN. Ultimately, we are investigating ways that equity-oriented ECNs can contribute to understanding how better to develop student and teacher capacity and enable culturally sustaining pedagogies (Paris & Alim, 2017) and system transformation.
During the pandemic, we, like so many researchers, had to revise the design to our study. As this was an ECN co-developed with two school districts and the Penticton Indian Band, we had to collaboratively reimagine the ways in which our network gatherings could occur within COVID19 guidelines (Hill et al., 2020;Li et al., 2021). We grappled with designing our large group gatherings using Zoom. We had planned to continue with small fires of 10-15 educators in person to provide experiential learning, but many of these sessions also had to be offered online, sometimes with little notice. Across the large group ECN sessions and small fires, we sought to develop collaborative, caring relationships in an online format. Teachers wrote reflections during and after each ECN session -specifically at the end of their small fires gatherings. Here we report on data collected during the 2020-21 school year.
Welcoming and honouring Indigenous pedagogies, we engaged in data collection by observing ECN processes; receiving artifacts from participants' classroom activities; listening during interviews and small and large group sharing; reading the reflections of participants, and co-planning and co-facilitating the ECN gatherings. We have been engaging in iterative analyses during the year which have informed the directions we take in the ECN sessions and small fires.
Data analysis involved authors 1 and 2 looking at 8 teacher participants' written reflections. Rather than "coding" the data, we read and re-read teachers' reflections in their entirety to identify themes. This approach honours the complete "stories" being shared, and aligns with Indigenous Storywork approaches to reflection and analysis (Archibald, 2008). Then author 3 read these eight teachers' written reflections and an additional 8 teachers' written reflections to find confirming and disconfirming evidence. Themes were refined by the researchers in conversation. Finally, all materials were reviewed for diverse participant experiences and perspectives related to these themes.
Based on the data collected and analyzed thus far, the themes focus on how ECN members are learning to honour local Indigenous protocols around knowledge sharing in mainstream school settings and how educators' perceptions of success and lessons learned are informing how we are engaging together within an equity-oriented ECN.

Findings
Analysis of data offers a window into the potential and complexity of engaging in decolonizing work that asks educators to interrogate their role in reconciliation efforts, deconstruct ways that classrooms and schools reproduce privilege, and reconstitute their practice to welcome Indigenous ways of knowing. Preliminary analyses have revealed the following themes: white/settler participants engaging with difficult knowledge and awakening to structural inequities; educators emphasizing their need for external resources and additional learning to decolonize their practice; and moving to action.

White/settler participants engaging with difficult knowledge and awakening to structural inequities
The majority of our participants had white/settler backgrounds. When asked what was significant about their learning, they spoke to several aspects of engaging with difficult knowledge. Difficult knowledge, in this context, had to do with coming to understand characteristics of colonial culture ("characteristics of colonial culture are personally relevant and thought provoking"), recognizing their complicity (own privilege and power, as settler folk), and reflecting on their increasing awareness of power dynamics in classrooms and the school system overall. For example, one teacher committed to "consciously examining embedded colonial practice." This raised a variety of questions, emotions, and concerns for them. For instance, there were significant findings related to emotions such as discomfort, fear, and vulnerability. Comments such as "I wonder if others are experiencing these fears?" and "I also need to address the very strong feelings I have experienced in these sessions" were common throughout the data. But these feelings did not appear to immobilize them in this work. One teacher wrote about his "Acceptance that this is a process without 'closure' and that there is discomfort and fear inherent in this vital change" and another wrote that "Collectively, we have a voice/power/truth . . . this can be strengthened through stepping into my own discomfort/fear and being a model." Participants reported awakening to structural inequities and racism. Lisa (pseudonym) shared that she was particularly impacted by learning about "characteristics of white colonial culture." Another teacher wrote about examining "characteristics of colonial culture and how these impact [their] own personal learning but also in [their] classroom as well." This level of awareness involved reflexivity, coming to understand one's own power as an educator, and how classrooms and schools typically privilege Eurocentric/colonizing forms of knowledge and learning.
