(Submitted Photo/Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division)

By paNOW Staff

LAND BASED LEARNING

Local school division holds first meeting of Land Based Network

Feb 20, 2024 | 11:02 AM

As a way to further reconciliation efforts and improve relationships with First Nations, education staff were given a first-hand experience into the world of Land Based Learning.

Last Wednesday, educators from the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division (SRPSD) came together for the first-ever meeting of the division’s Land Based Learning Network.

Land Based Learning uses an Indigenous approach to understanding people’s connection with the land. This type of education is held on traditional Indigenous territory under the guidance of Elders and Land Based teachers.

Those who attended Wednesday’s presentations learned from Elders like Bente Huntley, Dr. Leo Omani, Liz Settee, Sonny Vandale, and Phyllis Vermette, Land Based Learning learners and teachers like Tanya McCallum and Tanya Vancoughnett and SRPSD Indigenous Perspectives Coach Shea Pilon.

“My takeaway from the day was the idea that Land Based Learning is the cultivation of love of the land. When kids develop a love of the land they have a rooted sense of place, of home,” said Pilon. “They will work for the land, and they will work with it.”

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This day of learning came following a Saskatchewan Regional Gathering of the Canadian Playful Schools Network in January hosted by the SRPSD.

“Experiential Play-Based Learning and Land Based Learning are connected in that they are both student-focused, hands-on, and explorational,” said SRPSD Experiential Play-Based Learning Coach Kami Karakochuk. “Land Based Learning has always been a key component of our model and is a critical component to actualize reconciliation and decolonize education.”

Superintendent Jennifer Hingley of the SRPSD said understanding the importance of Land Based Learning can help further Truth and Reconciliation and work to help the division’s strategic plan in areas like Learning and Innovation, Mental Health and Well Being, Inclusion and Cultural Responsiveness, Citizenship and Relationships and Governance and Leadership.

Nest, the Indigenous Perspectives Team at SRPSD will consolidate the information from Wednesday’s event to draft a framework of practice so that Land Based Learning can be a part of all SRPSD classrooms.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com