Sámi Educational History in a Comparative International Perspective


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Sámi education in a historical and internationally comparative perspective. Despite the cross-national character of the Sámi population, academic literature on Sámi education has so far been published within the different nation states in the Sámi area, and rarely in English. Exploring indigenous educational history around the world, this collection spans from Asia to Oceania to Sápmi and the Americas. The chapters frame Sámi school history within an international context of indigenous and minority education. In doing so, two narrative threads are established: both traditional history of education, and perspectives on the decolonisation of education. This pioneering book will appeal to students and scholars of Sámi education, as well as indigenous education around the world.




Teacher Education in the Nordic Region


Book Description

This open access book is the first account of the whole diversity of teacher education in the Nordic region: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Åland Islands and Sápmi (where the Sámi people live). Today, large parts of the world are looking to the Nordic model of social organization, and interest in the Nordic comprehensive school system and teacher education arrangements is no exception. A good education is a key to prosperity and well-being. And the quality of students’ education is undoubtedly linked to the quality of their teachers’ education. While teacher education in the Nordic region is globally admired, it also faces new challenges. The leading scholars writing in this volume discuss the challenges and opportunities that professional environments are facing. By providing solid portraits of each area as well as analyses across the region, this book will be a great resource to students, academics in teacher education and schooling as well as social scientists and policy-makers inside and outside the Nordic region. This is an open access book.




Cultivating Transformative Reconciliation


Book Description

Are Truth and Reconciliation Commission processes enough to achieve reconciliation? This volume discusses issues that arise once the task of reconciliation emanates from the limited scope of a specific Truth and Reconciliation Commission and into the larger society and political system that originated it. Scholars spanning several research fields, from law to history to theology, discuss how transformative reconciliation can be cultivated in a society, using decolonization and other perspectives, along three lines: by specifying transformative issues and processes in law and politics, by criticizing historical perspectives on the past and its concepts as deliberations of the status quo, and by instilling the inherent dynamics of truth and reconciliation processes as permanent features within broader society. The volume embarks on an investigation of the Norwegianization policy, a historical framework that brought injustices upon minority groups, such as the Sami and Kvens (Norwegian Finns) in Norway, and parallel groups in Sweden and Finland. It extends its exploration to analogous unjust policies in South Africa, Canada, and various other contexts. Within the complex web of cultural, social, political, and economic struggles stemming from colonial policies, the roles of religion, politics, research institutions, and civil society are critically examined.




Global Perspectives of Early Childhood Education


Book Description

This text offers students rich local cultural examples of Early Childhood Education from around the world. Informed by first-hand research and practice, the book provides authentic snapshots of ECE from countries, including Afghanistan, Australia, Ghana, Nigeria, Brazil, Eswatini, Mongolia, Nepal, Sami children of Finland, and Syrian refugee children, enabling readers to better understand the wider determinants influencing the multiplicity and diversity of children’s daily experiences. With expert contributors drawn from across the world, this book is essential reading for those interested in global perspectives on early childhood. Dr Naomi McLeod is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Liverpool John Moores University. Dr Emem E.Okon develops professional development programmes for educational practitioners in Nigeria. Diane Garrison is an anti-racist, educator, leader and community mentor. Dr Diane Boyd is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Liverpool John Moores University. Dr Angela Daly is a Reader in Education and Global Learning at Liverpool John Moores University.




The Sámi World


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive and multifaceted analysis of the Sámi society and its histories and people, offering valuable insights into how they live and see the world. The chapters examine a variety of social and cultural practices, and consideration is given to environment, legal and political conditions and power relations. The contributions by a range of experts of Sámi studies and Indigenous scholars are drawn from across the Sápmi region, which spans from central Norway and central Sweden across Finnish Lapland to the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Sámi perspectives, concepts and ways of knowing are foregrounded throughout the volume. The material connects with wider discussions within Indigenous studies and engages with current concerns relating to globalization, environmental and cultural change, Arctic politics, multiculturalism, postcolonialism and neoliberalism. The Sámi World will be of interest to scholars from a number of disciplines, including Indigenous studies, anthropology, sociology, geography, history and political science.




Sámi Education


Book Description

This book discusses special characteristics of the education of Sámi people, an indigenous people living in Northern Europe. It provides a comprehensive study on indigenous school research and special features of Sámi education and focuses on new, reformative pedagogical models and culturally sensitive teaching arrangements.




