In the crucial discussion of Aboriginal education in Canada, there are two distinct schools of thought: parallelism and integrationism. For the first time in one volume, leading thinkers on both sides share their perspectives, allowing readers to examine this complex and emotionally charged issue from all angles.

Parallelism argues for Aboriginal self-determination and independent schools with Aboriginal values at their core, while integrationism advocates improving Aboriginal educational achievement within the conventional system. Both sides share the same goal, however: supporting and helping to realize the vast store of untapped potential in Aboriginal communities. Everyone agrees that Aboriginal education in Canada urgently needs improvement. A vigorous and informed debate can only speed the search for solutions.

Frances Widdowson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University. She has co-written and co-edited (with Albert Howard) two books on aboriginal policy – Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry: The Deception Behind Indigenous Cultural Preservation, short-listed for the Donner Prize, and Approaches to Aboriginal Education in Canada: Searching for Solutions. She is currently editing a volume on “Indigenizing the University”, as well as undertaking an investigation of how advocacy studies are “murdering” the human sciences.

Frances Widdowson's profile page

Albert Howard has worked as a consultant for government and Native groups, and is currently an instructor and Director of Programs, Kennedy College of Technology, Toronto.

Albert Howard's profile page

The strengths of this volume are its openness and its courage to allow different perspectives to exchange and debate about the longstanding and sometimes conflicting issues of Aboriginal education.… [T]his volume has huge implications for Aboriginal education.

Education Matters: The Journal of Teaching and Learning