policymakers could seize this time to support schools in choosing to take students outside.shutterstock
whether and how schools will reopen in september given covid-19 has been discussed in news and social media throughout the summer. smaller class sizes, alternating attendance patterns, face-to-face or online instruction and equipment such as mandatory masks have been debated by both politicians and the public.but there is another, more obvious answer that allows for social distancing and addresses the risks of transmitting covid-19 indoors.moving classes outside deserves serious consideration not only for better ventilation, but also to introduce more public education devoted to learning on, from and with the land.as a white settler educator striving to be part of decolonizing education, i aim to learn from the examples of indigenous colleagues and elders who model the necessity of land-based learning if education is to help bring about reconciliation. my research and teaching is at the queen’s university faculty of education, teaching primarily in the world indigenous studies in education and the professional master’s in education (indigenous concentration) programs, and much of my research has focused on land-based education. some of my teaching relates to supporting teacher candidates in taking the necessary steps to help students reconnect with the land.in these capacities, and also as someone who lives on a small rural farm, it seems to me the time is ripe for public school systems to integrate more learning about the land with children’s education — especially in a time when covid-19 seems to have reignited wider awareness of the interconnectedness of our ecological and food systems.
i am grateful for the privilege of living on our small farm in eastern ontario, on the traditional homeland of both the haudenosaunee and the anishnaabe peoples. locally we are seeing changes in food buying patterns since the pandemic hit, and i wonder if these represent a lasting movement towards personal food security due to fear of public shopping, or a growing awareness of the health benefits of local fresh food, or both?our eggs, chickens and goat meat are selling at the farm gate to people who are used to buying in grocery stores. as chair of a local farm association, i hear similar reports from farmers across the county. abattoirs cannot keep up with the demand for meat processing and are currently booking into late fall as out-of-county people are pre-ordering and pre-paying for meat and vegetables to be delivered into december.a friend who sells his pork and beef at the local farmers’ market recently commented that he feels valued and respected as a farmer for the first time in 35 years.
demand for seeds has increased as more canadians grow gardens. photo, shutterstock.
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