The project was executed through three workshops. The workshops served both educational and informative purposes, enabling researchers to transmit their knowledge in ways that are tailored towards a target public. The project was part of the activities of the UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education.

The aim of the workshops was to deal the contents of Sámi education and develop jointly Indigenous education models that suit for teacher education and Sámi studies programs in Northern part of Europe: Norway, Finland and Sweden. The special aim was to go through colonial, nowadays and future aspects of healing circle developed by Sámi scholar Rahko-Ravantti. The target groups were both the Sámi, in Nordic countries and Indigenous people worldwide. Further, it was aimed to build joint contents for mainstream teachers and teacher education programs.

The first workshop, titled “Indigenizing education: Historical perspectives and present challenges in Sámi education“, was held as an online workshop on 16-17 November 2020. The goal was to open the most important issues of colonization and assimilation, like experiences of inequality and otherness so that ongoing education can continue its work in its premises. The first workshop created the foundation for the oncoming measures.

The second workshop, titled “Árran (heart, fireplace) – The achievements, advancement and recognition of Sámi education” was held in online on 15-16 April 2021. The workshop covered the areas that concern the practical questions of nowadays Sámi education and aimed to identify present research needs of Sámi education.

The third and final workshop, titled “Developmental questions, wishes and dreams of Sámi education“, was held online on 16-17 August 2021. The workshop focused on the future aspects, challenges and contents of Sámi education at different educational levels.

Hanna Helander: “Advancing and Fostering Children’s Inclusion and Agency through Socially Innovative Interventions”

Huia Jahnke: “Indigeneity and Higher Education: A Maori perspective and experiences developing kaupapa Maori education initiatives within the Academy” slides, presentation speech with no references

Asbjørn Kolberg: “Lule and South Sámi Teacher Education – Status and Challenges”

Inker-Anni Linkola-Aikio: “Sámi archives as an infrastructure and partner in educational research”

Marja-Liisa Olthuis: “Ketterä teacher education”

Annika Pasanen: “Inari Sámi language education context”

Rauna Rahko-Ravantti: “The Sacred Circle of the Sámi Education”

Erika Sarivaara: “Indigenizing the teacher education – the case of the University of Lapland”

Rauni Äärelä-Vihriälä: “Sami teacher education at Sámi allaskuvla”

The project was funded by the grant for NOS-HS workshops, by the joint committee for Nordic research councils in the humanities and social sciences (NOS-HS), administrated by the Academy of Finland. The project period is 1/2020-12/2021.

IPED project partners were Pigga Keskitalo (University of Lapland), Tuija Turunen (project lead) (University of Lapland), Rauni Äärelä-Vihriälä (Sámi University of Applied Sciences), Inker-Anni Linkola-Aikio (Sámi archives), Torjer Olsen (UiT-The Arctic University of Norway), Hanna-Máret Outakoski (Umeå University), Rauna Rahko-Ravantti (Sámi University of Applied Sciences) and David Kroik (Nord University). Read more about project partners below under “Our Experts”.

The project was coordinated by Project Manager, Janette Peltokorpi (janette.peltokorpi(at)ulapland.fi).

News

IPED project organised a successful workshop on the future of Sámi education

17.8.2021

The workshop was held online on 16-17 August 2021, and it gathered together practitioners, researchers, politicians and students from different countries and different levels of society.

IPED project organised a successful workshop on the future of Sámi education 

Open online workshop on Contents and visions for future Sámi education – Registration is now open!

4.6.2021

The workshop was the third open workshop organised by the project Indigenous Pedagogy in Teacher Education, and it will be held on 16-17 August 2021.

Open online workshop on Contents and visions for future Sámi education – Registration is now open! 

Project IPED held an online workshop Árran on contemporary Saami education and its research needs

21.4.2021

The workshop “Árran (heart, fireplace) – The achievements, advancement and recognition of Saami education” was held online 16-17 April and it was hosted by the University of Lapland and Adjunct Professor, Dr. Pigga Keskitalo. The workshop was the second one in a series of three workshops in the IPED project.

Project IPED held an online workshop Árran on contemporary Saami education and its research needs 

New intern has started working with UArctic and UNESCO/UNITWIN networks on Teacher Education

17.3.2021

Titta Myllyniemi, an Intercultural education student from the University of Oulu has started her internship at the University of Lapland.

