Project Report - La Trobe University

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eaches the village. It is the only village without electricity in the municipality, and a subsistence economy prevails. Mobile phone reception is temperamental and only from a few locations. We were introduced to Chananaw by a mutual friend one year ago. Both of us having learnt of many of the negative aspects of globalisation and the international development industry as part of our Social Science training, we quickly struck up a friendship with several members of the tribe who were keen to share with us their ideas and concerns regarding the Ichananaw’s increasing interaction with the outside world, as national and multinational corporations sit poised to extract natural resources from their lands, if only the tribe would consent. Our friends’ key concern is for development on the community’s own terms; life here could be improved in many respects but there is much they want to retain from the old ways. On our second visit, a tribal elder and friend, Daniel, invited us to live in Chananaw for one year to help them to document their ‘life system’ in order to pass it on to their future generations – a dream of his for many years. We said we’d love to in 2009 when Maria would finish her 11-month AYAD volunteer assignment (working at the Ateneo Center for Educational Development [ACED] in Manila to improve the quality of public education in the Philippines). Edwin decided to put his PhD in Sociology on hold to work on the project, having completed a year’s fieldwork in Manila. From the seed of Daniel’s initial invitation, we designed a five-month project to document the Ichananaw’s way of life and to develop ‘indigenised’ educational materials for use in their local public school as the means for passing cultural heritage to the next generation. Indigenizing Education in a Kalinga Public School | 38 Our twin goal is to improve the quality of education at the school through making education more culturally appropriate. This ties in nicely with current national education policy trends in the Philippines regarding education for indigenous peoples. For instance, the value of learning in one’s native language first, before having to learn the country’s two official languages (Filipino and English) is being promoted from several quarters and a bill for mother-tongue languages as the medium of instruction for the first three years of schooling is being considered by congress, to combat poor public educational outcomes across the Philippines. With the Dananao Elementary School (our host organisation), we managed to arrange support from VIDA for the project. We are also Honorary Research Fellows at La Trobe University’s Philippines Australia Studies Centre, and Edwin is a Research Affiliate of University of the Philippines-Baguio’s Cordillera Studies Center, to support the research aspects of the project. Dananao Elementary School is also partnering with ACED for the development and publication of indigenised educational materials and ACED is applying to the Australian Government for a Direct Aid Program grant to cover publishing costs. So the project really cuts across education, development and academia, with the overall aim of meeting the community’s initial request. Another goal is to link the Ichananaw to local development organisations. Already, the school has become a partner school of ACED. Also, Cartwheel Foundation – a local NGO supporting education for remote indigenous communities – will be running its Music and Arts Program in Chananaw this May-June. Some of the stories and songs we gather are also likely to be included in a UNICEF Philippines publication to be used in childcare
centers and pre-schools across the country. So, what exactly do we hope to produce in five months? Our wish list is ambitious: an ethnographic account of Ichananaw life; a photo essay or coffee table book; a Chananaw-English dictionary; a history reader and other educational materials; a series of illustrated story books in three languages simultaneously (Chananaw, English and Filipino), telling the Ichananaw’s legends, fables and history; and a ‘knowledge bank’ of materials relevant to the Ichananaw, collected from museums and libraries. We will be pleased even if we only accomplish a few of these, but we like to dream big. And how are we doing it? Maria is staying in Chananaw, gathering stories, elder’s oral histories, and general observations from sharing daily life, as well as working with the teachers to indigenise the educational materials. Our assignment supervisor and close friend, Agom, is working very closely with us on all aspects of the project, as is Daniel, and several others in the community are also involved. Edwin joined Maria for the first month, and is now based in Manila to gather all materials from external sources and to liaise with project partners. Of course, we are both travelling back and forth to see each other from time to time. In this first month, we have been soaking up all aspects of daily life (planting rice seedlings into knee-deep, soupy mud; documenting bedtime stories; drinking copious amounts of coffee), and mixing structured activities (running art classes for the children) with just taking the experiences and opportunities as they arise (taking up all invitations to share a meal with a new family; staying up late into the night with more than 50 members of the community to attend a songa – the butchering of a pig by a young man in honor of his sick grandmother). Indigenizing Education in a Kalinga Public School | 39 But five months is a very short time, so we see this project more as laying the groundwork for future engagements – by us, by local NGOs, or by any other interested Australians – with the Ichananaw for development on their own terms. We are also simply enjoying living in what is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever found, in the company of good friends. What more could we ask for?
Page 1 and 2: Project Report Indigenizing Educati
Page 3 and 4: Chananaw is surrounded by terraced
Page 5 and 6: Once upon a time… Project backgro
Page 7 and 8: The project at a glance Timeframe P
Page 9 and 10: Arranging support Obtaining funding
Page 11 and 12: At the forefront of our mind was ou
Page 13 and 14: Maria drafted the written English t
Page 15 and 16: The tangible results Project output
Page 17 and 18: The intangible results Project outc
Page 19 and 20: issues. It is possible that the net
Page 21 and 22: Thank yous and goodbyes Project han
Page 23 and 24: Friends first Probably the single m
Page 25 and 26: What challenged us? The main challe
Page 27 and 28: Publishing for a wider audience? Al
Page 29 and 30: Appendices Project schedule and pro
Page 31 and 32: Appendix 2. Philippine Daily Inquir
Page 33 and 34: materials suited to the needs and c
Page 35 and 36: culture, language, traditional poli
Page 37: Appendix 4. Connect Magazine articl

Project Report - La Trobe University

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