Cuestiones Pedagógicas, 1(34), 2025, 91-104 ISSN 0213-7771 - e-ISSN 2443-9991
https://doi.org/10.12795/CP.2025.i34.v1. 07

La educación de adultos indígenas desde
pasados potenciales a futuros posibles

Indigenous adult education from potential pasts to possible futures

Jean-Paul Restoule
University of Victoria (Canadá)

jpr@uvic.ca
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6225-3773

Abstract: Resumen:
Using a medicine wheel model the author
describes the characteristics of Indigenous
adult education from a time before contact
with Europeans, during the early contact
period, in times of intense colonialism, and the
contemporary moment. One more turn of the
wheel leads to contemplation of possible
futures and the visioning of Indigenous people
and communities for what might aid collective
well-being.
Keywords: Indigenous, adult, education,
decolonisation, visioning

Utilizando un modelo de rueda medicinal, el
autor describe las características de la
educación de adultos indígenas desde una
época anterior al contacto con los europeos,
durante el período de contacto temprano, en
tiempos de intenso colonialismo y el momento
contemporáneo. Un giro más de la rueda lleva a
la contemplación de posibles futuros y a la visión
de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas de lo
que podría ayudar al bienestar colectivo.
Palabras claves: Indígena, adulto, educación,
descolonización, visión

Introduction
Boozhoo. Jean-Paul Restoule nintishinikaas. Wajask nitootem. Okikendawt

missing nitooncibaan. Nishinaabe ndaw. Wemitigoshii ndaw. My name is Jean-Paul
Restoule. I am Anishinaabe and French-Canadian. I’m a member of the Dokis First
Nation, a partner to the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850. I am muskrat clan. By this
introduction in Anishinaabemowin, I situate myself in relation to self, family, community,
nation and Creation (Restoule, Everything is alive and everyone is related: Indigenous
knowing and inclusive education, 2011). This is done so that you may understand where

Recibido: 03/02/2025 | Revisado: 14/02/2025 | Aceptado: 18/02/2025 |
Online First: 01/06/2025 | Publicado: 30/06/2025

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Jean-Paul Restoule

I see the world from, my biases and roles and responsibilities. An Anishinaabe person
can place me when they hear these 10 words. We identify in this way for humans and
more-than-humans to know who is speaking and from where. As I share this thought
piece on the past, present, and future of Indigenous adult education, know that this is a
limited slice of currents in these fields. I’ve spent 25 years teaching in programs in
Indigenous studies, adult education and Indigenous education, first in Anishinaabe aki,
Toronto and then in Victoria BC on lək̓ʷəŋən territory.

In thinking of how best to structure this overview of where we’ve been and
where we’re going in Indigenous adult education, I’m returning to a structure that has
helped me organize and make sense of any phenomena affecting Indigenous people
in Canada. in 1996, The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples submitted its final
report, an extensive overarching review of every issue affecting Indigenous people in
Canada (Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996). They looked at issues like
justice, health, education, law, governance, and so on, through a medicine wheel
model. What is a medicine wheel? The actual physical medicine wheels are structures
found across Turtle Island (North America) with rocks moved into configurations
representing star patterns and the movement of celestial bodies. They hold
orientations and mark cardinal directions. They have been adapted and adopted for
use in teaching in numerous places and centres across Turtle Island. Taken up by
many urban and rural Indigenous peoples, the medicine wheel contains teachings
organized in a circle divided into quadrants representing the east, north, south and
west and corresponding characteristics, stages of life, stages of time, elements of
nature, and so on for each direction (National Library of Medicine, 2025). There are
unity teachings about where the four quadrants meet and what it means to bring all
elements into balance. There is also a teaching about the fifth, sixth and seventh
directions when one considers the plane of the wheel rotating in a third dimension.
The medicine wheel teachings are used to explain complex relationships and
phenomena in a simple symbolic way that serves as a mnemonic device and reminds
us of the wholistic way in which relevant items relate. The wheel has been used as a
way to think about personal development and growth and to represent histories as
alive and growing (Bopp, 1984). This is where we return to the RCAP’s (1996) use of
the wheel to represent histories. We can think of Indigenous education on this wheel.

