Decolonizing environmental science education: (Re)storying relations for settler educator unsettling

Abstract

The purpose of this portfolio is to emphasize, demonstrate, and role-model the inherent responsibility that all settler educators have in decolonizing their own ways of knowing, being, doing and belonging before they can respectfully and ethically decolonize their pedagogies of any subject, including environmental science education. Settler educator decolonization is necessary for teachers to become active, engaged and informed treaty partners who then fulfill treaty obligations to “ka-miyo-ohpikihitoyahk (for us to raise each other’s children well), learning from each other in balanced ways and sharing wisdom that comes from living together in the spirit of good relations” (Donald, 2022, para. 15). Consequently, the portfolio’s self-study purpose is two-fold: (i) to challenge and document my personal un/re-learning1 as a settler educator and visitor on Treaty 7 territory, in order to (ii) help encourage/guide/motivate/support settler (science) educators’ “stamina” (Stein et al., 2021, p.1) through their own unique decolonizing journeys; a stance of affective-cognitive-reflexive awareness and examination, required for a lasting decolonizing engagement and commitment to reconciliation.