Formal and Informal Indigenous Education

Abstract

The analysis of education for indigenous people is frequently characterized in much of the academic and policy literature by a deficit orientation as comparisons are made with non-indigenous populations on such indicators as levels of educational participation, attainment, and achievement within formal educational institutions. The capacity to succeed in contemporary societies depends increasingly on formal educational success, but it also involves informal learning of skills, knowledge, and competencies produced in a variety of settings as signified in concepts such as lifelong learning, the learning society, and knowledge-based economies. This chapter explores informal learning and its significance for indigenous people and their communities in conjunction with broader changes occurring in education and knowledge relations. These shifting knowledge relationships have made it possible to nurture and gain recognition for indigenous knowledge and related forms of learning that have been subordinated and devalued through practices associated with colonization. While these developments suggest prospects through which indigenous people may be able to enhance their ability to participate in contemporary societies with a strong grounding in their identity and heritage as indigenous people, relations of power and knowledge remain fundamentally unequal. The chapter highlights these varied conceptions of, and opportunities to achieve, educational success for indigenous people with reference to important dimensions of both formal and informal learning.