A Critical Approach to Indigenous Pedagogy – Āina-Based (Land-Based) Learning

Recognition and implementation of Indigenous education approaches is an aspiration of First Nations people in Australia and Hawai’i. The development of a both-ways approach at Batchelor Institute is one example of this desire, as is the development of Āina-based learning in Hawai’i. Both pedagogies are community-based responses to community wishes for better student outcomes and educational control. Notably, the pedagogies provide an attempt to balance hegemony within education structures and validate Indigenous epistemology, axiology, and ontology. These approaches can be categorised within the frame of critical pedagogy.
In an attempt to define Āina-based learning, I examine the concept through a critical lens. I also provide examples of educational practice and administration in Hawai’i to highlight salient points. The discussion has a foundation in Indigenous epistemology (knowledges), axiology (values), and ontology (reality). Āina-based learning is a Native Hawaiian approach to community education and applied in all educational settings in Hawai’i.