Even early on in the work of the ECN, educators were highlighting structural inequalities and racism. Becoming aware propelled teachers to seek solutions; for instance, one teacher wrote, "How does one even begin battling systemic racism in a civilized and educated manner? I know the ending, but what's the process?" It was evident that many teachers were anxious to engage in anti-racist efforts but recognized that systemic racism is so pervasive that it's commonplace. An experienced teacher reflected on their realization that "Systemic racism is everywhere and sometimes hard to notice." And so they sought ways to move forward, "In what ways can I consciously examine embedded colonial practice?" Over the Fall and Winter, teachers did begin to report how their learning was evolving into a disposition. One teacher noted that he was learning "How to have the courageous talks about race and that the conversations are important and finding a Brave Space to do it!" Yet another identified how critical it was for her to attend to "Systemic racism.
[Her] role in speaking out. Deconstruct[ing] the system." We end this theme by noting the enormity of decolonization and anti-racist work and that teachers were grappling with this. Like many of the participants, Tim (pseudonym) awakened to "colonist culture characteristics," the need for "ethical spaces for engagement," and "Eurocentric power dynamics," but was grateful for "Having a forum to wonder and have tough, non-judgmental conversations."

The need for external resources and additional learning to decolonize practices
As the TRC Calls to Action (2015a) are increasingly taken up in education in Canada, teachers have called for more resources to support the work of Indigenizing and decolonizing their practices; one of the primary purposes of this ECN was to meet that need. As educators engaged with the ideas more deeply, questions emerged about resources and learning opportunities to support the decolonization of their practice. However, because of their deep engagement with the topics, the participants' perceived needs were very specific in nature. For example, rather than indicating a general need for more Indigenous resources, one participant shared that "to move forward" they needed "to become more familiar with Indigenous ways of knowledge-as a part of classroom daily planning." Another wrote about wanting "To learn about local history, culture, and [they] would like a relationship with teachers and [local First Nations school]." Such comments show an integrative and relational approach to additional learning rather than the often reported "add and stir" (Battiste, 1998;Cummins, 1989) models of multicultural education that fail to decolonize.
With regard to the search for resources to support their inquiry into decolonization and indigenization, teachers articulated specific resource needs and ideas. These were most commonly Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and educators (i.e., "I need more contacts and resources-humans"). We believe this ability to identify specific needs built from their involvement in the ECN. For example, one teacher wrote that they "contact folks involved in the planning and facilitating of these Pro-D experiences." In particular, teachers invited the school district Cultural Coordinator (one of the Other resource requests ranged from the general to very specific. For example, one teacher requested "a short academic article (1-4 pages max.) on concepts from the Keynotes to read." Another sought "primary levelled anti-racist resources" and, another wrote that she wanted "Indigenous resources/connections in French." While these requests illustrate educators' interest and commitment, they also illustrate how educators were looking for others to resource their decolonization efforts. One representative quote shows how participants began to see resources as embodied experiences, reflecting a more holistic Indigenous approach in line with suggestions from ECN presenters from the local Sylix First Nation, "I would like to be taken out on the land to be shown local traditions and stories." Data analyses suggested that an important element of the ECN approach was the small fires. While the half day ECN sessions gave participants access to Indigenous speakers and brief small group discussion opportunities, participants looked to their small fire inquiry groups to make meaning from what they were learning from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and researchers in the ECN gatherings. In the first two Fall dates, the entire ECN met for the morning (on a professional development day) and then the small fires engaged in learning together that same afternoon. One teacher wrote, "All of the speakers from this morning had great ideas. I can turn to both of my small fires groups." Another teacher wrote, "I loved all the speakers and topics covered today. I would appreciate examples or suggestions of ways to incorporate/ move forward so there is at least a starting point. Our small fire was awesome for this!" Despite COVID, snow storms, power outages, and distance travelled due to participants hailing from two school districts and K-12 schools, small fires carried on throughout the year. Each small fire included activities that participants could use or apply in their teaching including, but not limited to, circle pedagogy, Land-based learning, personalizing Land acknowledgements, and critical literacy strategies. Of note, small fires helped educators to move from learning from researchers and local Indigenous Knowledge Keepers about decolonization, indigenization, Indigenous knowledges, and worldviews to the application of those ideas in their practice.

