Key Terminology

A school program designed to educate students who have not been successful in the regular public school system. Four Directions Secondary as an Alternate school is well suited for students who could better achieve success outside of the regular school system due to an array of reasons such as high anxiety, history of trauma, addictions, and family dynamics. As an alternate school, we offer a self-paced learning model, student-centered learning plans, flexible learning environments, one-on-one support, smaller class sizes, cross-cultural and experiential learning opportunities and daily communication among students, care-givers and the school. All of these alternate structures help to take care of students’ emotional, physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species on Earth, including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi. While Earth’s biodiversity is so rich that many species have yet to be discovered, many species are being threatened with extinction due to human activities, putting the Earth’s magnificent biodiversity at risk (National Geographic Society, 2022).

Describes a change in the average conditions in a region over a long period of time. Earth’s climate is always changing over long periods of time but the pace of change has sped up significantly in recent decades. Human-caused climate change is affecting the planet in ways that could alter all life on Earth, which is why stronger terms such as climate emergency, climate crisis, climate disruption and climate chaos are now being used (David Suzuki Foundation, 2022).

According to Morcom (2014), “culture-based education refers to the practice of grounding the school experience, including instruction, interaction, evaluation, and curriculum in cultural ways of being, knowing, learning, and doing” (Morcom, 2014. p.9).

The core competencies are sets of intellectual, personal, and social and emotional proficiencies that all students need in order to engage in deep, lifelong learning (BC Curriculum, 2022).

The Four Directions Secondary School program runs through a cultural lens, meaning that we place significant importance and value in connecting with Elders, knowledge keepers and the local Indigenous community and families. The program enriches the required curricula with several opportunities for experiential learning, story telling, sharing circles, learning on the land, and connecting our learning to Indigenous ways of teaching, learning, knowing and being.

Decolonization is the process of undoing colonized practices. Battiste (2013) outlines the methods to decolonizing education as, “raising the collective voice of Indigenous peoples, exposing the injustices in our colonial history, deconstructing the past by critically examining the social, political, economic, and emotional reasons for silencing Aboriginal voices in Canadian history, legitimating the voices and experiences of Aboriginal people in the curriculum, recognizing it as a dynamic context of knowledge and knowing, and communicating the emotional journey that such explorations will generate” (Battiste, 2013, p.167).

Check out the following article analysis regarding Decolonizing Education

Environmental citizenship is the idea that we all should take responsibility for how we interact with the environment. (http://www.environmentlaw.org.uk/rte.asp?id=199)

Environmental Citizenship requires new ways of thinking and acting. Being an active environmental citizen includes recognizing the value of liveable environments for humans and nature, promoting conservation and restoration of resources, and supporting nature protection and biodiversity. (https://www.cost.eu/environmental-citizenship/)

A set of learning principles articulated by Indigenous Elders, scholars and knowledge keepers to guide the development of curriculum, as well as teaching and learning practices (FNESC, 2007).

"The term Elder is bestowed to an individual, by their community because of the spiritual and cultural knowledge that they hold. The term does not refer to one’s age, but rather the level of cultural and traditional knowledge they hold" (Queen's University, 2022).

"Food Sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems." (La Vie Campesina)

The relationships that humans have with other “humans, plant and animal beings, spiritual entities and collectives. Humans are often the younger siblings in these relationships” (Whyte, Brewer & Johnson, 2016, p.29)

A species, often a plant or animal, that helps indicate the environmental conditions or seasonal changes in a local environment. Indicator species serve an important relationship between plants, animal, people, and the land for the Secwepemc people (Jackie Jules, 2022).

Indigenous Education seeks to improve success and support for Indigenous students, and increase the presence of Indigenous culture, languages and history for all students. It also aims to help teachers bring Indigenous knowledge into their teaching practice (Government of BC, 2021).

Indigenous knowledge is a way of knowing, learning and teaching that involves a diverse connection between our four directions. Indigenous knowledge relies on a balance of our mind, spirit, emotions and physical well-being. Indigenous knowledge incorporates a deep and diverse understanding of knowledge, wisdom, awareness and understanding (Bell, 2014). “Indigenous knowledge today is an act of empowerment by Indigenous people” (Battiste, 2002, p.4). Indigenous knowledge is the “holistic wealth and richness of Indigenous languages, worldviews, teachings, and experiences” (Battiste, 2002, p.4).

The United Nations defines Indigenous peoples as follows:

Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.