The East represented a traditional past before contact with Europeans; the
south the early contact period where both peoples were changed; the west, a time of
intense colonial relations between the two peoples; and the north representing a
contemporary moment carrying traces of all the directions and currents that came
before it. This structure seems like a good way to organize my thoughts that I share
with you. Any pieces missing or left out are not necessarily intentional and others may
bring them to mind when reading this piece and know there is a place for them because
the wheel is big and capable of containing multitudes.

In this paper, I see the East as what characterised precontact traditional
Indigenous adult education, the South as representing initial encounters and the
coming of new ways; the West as colonial impositions and shifting of Indigenous adult
education into forms of resistance. The North is symbolic of the present characterised
by reclamation of the old ways, integration of new ways, and resistance to colonial

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Indigenous adult education from potential pasts to possible futures

ways. But I will end by one more turn of the wheel to the East where we see biidaban,
a new dawn, and a glimpse of the futures of Indigenous adult education.

East

While it’s impossible for me to time travel to a precolonial past and tell you what

adult education was like in that time, others have commented on the likely
characteristics of Indigenous learning at this time. Firstly, we have to remember that
Indigenous people learned from the community and the environment (Miller, 1996).
Anyone was possibly a teacher, from family relations including aunties, uncles,
grandparents, cousins and community members not related by blood, to animals,
plants, the Land (which includes Earth, and Waters), the sky, ancestor spirits, and so
on. In following WHO we learned from, the place of learning could similarly be
anywhere in community and on the land and waters. Learning happened in highly
contextual relationships with family, apprentices, ceremonial leaders, for example.
Learning was most often informal but some types of knowledge transmission could
also be quite formal, particularly if learning specialized knowledge from revered
knowledge keepers. Skills that might be gained through apprenticeship would be
knowledge about healing, plants, agriculture, hunting, astronomy, midwifery, crafting,
keeping history, and time. Adults and children alike learned from stories, play, songs,
dances, careful observation, repetition of tasks or teachings, meditation, modelling,
dreaming, ceremony, among others. As Castellano (2000) notes, Indigenous
knowledge is personal, transmitted orally, through narrative and experiential and
holistic. Its sources could be traditional, empirical or revealed. Some learning was
gendered although one’s sex at birth did not necessarily determine one’s gender.
Knowledge lived in the land and in our languages which are often thought to have
sprung from the land and which carry much of the worldview and understanding of
relationships and dynamism embedded within their structures.

South

When Indigenous people found Europeans on their shores and on their lands,

the newcomers were not always unexpected. There had been prophecies and visions
that these strange new people would be coming. When is the time of the South? It
varies depending on the region from the 1600s in Quebec and Atlantic Canada to the
1700s on the West Coast to the mid-1900s in the far North, but the time of first contact
and increased Western settlement brings with it similar themes. In a quest for
resources, from beaver to lumber to oil and minerals, the West largely avoided or
ignored Indigenous people until it wants access to the resources that are on and
around the lands we occupied, and then it makes laws and policies and papal bulls to
justify displacement, assimilation, war, and any strategy or policy that removes
Indigenous presence for Western settlement and resource exploitation. Like Wall
Kimmerer (2013) asks, Is the land a source of belongings or a source of belonging?
The West has acted on the assumption that land is a resource not a relation. In the

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Jean-Paul Restoule

earliest days of contact Indigenous people had the power, in numbers, and knowledge
about the land, and for this reason, adult education included an exchange of
knowledge with newcomers. Indigenous people were curious about literacy which they
witnessed among the Jesuits, and those consulting their Bibles. Early explorers carried
time pieces and clocks were of interest among Indigenous people, not the least
because they found it curious that these pieces of furniture could make a noise and
govern the activities and behaviours of the white people who scheduled their days
around it—when to eat, when to sleep, when to pray and so on. The greater theme is
that new technologies interested Indigenous people who wanted to learn about how
to use them. Rather than change their identities, Indigenous people asked, “how can
we use these items ‘natively’?” (Valentine, 1995). At the same time, newcomers could
not live long without learning Indigenous foodways, medicines and so forth.