Language, Citizenship, and Sámi Education in the Nordic North, 1900-1940


Book Description

In the making of the modern Nordic states in the first half of the twentieth century, elementary education was paramount in creating a notion of citizenship that was universal and equal for all citizens. Yet these elementary education policies ignored, in most cases, the language, culture, wishes, and needs of minorities such as the indigenous Sámi. Presenting the Sámi as an active, transnational population in early twentieth-century northern Europe, Otso Kortekangas examines how educational policies affected the Sámi people residing in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. In this detailed study, Kortekangas explores what the arguments were for the lack of Sámi language in schools, how Sámi teachers have promoted the use of their mother tongue within the school systems, and how the history of the Sámi compares to other indigenous and minority populations globally. Timely in its focus on educational policies in multiethnic societies, and ambitious in its scope, the book provides essential information for educators, policy-makers, and academics, as well as anyone interested in the history of education, and the relationship between large-scale government policies and indigenous peoples.




The Nordic Education Model in Context


Book Description

Tracing historical and cultural factors which gave rise to the Nordic Education Model, this volume explores why Northern European education policy has become an international benchmark for schooling. The text explains the historical connection between a Nordic ideal of democracy and schooling, and indicates how values of equality, welfare, justice, and individualism might be successfully integrated in national school systems and curricula around the world. The volume also highlights recent debates around the longevity of the Nordic model and explores the risks and challenges posed by international policy and assessment agendas. Exploring how Nordic education polices successfully merge social equity with academic excellence, the book combines cultural, historical, sociological and philosophical analysis with a deep exploration of curriculum and teaching. This book will be of great interest to researchers, scholars, and postgraduates working across the fields of curriculum, comparative education, cultural studies and history and philosophy of education and education policy.




Young People, Wellbeing and Sustainable Arctic Communities


Book Description

Youth are usually not (yet) decision makers in politics or in business corporations, but the sustainability of Arctic settlements depends on whether or not youth envision such places as offering opportunities for a good future. This is the first multidisciplinary volume presenting original research on Arctic youth. This edited book presents the results of two research projects on youth wellbeing and senses of place in the Arctic region. The contributions are united by their focus on agency. Rather than seeing youth as vulnerable and possible victims of decisions by others, they illustrate the diverse avenues that youth pursue to achieve a good life in the Arctic. The contributions also show which social, economic, political and legal conditions provide the best frame for youth agency in Arctic settlements. Rather than portraying the Arctic as a resource frontier, a hotspot for climate change and a place where biodiversity and traditional Indigenous cultures are under threat, the book introduces the Arctic as a place for opportunities, the realization of life trajectories and young people’s images of home. Rooted in anthropology, the chapters also feature contributions from the fields of sociology, geography, sustainability science, legal studies and political science. This book is intended for an audience interested in anthropology, political science, Arctic urban studies, youth studies, Arctic social sciences and humanities in general. It would attract those working on Arctic sustainability, wellbeing in the Arctic, Arctic demography and overall wellbeing of youth.




Land as Relation


Book Description

A critical and timely collection, Land as Relation introduces readers to an intersectional approach to Indigenous space and land-based education. Indigenous and ally-partnered contributors, from elders to emerging and established scholars, share teachings and scholarship grounded in Indigenous knowledge and philosophy. These diverse perspectives on Indigenous pedagogies are intersected with content surrounding Indigenous languages, sciences, mathematics, arts, health, and governance. Divided into three parts, this text defines the interrelatedness of global Indigenous land protectors and educators, and the significant impact of Indigenous knowledges, language, and ceremonies on the collective social, spiritual, and physical wellness of all living beings. Land as Relation demonstrates that Indigenous resistance and renaissance is essential for learners everywhere to understand how a collective notion of land education contributes to walking in harmony and balance, not only for themselves, but for their families, the larger communities that they are a part of, and the world. This collection is an accessible and engaging core resource for undergraduate and graduate students of education, Indigenous studies, geography, and environmental studies. FEATURES - Grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems and provides practical examples of how land-based pedagogies can be applied in different communities and contexts - Features contributions from noted and upcoming Indigenous and ally-partnered scholars who have been gifted access to elders and deep cultural and linguistic knowledges of Indigenous nations - Includes learning aids such as end-of-chapter discussion questions, maps, photographs, and other visual tools