Moving to action
As Dion (2007) described, it is problematic when educators adopt the stance of the "perfect stranger" to resist bringing Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies into their classrooms. That is, claiming their insufficient knowledge creates a barrier to taking up this work. Thus, we found it promising that even in early stages, participants in our study were able to share their emerging practices despite also identifying a need for more resources and support to decolonize their practices. These emerging practices centred around working to embed the First Peoples Principles of Learning into their teaching; inviting Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers, educators, and advocates into their classrooms; connecting to the land (either by themselves or with their students); and beginning to take up anti-racist practices in their teaching.
Though the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) were not prominent in our initial findings by name, they are embedded throughout the revised BC curriculum. Therefore, engaging with these principles often provides a first step for BC educators to begin thinking about Indigenous pedagogies. By reflecting on these principles and the implications for their practice, educators can begin to consider ways to decolonize their teaching. Though the principles may be taken up in ways that do not fully realize their potential contributions (Hanson, 2019;Kerr & Parent, 2018), our initial findings suggest that participants are seeking to engage with the principles in meaningful ways. As one educator described, they were "Intentionally slowing down and revamping aspects of [their] course to fit BC FPPL." Another educator indicated they would like to "purposefully and intentionally embed FPPL into [their] lessons. Aim for once per week, then twice a week, then three times per week, etc." Many educators begin this work by inviting Indigenous guests into their classrooms to share their knowledge and understandings. Several participants identified this as a practice that they were planning. For example, one participant shared that they would be "talking to OIB [Osoyoos Indian Band] members and making connections to come into [their] Social Studies 8/9 class classes, as well as [their Education Assistants] and Indigenous Advocates." Another educator emphasized that by bringing in Indigenous guests they were able to "make sure [they] show Indigenous voice, or equality. Important in [their] class instead of just talking about it." Participants in this study were also keen to make connections to the land and engage in outdoor learning activities. While some participants were more general (suggesting that they would be "planning lessons that can be done outdoors. Using the land to tie into socials and history lessons to make lessons more experiential"), other participants were more specific (describing that they were "planning a trip for the spring to go out and collect local species with a local Indigenous expert. Planning to collect traditional plant samples, do some plant pressing, and learn to write n'syilxcen names for local species"). Finally, another teacher explained that spending "time with [Elder] Rose Caldwell" had a significant impact on her practice. Over the school year, her efforts centered "working on acknowledgement, say[ing] hello to land, living things, and water, [and bringing students] into the conversation [to] help them become leaders to help us share responsibility on land." This teacher's efforts provide an example of intergenerational learning and the Sylix worldview that people and Land are interconnected and that we thus have Land stewardship responsibilities (A. Kampe, Personal communication, 20 November 2020).
Finally, the connections the participants made to anti-racism work were particularly promising, with many participants seeking to find ways to recognize and honour the individuality of specific Nations' protocols and practices. This can seem more challenging when working with younger learners. As one participant questioned, "At younger ages how do/can I incorporate unlearning a colonized perspective, and having an anti-racist class/focus so younger students can understand at their levels?" But by taking up local knowledge such as lessons about everyone having a role in community, teachers made strides with decolonization practices that "Give everyone a voice in the class." However, as one teacher reported, making larger systemic changes was met with resistance. With the support of her small fire inquiry group and Indigenous Knowledge Keepers in the school district, she transformed her evaluation and reporting approach to be based in student self-assessment, communicating their own learning and eliminating grades entirely. When presenting this to her middle school staff, no other teachers were willing to take up such a radical decolonizing practice.
Educators' efforts were hampered by COVID19, and yet situated changes in practice occurred.