The earliest treaties between Europeans and Indigenous people were about
peace and friendship and sharing the land without interference. Both parties had
histories of treaty making and understood these were agreements that would allow for
mutual existence. A significant ‘treaty’ is the Guswentah or two row wampum between
the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Dutch. With the Royal Proclamation of
1763, England set the course of treaty making in what would become Canada. On the
Indigenous side of treaty making, there was a need for memorizing the details of the
treaty promises. Seeing treaties as living and in continual need of “polishing” and
renewing the relationships means there is a need for maintaining traditional
storytelling, historical recall and keeping of the artefacts. Perhaps one of the most
impactful examples of Indigenous adult education is the holding and passing on of
these oral histories of significant agreements among nations.

West

What is the time that characterises the movement from southern quadrant to

west or early contact into increased colonialism? In Canada, we might choose the first
boarding schools in the mid-1800s that would pave the way for residential schooling.
Perhaps the date to choose is Canadian confederation in 1867. For me I think 1876 is
a key year as it marks the introduction of the Indian Act (Indian Act), a piece of
legislation that brought together the many previous laws concerning “Indians” into a
consolidated law controlling the activities of Indigenous people (Imai, 2014). The
Indian Act defined who counted as Indian, how we were to govern ourselves, how we
could manage our economies, how we were expected to educate our children, and the
ways in which we were allowed to gather, pray, or dance. It created a body, the
Department of Indian Affairs, that would govern all of our actions.

Western colonialism with its undergirding of white supremacy and presumed
cultural superiority brought with it assumptions about Indigenous futures. No longer
were Indigenous people permitted to pursue our desired futures free of interference.
Western culture was seen as the one true way, as the preferred evolutionary mode of
humanity. Indigenous people were seen as a vanishing race and vestiges of our
outmoded ways of knowing and doing could be ushered out on our way to assimilation

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to the right way of doing things (assimilation to Western ways). And so, laws and
policies were enforced to make Indigenous people develop and evolve in the same
way as Western cultures. Learning couldn’t look more different than the east. Schools
were imposed and made involuntary for children. Families refusing to send their kids
could be fined and imprisoned and the children taken anyway. Schools segregated
children by age and gender and introduced ‘subjects’ and disciplinary time. Adult
education was primarily vocational and about providing the skills to assimilate to
Canadian economies and when schools failed to provide the readiness for mainstream
living, adult education filled the gaps. When residential schooling started to be phased
out, it roughly coincided with the rise of intercultural adoptions (60s scoop),
integrationism into provincial schools, and urbanization. In the US in the 1950s,
termination policy ended support for tribes and many programs on reservations and
soon after voluntary urban relocation programs were sponsored by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs to send Native people to urban centers like Chicago, Cleveland, Denver,
Los Angeles, and Seattle (Lagrand, 2002). Urbanization affected Indigenous adult
education in that it started out as an attempt to further assimilate and acculturate
Indigenous people, moving them away from reserves, that appeared to be serving as
isolates for cultural preservation, and into urban spaces where they would be
separated from family, community and the land (Easby et al., 2023)(Langford, 2016).
One of the ironies is that the Friendship Centre movement emerged as part of this
urbanization initiative, serving as a key site for cultural reclamation, community
building, and reconnecting to roots. Both Canada and the United States attempted
urbanization programs that sought to place Indigenous adults in low skill jobs that had
as their impact a reduction of on-reserve members. Friendship centres, intended as a
facilitator of urbanization, helping to find housing and connect with employers,
developed into key centres for Indigenous mobilization, cultural reclamation, and
resistance to colonization (Langford, 2016).