Our Experts

PhD., Adjunct Professor, University Researcher
University of Lapland

Pigga Keskitalo works as a researcher at the University of Lapland, Finland. She also works as a bi researcher at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Norway, where children’s ethical thinking is investigated. Now, she is working on an Academy of Finland funded project that aims to develop Sámi language distance education. In addition, she is involved in several development projects, including Arctic Pedagogy 2 (funded by the European Social Fund), and eLappi development of teacher competence in digital pedagogy (also funded by the European Social Fund). Keskitalo’s research interests focus broadly on the field of Sámi education and its research. Her Ph.D. dissertation investigated how the Sámi curriculum in Norway is conducted at the Sámi schools.

Email: pigga.keskitalo(at)ulapland.fi

Read more at the contact page of her home university.

Ph.D. Candidate in Language Teaching and Learning
Umeå University
Assistant professor in South Saami
Nord University

David Kroik is a Ph.D. Candidate in Language Teaching and Learning at the Umeå University, Sweden and an assistant professor in South Saami at Nord University, Norway. His early research within the Ph.D. project was focused on describing South Saami grammar from a formalistic perspective. His current research involves Narrative Inquiry and is focused on the schoolscape of Saami preschools and preschool teachers’ experiences of language acquisition. Kroik is an adult learner of South Saami and is dedicated to helping others learn their own heritage language.

Email: david.kroik(at)nord.no

PhD., Senior Research Officer
Sámi Archives/National Archives of Finland

Inker-Anni Linkola-Aikio has been working in the Sámi Archives since 2014. She has a master’s degree in Finno-Ugric linguistics from the University of Helsinki 1996 and Ph.D. from the Faculty of Education in the University of Lapland 2014. Her Ph.D. research title was The Sámi School’s Linguistic Landscape: An ethnographical study on the Sámi language in an upper secondary education institute. During 2017–2019 she worked as an Associate Professor in Sámi University of Applied Sciences (Norway). Her current research interests are linguistic landscape, research ethics, Sámi educational history, language policy in Sámi education.

Email: inker-anni.linkola-aikio(at)arkisto.fi

Professor
Academic director
the Centre for Sámi Studies
UiT the Arctic University of Norway

Torjer Olsen is from the Tromsø area at the coast of Sápmi/Northern Norway. His research interests include indigenous education – gender, power and methodology in Indigenous studies – and Christianity in Sámi contexts. Olsen is the PI of the international research project Indigenous Citizenship and Education.

Email: torjer.olsen(at)uit.no

PhD., Senior Lecturer
Umeå University

Dr. Hanna-Máret Outakoski is senior lecturer in North Sámi at the Department of Language Studies at the Umeå University, Sweden, and at Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. Her latest research project investigates teaching of heritage language writing in Sámi educational contexts. One of the aims of the current collaborative research is to strengthen the position of Sámi writing among Sámi youth, and to find new models for teachers to widen the discourses of writing instruction in Sámi education. In her earlier research, Outakoski has investigated the writing processes of multilingual young writers, context of multilingual writing in Sápmi, and teacher perspectives on Sámi writing. Other research interests lie in North Sami grammar and syntax, on the possibilities and potential of using virtual worlds and virtual classrooms for language revitalization, as well as on language use in society in general.

Email: hanna.outakoski(at)umu.se

Professor
Dean, Faculty of Education
Leader of IPED project
University of Lapland

Tuija Turunen holds a position of Dean at the Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Finland. She is a leader of the teacher education programme. She also leads the UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity and UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity. Professor Turunen is an internationally recognized expert, has published widely and leads several national and international projects. Professor Turunen’s current research interests focus on teacher education, professional development in higher education, educational transitions, indigenous pedagogies and preventive school welfare work.

Email: tuija.turunen(at)ulapland.fi

PhD., Associate Professor
Sámi University of Applied Sciences

Rauni Äärelä-Vihriälä is an associate professor in Sámi allaskuvla, Norway. She got a doctorate in 2016 from the University of Lapland. Her dissertation is a unique study of Sámi language nest activities. Her work in Sámi allaskuvla focuses on the Sámi teacher education and in the Sámi educational research field her research focuses on Sámi language immersion.

Email: rauniav(at)samas.no

PhD., Associate professor Sámi Allaskuvla – Sámi University of Applied Sciences

Rauna Rahko-Ravantti is an associate professor at the Sámi allaskuvla, Norway. She got a doctorate in 2016 from the University of Lapland. Her dissertation concerned the interviews of Sámi teachers and ideas that they expressed about their work at primary schools. The thesis presents philosophically the four doors of Sámi education that can be used as an analysis frame in research and practical development of Sámi education. Her work in Sámi allaskuvla focuses on the Sámi teacher education program education studies coordination and teaching tasks.