Incorporating Native American Culture

into Early Childhood Education

By Jaclyn Stewart

Forgetting a Heritage

Countries around the world are making an effort to include the cultures of their indigenous peoples in modern early childhood education programs.

Why not the US?

Forgetting a Heritage

By ignoring the traditions of the Native Americans in US preschools, we are allowing our children to forget an important piece of our country’s heritage.

Why let it go?Click Image to Enlarge

Forgetting a Heritage

It’s time to include the Native American culture in our schools so future generations can benefit from the knowledge, teaching practices, and traditions that might otherwise be lost.

Why not start now?

Forgetting a Heritage

To embrace this heritage, we must determine:

What obstacles are stopping us from incorporating our native culture?

What knowledge and values do Native American elders believe are the most important to pass on?

How should we share these lessons with our children?

What resources will early education teachers need to represent the culture?

What’s Stopping Us?

Based on a 2012 study, Native Americans make up just 1.7% of the US population.

Among those, just 52% of native families with kids between the ages of 3 and 5 enrolled their children in early childhood education.

This makes their voice one the smallest minorities in the EE system.

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What’s Stopping Us?

Unfortunately, when Native American culture is addressed in public schools, harmful stereotypical portrayals are used.

Lessons are limited to tipis, savage-like warriors, feather head bands, and a bias perspective of the first Thanksgiving.

This does not teach nor honor their true culture.

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What’s Stopping Us?

Too often, Native Americans are grouped into one homogenous group.

In reality, there are currently about 500 tribes, each with its own language and cultural traditions.

This prevents students from learning about the unique qualities of their regional tribe.

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What’s Stopping Us?

With more and more Native Americans growing up in urban settings, there is less exposure to their traditional culture.

This has caused a generational shift that contributes to the loss of some cultural values and traditions.

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What’s Stopping Us?

Early childhood education teachers are not reaching out to local tribes, thus their students are missing out on opportunities to witness accurate and valuable cultural lessons.

Additionally, reservation preschools are segregated from non-native preschools, preventing them from interacting and sharing their culture with others.

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Native Recommendations

Native Head Start programs recommend teaching:

Unique aspects of the lifestyles of various tribes: i.e. differences in tribal dwellings, nomadic vs. agricultural tribes, etc.

Actual tribal names instead of simply “Native Americans”: i.e. Cheyenne, Hopi, Apache, etc.

Historical AND modern native culture

Activities with inoffensive, non-stereotypical materials

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Native Recommendations

In order to teach Native American culture, early childhood educators need to become aware of the struggles Native Americans face and the many individual perspectives that come from their diverse group.

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Native Recommendations

In 1996, Native American Elders gathered in Colorado and specified the following culturally-significant principles:

Learn and be proud of native language.

Understand that all forms of life are interconnected.

Recognize the powers of native ceremonies and religious ways.

Live with dignity, honor, and humility.

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An Oral Tradition

Schools are encouraged to teach native language, ceremonies, and other principles through:

Elder interaction

Mythological storytelling

Native song and dance

Field trips to native events

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An Oral Tradition

Teachers are encouraged to reach out to local tribal elders and to use the many multimedia resources of the web to learn and teach traditional native stories, songs, and more.

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An Oral Tradition

It is important to expose children to native performers through field trips and by attending performances where they can see dances, ceremonies, and native communities first-hand.

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Connecting to Standards

Native educational principles are easily connected to the Head Start Child Development Early Learning Framework, especially:

Music

Creative movement and dance

Social relationships

Family and community

Knowledge of the natural and physical world

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Success in Action

In Nebraska, the Native Indian Centered Education program has created a partnership between public schools and Native Americans to provide native-centric educational opportunities like:

Elders teaching traditional drumming and dancing

Outdoor classrooms that host native healing gardens

Monthly family events designed by native parents

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Success in Action

Based on their success, NICE recommends that family-school-community partnerships work best when:

The project benefits all partners

The pursuit of a shared vision is promoted

Understanding is encouraged

Family access to community resources are built and strengthened

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Join the Movement

If we truly intend to incorporate Native American culture into our early childhood education programs, we need ongoing input from Native Americans from a variety of backgrounds, whether traditional or not.

Please share your favorite native resources, strategies, and recommendations below!