North

Turning to the contemporary moment, any of the threads from the previous

three quadrants are alive and operating. For instance, there are still examples of adults
apprenticing to learn traditional ways of healing, birthing, mothering, parenting,
hunting, gathering, and growing food. Learning still takes place on the land, in circle,
in ceremony, following the seasons and connecting to nature’s cycles demonstrating
gratitude. Indigenous people continue to learn from non-Indigenous people about new
technologies and attend non-Indigenous schools to improve their understanding and
ability to participate in new economies. This teaching and learning occurs the other
way as well with non-Indigenous allies coming to support Indigenous people and learn
from us about Indigenous technologies, ways of life and philosophy. And colonialism
is by no means extinguished or gone. Land appropriation, pipelines, child
abduction/adoption, injustice, missing and murdered women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+
continue to draw Indigenous people together in resistance. Schools continue to
marginalize knowledge. National official languages continue to largely exclude

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Indigenous languages. While all these movements exist and continue forward from the
past, there is reflection on what it means to do Indigenous adult education today.

One way is to live as much as possible in a way that respects traditional
calendars, laws, languages and the land. This can mean a life of ceremony and
following the seasonal cycles which many Indigenous people do. They enter in this
way of life perhaps as young people and as they continue to do the work, they become
helpers and eventually teachers and leaders of these ways in their own right. Others
have integrated into Canadian or American lifeways while also proudly carrying on
traditions and aspects of their identity into their personal lives. This may look like
participating in some key ceremonies or learning language or attending the powwow
circuit, as well as supporting Indigenous resistance movements without being on the
frontlines of these struggles. Linda Smith wrote of 25 projects that contributed to
decolonization(Tuhiwai Smith, 2021). These projects characterise many collective
Indigenous struggles that have a key place in Indigenous adult education:

Claiming Writing Protecting
Testimonies Representing Creating
Storytelling Gendering Negotiating
Celebrating survival Envisioning Discovering
Remembering Reframing
Indigenizing Restoring
Intervening Returning
Revitalizing Democratizing
Connecting Networking
Reading Naming

Today, adult education among Indigenous peoples is a multifaceted field that

intertwines cultural revitalization, community empowerment, and educational
sovereignty. The following several foci highlight various approaches taken by
Indigenous communities worldwide to address the educational needs of adults,
highlighting both challenges and innovative practices that have emerged in recent
years.

Cultural Revitalization and Indigenous Knowledge Systems

One of the central pillars of adult education among Indigenous peoples is the
revitalization of cultural knowledge and Indigenous knowledge systems. Many
Indigenous communities prioritize educational approaches that integrate traditional
teachings, languages, and practices into formal and informal learning settings
(Battiste, 2013). For instance, in New Zealand, the concept of "whakapapa"
(genealogy) is central to educational practices among Māori communities,
emphasizing the interconnectedness between past, present, and future generations
(Bishop, Berryman, Tiakiwai, & Richardson, 2003).

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Community-Based and Holistic Approaches

Indigenous adult education often adopts community-based and holistic
approaches that recognize the interconnectedness of learning with social, cultural, and
environmental dimensions (Archibald, 2008). These approaches prioritize the
involvement of community elders, knowledge holders, and local institutions in
educational planning and delivery. For example, among Indigenous communities in
Canada, the concept of "holistic lifelong learning" integrates traditional teachings with
contemporary knowledge to foster well-being and sustainability (Kirkness & Barnhardt,
1991).

Place-Based and Environmental Education

Place-based education is another significant approach among Indigenous

peoples, emphasizing the deep connection between land, culture, and identity (Cajete,
Native science: Natural laws of interdependence, 2000)(Cajete, 2000). This approach
grounds learning experiences in the local environment, promoting ecological
stewardship and cultural preservation. In Australia, for instance, Aboriginal
communities have implemented "on Country" educational programs that reconnect
adults with traditional lands and natural resources (Smith & Larkin, 2013).

