Introduction to the Special Issue–School psychology and Indigenous Peoples: Critical Perspectives and Indigenous-led Approaches

Abstract

This issue of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology is the first of two parts of a special issue devoted to the intersection of school psychology and Indigenous Peoples within the Canadian context. Given the limited existing literature that is squarely focused on this intersection, the articles in these two issues are collectively a substantive academic contribution to school psychology educators, practitioners, researchers, and students. These articles challenge mainstream practice, training, ethics, and intervention approaches within school psychology, while also describing exemplary collaborations with Indigenous communities and advancements in Indigenizing and decolonizing school psychology training and practice.

The field of school psychology has a troubling history and ongoing challenges in providing culturally relevant and safe services for children of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Early on, the profession got its start in part by assessing an influx of immigrant children arriving from Europe to North America in the late 19th century (within a context of changes in child labor laws and compulsory education; Fagan, 1985; Newell et al., 2010). Rather than supporting their diverse learning needs, these students were pathologized in terms of perceived deviations from the “typical” student—resulting in an overrepresentation of minoritized children in special education programs (Ortiz et al., 2011). Unfortunately, more recent data suggests that there continues to be inappropriate diagnoses of disabilities (i.e., learning disabilities) and an overrepresentation of minoritized children in special education (Rezai-Rashti & Lingard, 2021, Zhang et al., 2014). This trend is concerning because it suggests there is a general lack of recognition among school psychologists regarding interrelated individual, systemic, and structural factors (e.g., discrimination, poverty) that interfere with minoritized student performance in testing situations as well as external factors that affect school functioning. Relatedly, it suggests a lack of implicatedness of school psychology professionals, researchers, and educators in the disparities they observe. Despite some advancements in recent years, school psychology has not adequately come to terms with how to account for diverse needs connected to inequity, and this failure has called into question the profession’s values, relevance, and effectiveness (Sabnis & Newman, 2022).

Within Canadian school psychology, perhaps nowhere are these failures and challenges more acute than in Indigenous context. A recent call for education reform following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s (2015) report has highlighted long-standing concerns about the use of mainstream school psychology methods with Indigenous students, including the use of standardized measures to assess cognitive functioning and therapeutic approaches for mental health (see Canadian Psychological Association and the Psychology Foundation of Canada, 2018; Nakano & Watkins, 2013). School psychology has been complicit with the rest of education by overidentifying Indigenous students with special needs and promoting Western approaches to learning while also ignoring the historical trauma caused by disruptive education practices and pathologizing assessment practices with adults (Canadian Psychological Association and the Psychology Foundation of Canada, 2018). During the “Sixties Scoop,” a significant number of Indigenous children in Canada were removed from their homes as a result of their mother being wrongfully diagnosed with a personality disorder (Sinclair, 2007). In this and other ways, the profession has surely contributed to the greatly disproportionate number of Indigenous children in the child welfare system, through a misuse of psychological and parenting capacity assessments (see Caldwell & Sinha, 2020; Choate & Lindstrom, 2017; Wall-Wieler et al., 2018). These failures are in a context of tremendous disadvantage—inextricable from historical and ongoing colonial violence, theft of land, and coercive assimilation—endured by Indigenous children generally, along with a lack of appreciation among professionals about the sovereignty of Indigenous Nations and the strengths of Indigenous families and communities (Bernett et al., 2023).

Thus, school psychologists face distrust from Indigenous families and communities because of historical and ongoing trauma and discrimination, as well as clinicians’ lack of understanding of Indigenous experiences, education, knowledge, and cultures. This distrust is warranted given the many ways that Indigenous knowledge, science, and cultural interventions have been disrespected and replaced by unresponsive, undesired, and ineffective Western ideas, ideals, tools, and practices in ways that resemble and perpetuate colonial processes (Smith, 2021). Many psychologists perpetuate colonial attitudes such as by deeming Western values and training superior to Indigenous ways of knowing (Christopher et al., 2014; Wendt & Gone, 2012), as well as by partializing, editing, and appropriating Indigenous knowledges (Hart et al., 2017).

In the context of these problems, there is very little school psychology research focused on addressing the needs of Indigenous students or identifying ways to change the system. In the aftermath of the TRC report, there has been a clear uptick in research and conceptual articles in the context of psychology generally or focused on counseling psychology (Ansloos et al., 2019, 2022; Canadian Psychological Association and the Psychology Foundation of Canada, 2018; Fellner et al., 2020). However, the Indigenous-focused school psychology literature within Canada has been extremely sparse, likely a reflection of the field’s history, a lack of Indigenous scholars and students, and perhaps naive assumptions about the transferability of school psychology research to Indigenous contexts (Bernett et al., 2023).