Indigenous peoples have sought recognition of their identities, way of life and their right to traditional lands, territories and natural resources for years, yet throughout history, their rights have always been violated. Indigenous peoples today, are arguably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people in the world. The international community now recognizes that special measures are required to protect their rights and maintain their distinct cultures and way of life. (United Nations, 2022)

“Research by and for Indigenous Peoples, using techniques and methods drawn from the tradition and knowledges of those people” (Evans, Hole, Berg, Hutchinson & Sookraj, 2008). Some Indigenous research methods unique to Indigenous research methodology include:

• Storytelling

• Personal reflection

• Visiting

• Sharing Circles

• Ceremony (Formal and informal)

• Art creation

• Dance

• and more!

Information obtained from University of Alberta, 2022

“Refers to knowledge systems unique to each Indigenous people that are used to ensure the flourishing of community health, livelihood, vibrancy, and self-determination” (Whyte, Brewer, & Johnson, 2016, p. 27). Indigenous science is guided by spirituality, ethical relationship, mutualism, reciprocity, respect, restraint, a focus on harmony, and acknowledgement of interdependence (Cajete, 2020, p.2).

"Indigenous storywork is a multifaceted framework of seven principles for working with Indigenous traditional-cultural and life-experience stories for educational, curricular, and research purposes. The principles include respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy. These Indigenous storywork principles were developed through research with Indigenous Elders, storytellers, and cultural knowledge holders who were mainly, but not exclusively, from British Columbia, Canada" (Archibald, 2021).

“A subfield of linguistics concerned with halting and reversing the extinction of languages” (Wilhelm, 2017, Oxford Bibliographies).

Reciprocity involves returning or giving back in response to gifts received. In addition, reciprocity involves sharing of knowledge. Reciprocity is circular and continuous and ensures to hold the members of a relationship accountable for their actions (McGregor, 2018).

"The term Knowledge Keeper refers to someone who has been taught by an Elder or a senior Knowledge Keeper within their community. This person holds traditional knowledge and teachings, they have been taught how to care for these teachings and when it is and is not appropriate to share this knowledge with others" (Queens University, 2022).

A process of improving, repairing, or making something more successful (MacMillan dictionary).

The act or process of returning something to its earlier good condition or position, or to its owner (Cambridge Dictionary)

Self-Regulated Learning is a process that assists students in managing their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in order to successfully navigate their learning experiences (Zumbrunn, Tadlock & Roberts, 2011).

School community in this website refers to all of the people connected to the students and their learning and well-being. The school community includes students and their care-givers, family and support workers. The school community also includes all of the students, teachers, administration, counsellors, and support staff. The school community also includes all of the community programs, knowledge keepers, Elders, community members and educators that we connect with. The school community also includes the greater umbrella of Aboriginal education council and the school board.

Scientific inquiry is a form of problem-solving and questioning that helps people come to a greater understanding of observable phenomena (Bill Nye, 2022).

“Secwépemc” means the “the-spread-out people.” For 10,000 years or so, their homeland has been in the south-central interior of what later became known as British Columbia. This traditional territory stretches from the Columbia River valley along the Rocky Mountains, west to the Fraser River, and south to the Arrow Lakes. Most Secwepemc people live in the river valleys.(Ignace & Ignace, 2017, p.16; https://tkemlups.ca/profile/history/our-land/)

The language spoken by the Secwépemc people. Contained within the Salishan language family, Secwepemctsín has two dialects: Eastern and Western, as well as microdialects. The root cwep stands for “spread out”, the suffixes -emc for “people” and -tsin for “mouth, talk” (Ignace & Ignace, 2017, p.123).

Secwepemcúl’ecw is the home or traditional territory of the Secwépemc People. The Secwépemc Nation includes 17 different Secwépemc communities located throughout British Columbia’s southern interior. Secwepemcúl’ecw comprises deserts, forests, lakes, rivers, and alpine ecosystems. This landscape and its water systems, and the fish and wildlife they support, are the foundation of Secwépemc culture, language, identity, and economy (Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, 2022).

The Seventh Generation Principle is based on an ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) philosophy that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. (https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/seventh-generation-principle#:~:text=The%20Seventh%20Generation%20Principle%20is,seven%20generations%20into%20the%20future.)

The requirement to be mindful of and tend to the relationships between humans, animals, plants, and the land. When humans take on the responsibility of caring for the other relatives making up the community/ecosystems (Whyte, Brewer & Johnson, 2016, p.29).

Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (common definition among multiple sources).

“Knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings, including humans, with one another and with their environment” (Berkes, 2012).

“Trans-systemic spaces - when a shift in learning occurs from one that is strictly focused on a Western knowledge system to one that places Indigenous Knowledge systems equally in the centre of learning” (Battiste, 2013).

“Unceded means that First Nations people never ceded or legally signed away their lands to the Crown or to Canada.” (Wilson, 2018)