Language Revitalization and Bilingual/bicultural Education

Language revitalization is critical to Indigenous adult education, as many
communities face the loss of their native languages due to historical assimilation
policies (McCarty, 2005). Bilingual and immersion education programs are
increasingly employed to preserve and promote Indigenous languages among adults.
For instance, in the United States, Navajo adult education initiatives integrate the
Navajo language into vocational training and literacy programs, enhancing cultural
pride and linguistic fluency (Reyhner & Eder, 2004). Bicultural education, a focus of
the landmark policy document, Indian Control of Indian Education, (National Indian
Brotherhood, 1972) seeks to provide Indigenous people with the ability, tools and
capital to thrive in both the colonial and Indigenous societies. This strategy has guided
much education policy and goals for Indigenous people in Canada since the 1970s
(Mashford-Pringle, 2015).

Intergenerational and Lifelong Learning

Indigenous adult education often emphasizes intergenerational learning, where
knowledge transmission occurs through mentoring, storytelling, and community
gatherings (Kawagley, 1995). Lifelong learning frameworks are embedded within
Indigenous educational philosophies, promoting continuous personal and professional

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development across the lifespan. In Alaska, for example, Yup'ik communities have
revitalized traditional subsistence practices through adult education programs that
bridge generational knowledge (Kawagley, 2006).

Empowerment and Self-Determination

Empowerment and self-determination are core principles guiding Indigenous
adult education approaches, aiming to foster agency, leadership, and community
resilience (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008)(Castagno & Brayboy, 2008). Many initiatives
are community-driven, empowering adults to address social and economic challenges
through education. In Brazil, for instance, the Tupinambá people have established
community-led adult literacy programs that promote political engagement and cultural
preservation (Gomes, 2011).

Challenges and Resilience

Despite these innovative approaches, Indigenous adult education faces
numerous challenges, including funding constraints, institutional barriers, and the
ongoing impact of colonial legacies (Battiste, 2002). Addressing these challenges
requires collaborative efforts among governments, educational institutions, and
Indigenous communities to support sustainable and culturally responsive educational
initiatives. Resistance to economic projects that would bring destruction to Indigenous
lands is a key site of struggle for Indigenous people the past 50 years as is the request
for a return of lands expropriated during wartimes or for other colonial reasons. A short
list of flashpoints that garnered media attention shows how prevalent these struggles
have been. Just in Canada, one could name the events at Kanesahtake, often called
the Oka Crisis (York, 1991) where Kanienkeha:ka fought the expansion of a golf
course and condo project on the Pines, where their dead were buried; or the events
at Ipperwash where unused military grounds taken from the Anishinaabe and Odawa
people were not being returned even though the second world war had ended more
than 50 years earlier (Enjibaajig, 2022) (Edwards, 2003). Oil and gas pipeline projects
have been halted by Indigenous resistance including Wet’suwet’en land defenders,
the Lakota and allies at Standing Rock (Estes, 2019). There has been mercury
poisoning at Grassy Narrows (Shkilnyk, 1985) and multiple chemical contributions to
toxic pollution where Aamjiwnaang First Nation bears the brunt of the impact (Wiebe,
2016). Resisting the harms of Hydroelectric development led the Cree and Inuit to
cofound the first modern day treaty in 1975, the James Bay Northern Quebec
Agreement (Waldram, 1993). Similarly Cross Lake fought problematic hydroelectric
development on its lands in the late 1990s early 2000s (Niezen, 2010). Mining has
threatened Indigenous lives and wellbeing globally, from diamond and uranium mining
in Canada’s North and from Talhtan and Tlingit communities to Cape Breton Mi’kmaq
and many points in between (Hall, 2013), to communities in Colombia, Nigeria, Brazil,

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Guatemala, Australia and Chile (Caxaj et al., 2014)(Caxaj et al., 2013) (Coates et al.,
2023)(Göcke, 2014)(Hipwell et al., 2002).

