August 15, 2022 Ensouling Our Schools: A Review

August 15, 2022: Ensouling Our Schools: A Resource Review: As an Inclusive Education teacher, I'm curious about how special or exceptional education intersects with Indigenous education. While less than 20 percent of my school's students identify as being Indigenous, over 40 percent of the students I work with identify in this way. As you can see, special education policy is an important issue for anyone interested in Indigenous Education. The book Ensouling Our Schools: A Universally Designed Framework for Mental Health, Well-being, and Reconciliation (2018) by Jennifer Katz caught my attention, as it brings together ideas of Universal Design for Learning into a framework intended to provide greater inclusion for all students, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous perspectives and reconciliation. She collaborated with Kevin Lamoureux, the Education Lead for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, who vetted the book and contributed wisdom and guidance on Indigenous perspectives.

The book clarified an important point for me about the role "spirituality" in education. I have often struggled to reconcile how our education system needs to be a-religious and secular, while also hearing about the importance of spirituality for Indigenous students, in particular. The title of the book indicates the emphasis placed on soul or spirit in this model. "An ensouled school recognizes the needs of all human beings for connection, appreciation, respect and meaning."(Katz, 2018. p13) The author defines soul, which seems synonymous with spirit, as "the core of who we are, our humanity, our essence." She suggests that spiritual education is holistic, and considers "the heart, mind, body and spirit" (Katz, 2018. p13) which are all aspects of the medicine wheel in many Indigenous traditions. It is possible to approach this kind of education in either a secular or religious way; obviously in public schools a secular approach is needed. Katz skillfully situates this pedagogy alongside ideas from Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1993), Social Emotional Learning, Goleman's Emotional Intelligence, and Aristotles' Edaimonia. Spirituality is defined as being or feeling connected to oneself as well as others or something larger than oneself - which could be a community, place or passion.

Overall, this is a very comprehensive book advocating Universal Design for Learning, based on the author's "Three Block Model" (Katz, 2018. p78), which deeply explores the philosophical underpinnings of this type of education, as well as it's societal relevance, including reconciliation and the impact of residential schools. There is in-depth discussion about how the brain works, the prevalence of trauma and the impact of mental health concerns, with clear and specific ideas, including lesson plans, of what we can do to help increase well-being, and hopefully develop the kind of schools that promote "flourishing" in all of us. There is advice for administrators on how to approach systemic change, as well as information about The Circle of Courage framework developed by Martin Brokenleg, The Four Spirits and other Indigenous views of mental health and wellbeing. While there seems to be little discussion about Indigenous control of Indigenous education, or Indigenous language instruction, this book highlights many important strategies and practical tools that will undoubtedly help in focusing education more on improving students sense of well being and interconnectedness, shifting the narrative away from test scores being the ultimate measure of success.

References:

Katz, J. with Lamoureux, K (2018) Ensouling Our Schools: A Universally Designed Framework for Mental Health, Well-being, and Reconciliation (2018) Portage & Main Press. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Treaty 1 Territory and homeland of the Metis Nation.