I soon realized the value of 'knowing' after my first day of teaching on the Elsipogtog First Nations Reserve in NB. This realization came during the delivery of a Personal Finance (PF) course.The onus rests on the PF instructor to transform standard course outcomes and make coherent connections to First Nation historical and current economic challenges. Based on my teaching experiences, Personal Finance course outcomes must be framed in Native beliefs and cultural values on finance and sustainability. Administering routine learning activities and assessments within an Aboriginal culture without community input and research can be "instructionally" fatal. Furthermore, continuing to do so without accepting mutual and distinct interests in curriculum design overall leaves the possibility for program assimilation and not collaboration.
As revealed within my own PF class, 98% of students had “bad credit” and 89% of these students did not possess a bank account. These unanticipated challenges present urgent curriculum and pedagogical revisions in collaboration with the Native community to develop the course addressing student issues. Other challenges I faced, was my own lack of knowledge in the overall Aboriginal band council structure, the election process, holidays, payments and tax structure, medical insurance, social assistance and particularly, the definition of an Aboriginal family. I was also presenting material and using examples from textbooks were Native people and their way of living was clearly not represented among the pictures or resources.
Based on my teaching experiences, I recommend the way to better align relationships between non-Native instructors (teaching finance or ICT curriculum) and First Nation cultures, is to exhibit a sound knowledge in Native ownership of resources, inheritance, concepts to Native economic, technological growth and profits. In order for instructors to model a holistic and culturally inclusive Aboriginal curriculum as described in the Aboriginal Awareness Program (UNB, 2007) training manual, instruction must center financial examples on Aboriginal barter systems, competition, and view nature as a being and not a resource.
A refining in curriculum, such as PF, and the promotion for instructional awareness on the financial differences within Aboriginal cultural is crucial for student success. According to Toulouse’s research (2002) Aboriginal curriculum and pedagogy must be meaningful and representing to Aboriginal contributions, innovations and technological inventions, thus including real-life experiences in place of textbooks; a holistic method. Based on her findings as well, Battiste (2002) recommends and encourages current publishers with a history of commitment to Native education to partner and support First Nations textbook initiatives to produce audio and visual representations using Native life and language (p.36).