Indigenous adult education represents a dynamic and evolving field
characterized by diverse approaches that emphasize cultural revitalization, community
empowerment, and educational sovereignty. By integrating Indigenous knowledge
systems, fostering community-based learning environments, and promoting language
revitalization, these approaches contribute to the resilience and vitality of Indigenous
cultures worldwide. Moving forward, continued support for culturally responsive
educational policies and practices is essential to ensure the ongoing success and
sustainability of Indigenous adult education initiatives.

Biidaabun: A New Dawn

The wheel never stops turning. So as we return to the East direction, what might
we see as possible futures for Indigenous adult education? Like the North direction,
all the currents from previous turns of the wheel will move forward. There will be land
reclamation and attempts to live a life free from colonial structures like the experiments
carried out by Sakokwenionkwas at Kanatsiohareke (Porter, 2006) or the 65 hectares
of land Molly Swain and Chelsea Vowel purchased under the Back 2 the Land:
2land2furious project in Lac Ste. Anne County Alberta (Muzyka, 2020). Living the kinds
of lives you want to live is a way of making real futures that can only be imagined now.
But by living in the ways you want to see societies organized you generate the future
you want to see. Land Back is more than a hashtag. It’s a multifaceted strategy for
supporting Indigenous self-determination, whether it's actual return of land to
Indigenous people, or reparations for lands stolen and opportunities lost. The many
ways in which land back is actualized will continue to be a key site of Indigenous adult
education.

In the area of Indigenous Language Revitalization, one of the interesting trends
developing is the use of artificial intelligence to build vocabulary, sentences, grammar
and dictionaries. For languages that have been dormant for years or generations, AI
could help potential speakers develop tools and resources to support language
reclamation and revitalization (Maracle, 2024). The Elders and fluent speakers who
have been consulted on how to conjugate verbs and create words can now have their
time used more selectively, checking on AI constructions. As always, there are some
cautions with AI’s potential, as it has already been used to create language resources
for financial gain, skimping on accuracy and community benefit.

The establishment of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was
a decades long movement (Battiste & Henderson, 2000). It is only now that we are
beginning to see its potential in action. Similarly, the movement to recognize rivers
and mountains and other more than human beings as persons before the law will
continue to be actualized to work for the collective protections of Indigenous peoples
and lands. This is a continuation of a trend of creating and engendering spaces that
allow old ways to thrive and be practiced without molestation. This includes activities
like invasive weed pulls, restoration of wild spaces, permaculture and wild edible food

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Jean-Paul Restoule

100

gardens, medicine walks, and connecting young people to traditional territories and
language to aid reconnection to land, language, culture and Indigenous futures
(Restoule et al., 2013). Entering institutions and attempting to make change from
within will continue as a strategy for supporting Indigenous self-determination.

Many Indigenous practices have been rediscovered without acknowledgement
of their source and then presented as innovative solutions to perennial problems. In
the space of education this has looked like character education, daily physical activity,
meditation/sit spots, land and place based learning, and so on (Restoule & Chaw-win-
is, Old ways are the new way forward: How Indigenous pedagogy can benefit
everyone, 2018). It is likely that this trend of refashioning old ways as though they are
somehow new strategies will also continue. But if it means a restoration of Indigenous
ways, this is a positive.

Most important for the future of Indigenous adult education is visioning itself. As
Cajete (1994, 2020) has talked about, visioning has always been a process for
collectively working for the community’s future. Connecting to spirit, ceremony, land,
and ancestors for these visions that connect young people to their gifts that will benefit
community, has been a practice going back to the oldest times for Indigenous peoples
(Cajete, 1994; 2020). The process will continue to be an important source for
articulating visions and connecting individuals to our collective futures. Finding our
face, our heart and our foundation is the core of Indigenous education for all ages
(Cajete, 1994, 2020). Going to that place has served us well in the past, and the
present and will do so into the future.

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