Media release

From: AAAS

In a Policy Forum, Amanda Black and Jason Tylianakis discuss the challenges that have arisen around Indigenous knowledge in education policy and highlight the value of teaching Indigenous knowledge alongside science in the classroom.

“We argue that Indigenous knowledge can complement and enhance science teachings, benefitting students and society in a time of considerable global challenges,” they write.

Despite a growing acceptance of the value of Indigenous knowledge in strategic high-level science-informed policy, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, its wider adoption into more local settings, like science education curriculums, is lacking and has been met with resistance by the scientific community. Black and Tylianakis highlight one example of this – the Aotearoa-New Zealand government’s decision to ensure that Indigenous knowledge has equal value with other bodies of knowledge in the school curriculum, which has led to debate among researchers and scientists, some of which argue that Indigenous knowledge falls short of science. According to the authors, many arguments used to defend science by presenting Indigenous knowledge as inferior are rooted in false logic and are at odds with the published literature on the subject. Here, Black and Tylianakis review this research and provide an empirical evaluation of the value of Indigenous knowledge to science, its incorporation into science education, and the value of knowledge diversity for innovation.

“Indigenous knowledge can complement science-generated knowledge in the pedagogy landscape by providing acceptance and understanding and by contributing to the addressing of global challenges.” write the authors.

“We urge both education policy analysts and scientists engaging in this debate to draw on evidence rather than caricatures of Indigenous Knowledge and a partisan approach to knowledge generation.”