Community-controlled education : putting education back into the culture

This thesis is an interpretive case study, drawing upon feminist and Aboriginal perspectives, about working in an educational environment described as a border world comprised of overlapping cultures. It is a chronological account of the delivery of a university programme in a First Nations community. The study seeks to explore the reasons why Aboriginal women enter and successfully complete post-secondary study, and whether their roles in traditional Aboriginal culture facilitate this process. This first portion of the study involved semi-structured interviews with three female Aboriginal educators, focusing on the traditional roles of women within Cree culture, and the relationship of these traditional roles to their roles in contemporary Cree society. The second portion of the study involves a series of group and personal interviews with female Aboriginal learners involved in a community-based programme in a Northern Cree community. The interviews, which encompassed a three-year period, sought to provide a chronological account of the learners' experiences in the programme. In addition, interviews were conducted with faculty members teaching within the programme. The interviews provided the data for an operation model entitled Community-Controlled Education that suggests criteria for the delivery of an inclusive learning experience for Aboriginal learners.