One key question in the professional learning network literature is evidence of practice change (Brown & Poortman, 2017;Schnellert & Butler, 2021). Even within this very preliminary data analysis (as the final ECN meeting and data collection occur this Spring) there is evidence of tangible and meaningful practice change that welcomes local Indigenous ways of knowing through engagement with Syilx Knowledge Keepers and Elders, the Land, and some initial connections between decolonizing practice and relational accountability. However, changing school and district level practices that historically reinforce colonizing practices such as ranking, grading, and deficit-oriented language, were more difficult.

Conclusion
With this study, we are investigating how an Education Change Network (ECN) might support educators to collaborate with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, educators, and researchers to better meet the needs of all learners by taking up holistic Indigenous ways of knowing and being in inclusive classrooms. We recognize that the research is in its early stages, yet we believe bringing together Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, educators, and local Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and sharing our preliminary work sheds some light on practical examples of meaningful reconciliation in K-12 schools and in research.
Our preliminary findings revealed that white/settler participants reported significant learning with regard to engaging with difficult knowledge and awakening to structural inequities and the need for external resources and additional learning to decolonize practices. However, despite this identified need, participants were still able to articulate promising preliminary actions that they were taking in their classrooms and teaching practices. We have begun to story the experiences of white/settler participants as they engage with difficult knowledge related to colonialism, white privilege, and racism. It has been well documented that teachers struggle to recognize and disrupt dominant discourse and take up culturally sustaining pedagogies (Hare, 2020;Paris & Alim, 2017). We offer a window into how ECNs can support educators to work with equity-deserving Indigenous communities to enact decolonizing and reconciliation-oriented practices.
This study also contributes to understanding how to develop teacher capacity to enact decolonization and reconciliation. Research suggests that this can lead to the development of culturally sustaining pedagogies and address systemic racism (Sleeter, 2017;Washington & O'Connor, 2020). We see some evidence of this already from teachers' collaboration with local Knowledge Keepers and Elders, learning from and with the Land, and taking up practices that welcome all students' identities in inclusive classrooms. Most critically it demonstrates how an ECN that positions Indigenous Knowledge and community partners as curriculum informants can address the pressing needs brought to light by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action (2015) and more recent anti-racism efforts. We recognize that hearing all voices, especially those of Indigenous participants, is needed to fully story this work and inform future iterations of the research. Our ten member steering committee is comprised of five Indigenous and five non-Indigenous members. This research contributes to existing literature by illustrating how non-Indigenous researchers can work with equity-deserving groups to develop relational pedagogies and accountability (Donald, 2016;Wilson, 2008).
Indigenous communities and students have been marginalized by colonial practices and encounter systematic prejudice and discrimination in education systems, schools, and classrooms that lack respect for their ways of knowing (Gravois & Rosenfield, 2006;Hare & Pidgeon, 2011). Thus, reconciliation and educational and system transformation need to work in tandem if we are to disrupt hierarchical practices and structures that enact a hidden curriculum of privilege and racism. Preliminary analyses from year one of this study suggested that white/ settler participants engaged with difficult knowledge and awakened to structural inequities. This finding resonates with research literature that describes anti-racist and reconciliation efforts as requiring educator reflexivity to understand, identify, and take up decolonization. White/settler teachers came to understand underlying causes and issues and unpacked how their classrooms and school privilege Eurocentric practices that discount, counter, and marginalize Indigenous ways of knowing. In the second year of the study, we will learn from Indigenous community members, Knowledge Keepers, and students about what they view as meaningful outcomes for Indigenous learners. We anticipate that this will support all members in our ECN as we work towards relational accountability through local Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
This research addresses calls for evidence linking PD, practice change, and student success (e.g., Borko, 2004;Brown et al., 2017). Collaboration with Indigenous community partners within educational change networks hold potential to support pedagogical transformation and ultimately redefine student success. While early in this program of research, the stories of participants have been iteratively assisting us to embed relational accountability within this ECN to harness our collective capacity to increase all students' access to leading edge, culturally sustaining learning, and contribute to the development of holistic and meaningful success indicators for Indigenous students not currently used in mainstream Canadian education settings.