All are welcome to attend Dr. Kathy Snow's presentation arising from her research with co-author, Diane Obed, on Inuit student persistence and success.  This research will also be presented to funders, fellow researchers, and community members at the ArcticNet Annual General Meeting in December of this year.

McGregor (2010) in Inuit Education and Schools in the Eastern Arctic, describes what Inuit believe are the differences between formal and informal learning by outlining the meaning of the words ilisayuaq  and isumaqsayuaq. Isumaqsayuq is the traditional way of sharing knowledge through observation and imitation embedded in daily family and community life learning. Fundamentally based in the principals of  Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit,  isumaqsavuq  which encompasses land-based learning is known to help promote language revival, cultural practices, and positive self and cultural identities that will sustain youth. Indigenous land-based education is viewed as not only a source of resistance against a capitalist settler state (Coulthard, 2015) it is also important for environmental stewardship, climate change adaptation (Watt-Cloutier, 2015), and most importantly, promoting and maintaining Inuit autonomy and sovereignty (Petrasek MacDonald, 2014; Price, 2007; Wildcat et al., 2014). However formal ilisavuaq learning for these same objectives in K-12 schools is challenged by funding and policy restrictions that make opportunities to “go off” for youth in school more “special events” than inherent in education.  School districts across Inuit Nunangat are increasingly adopting land based programs, to inspire however it is still not enough to (re)balance ilisayuaq and isumaqsayuaq away from the dominating colonial education system to fully support a holistic education for all students