Infusing Indigenous Content and Treaty Education into Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE): A Collaborative Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP)

Overview & Synopsis

This research responds to calls for the decolonization and indigenization of education and higher education spaces and institutions within Canada, specifically within the physical education (PE) and physical education teacher education (PETE) sub-disciplines. Recognizing our own responsibility to attend to decolonization and indigenization, we recently engaged in a collaborative self-study of our own teaching practice so that we might be better able to appropriately infuse Indigenous content and Treaty Education into our university's PETE program. We identified this goal -- infusing Indigenous content and Treaty Education -- as one that would support us on our reconciliatory journeys as we aim to decolonize and indigenize our PETE spaces in authentic, genuine, and meaningful ways. Our collaborative self-study yielded findings related to our PETE practice, framed herein as six themes. Four of these themes relate to the tensions observed and felt (pushing past performative fears, inviting imposter syndrome, honouring the local Mi'kmaq contexts/peoples, critical friend[ships] as key) and two of the themes relate to our perceived positive outcomes and additional potential happenings (knowing better/doing better, possibilities beyond 'simply' infusing Indigenous content and Treaty Education). A discussion of these findings is offered and would be especially insightful to others who are interested in or engaged with self-study, indigenization and decolonization, and/or PE and/or PETE.