I will use the left hand in school and the right hand at home: A two-eyed seeing approach

Abstract

Globally, there are increasing demands to decolonize education. As a result, the integration of Indigenous Knowledges and worldviews into Early Childhood Education has become a pertinent issue. Few studies have examined methodological frameworks for integrating Indigenous Knowledges into early learning in Ghana. This article examined the integration of Indigenous Knowledge into Early Childhood Education at a rural primary school. A two-eyed seeing Indigenous methodology was employed to integrate the local Kasena Indigenous Knowledge into a Kindergarten 2 classroom environmental studies topics. The ages of the children ranged from 6-8 years. As the holders of Indigenous knowledge, two Kasena Indigenous Elders helped to integrate Indigenous Knowledge into topics by visiting the school to teach and take children out on outdoor learning activities. After this, in-depth interviews were held with research participants. This paper focuses specifically on the methodology employed and highlights some of the outcomes. The study found that adopting a two-eyed seeing approach: challenged Western Knowledge’s dominance over Indigenous Knowledge in early learning; provided a framework to guide practice for integrating Indigenous Knowledge; and created awareness of the existence of an Indigenous worldview.