A tide is shifting, however, with more and more psychologists willing to learn from Indigenous counterparts and adopt more culturally relevant practices. School psychologists are recognizing their responsibility to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in education settings, including their approach to working with and supporting Indigenous students (see Rogers et al., 2022; Sabnis & Newman, 2022). At the same time, our experience is that many school psychologists lack the resources and training to adequately do so. This vacuum of culturally relevant resources pertaining to the intersection of Indigenous Peoples and school psychology has brought about this double special issue. These articles challenge mainstream practice, training, ethics, and intervention approaches within school psychology, while also describing exemplary collaborations with Indigenous communities and advancements in Indigenizing and decolonizing school psychology training and practice. Notably, each of these articles include Indigenous authors and/or extensive collaborations with Indigenous communities.

This first issue consists of six articles that collectively provide a helpful overview concerning the relationship between school psychology and Indigenous Peoples. First, Bernett et al. (2023) provide a conceptual overview of school psychology’s historical and ongoing inadequacy in addressing Indigenous context within Canada. The authors include results of a survey from directors of Canadian school psychology doctoral programs, which provides a snapshot of programmatic efforts and shortcomings (most notably, an absence of Indigenous core faculty). Finally, they draw from the TRC (2015) report and the National Inquiry on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (2019) to provide detailed recommendations for school psychologists in their work with Indigenous Peoples.

The next two articles focus on the training of school psychologists. Robinson-Zañartu et al. (2023) recognize the lack of Indigenous school psychologists in training programs across North America (Goforth et al., 2016) and the challenges of training competent practitioners (Robinson-Zañartu et al., 2011). They describe numerous initiatives over the past 20 years within their school psychology program at San Diego State University. These have included increasing the number of Indigenous students by changing recruitment processes to make graduate school more accessible, as well as through the development of a culturally responsive program. Although this program is in the United States, we have included this article because of its impressive strengths that surely Canadian school psychology programs can learn from. For the next article, Day (2023) interviewed eight Indigenous students within Canada about their dreams for their psychology training experience and how well those dreams match reality. This qualitative thematic analysis is innovative through its centering the rising generation of Indigenous students (whose voices are generally absent within the psychology literature). These students dream of training programs that are more relational, experiential, inclusive of Indigenous knowledge sharers and Elders, value-driven, and culturally humble–among other recommendations. Although the article is framed broadly in terms of applied psychology programs, it has clear implications for supporting school psychology students.

The three remaining articles focus on how Indigenous students can be better supported through expansive roles of school psychologists as community-connected and culturally-aware educators and interventionists. Andrews et al. (2023) describe their work in a 3-year school transformation project with an on-reserve First Nations school in northern Saskatchewan. The holistic, strength-based project is innovative through its emphasis on local context and knowledge systems pertaining to instructional and curriculum support, leadership development, and mental health support. The authors comment that this collaborative project is illustrative of ways that school psychologists can be less preoccupied with assessment and more invested in supporting Indigenous pedagogy. Next, Tabor et al. (2023) describe the role of a 2-day art-based intervention at a middle school in Kanai First Nation in Alberta. They report findings based on research conversations with 12 Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) community members, using a decolonizing, community-based approach. Reported themes include the value of culturally-rooted art practice (which differs from conventional Eurocentric approaches) to empower Indigenous students and help support their cultural engagement. This article may be useful to school psychologists as they seek to collaborate with Elders and other knowledge holders in decolonizing educational practices and support diverse learning needs of students. Finally, McVittie and Ansloos (2023) address the role of school psychologists in suicide prevention through highlighting community-driven interventions from Indigenous communities. Based on a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with seven educators working with Indigenous communities within Canada, they discuss the importance for school psychologists to be more aware of Indigenous context and the importance of cultural safety, to promote Indigenous curricula and incorporate Indigenous voices and role models, to invest in more robust suicide prevention curricula, and to support students through encouraging cultural and community-based care and connections.

In featuring some of the positive initiatives taking place within the North American context, the aim of this first special issue is to contribute ways in which K-12 and post-secondary educational initiatives may support Indigenous students and practices. The second issue (forthcoming) will include an additional set of articles related to ethical practice, relationship building, and decolonized intervention, as well as an overview of the current state of Indigenous representation in school psychology research. Given the limited previous literature that is squarely focused on the intersection of school psychology and Indigenous Peoples, the articles in these two issues are collectively a substantive academic contribution to school psychology educators, practitioners, researchers, and students.