Alexa Scully

Position: 
Independent Consultant
Location: 
Indigenous Leadership Initiative & Lakehead University

Education: PhD (Educational Studies)

Research statement

My doctoral research was conducted using the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) methodology, a rigorous cross-section of methods meant to support ethical relationality and service to the field of teacher education. The research question was: How is critical Place-based education in Canadian teacher education supporting Indigenous futurities in Canada by interrupting settler colonialism?

In Nunavik from 2017 - 2019 and now in the Sahtú, I have specialized in supporting relationships and educational opportunities between community knowledge holders and southern research scientists, and in finding funding for Land-based programming. I am passionate about research that is community-led and owned, that respects and centres Youth voices, and that actively works for community wellbeing, sovereignty and Lands.

Currently, I am working in various capacities with K’asho Got’ine and Tulit’a districts to make connections between what research has already been conducted, and what is needed, to support healthy futures with relation to water, fish and caribou, and Climate Change.

In future, I will connect back to my training and experience in education to engage the communities in Land-based learning and research opportunities with relation to the Dene and Métis laws and knowledges that can contribute to research, education and wellbeing in Sahtú.

Description of research program in the NWT

Currently, I am working with the newly established Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area Ts’udé Nilįné Tuyeta in K’asho Got’ine district in several capacities. Through my work with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, I am supporting the establishment of the structures and governance for the new IPCA, including the research program for the next years. Also in K’asho Got’ine, I am supporting the Youth Connections program, funded through Public Safety Canada. This program has a strong Indigenous Evaluation component, led by Deborah DeLancey. I am also supporting Guardians programs and conservation and research in Tulit’a district in a few areas. There are a few potential new research collaborations in the works, but nothing concrete yet.

Selected Scientific Contributions

1. Scully, A. (2020). Land and critical place-based education in Canadian teacher preparation: Complementary pedagogies for complex futures. In M. Corbett & D. Gereluk (Eds.), Rural education in Canada: Connecting land and people (pp. 227-244). Springer Nature.

2. Scully, A. (2015). Unsettling place-based education: Whiteness and Land in Indigenous education in Canadian teacher education. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 1(38), 80-101.

3. Scully, A. (2012). Decolonization, reinhabitation and reconciliation: Aboriginal and place-based education. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education. (17), 148-158.

4. McGinty, M., Miller, H., Russell, J., & Scully, A., (2019). Centering the Critical in Place-based Education: Intersectional Opportunities in Environmental Education (Roundtable Session). Environmental Education Special Interest Group. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, April 5-9.

5. Epoo, J., Kutchaka, J., Nowkawalk, C., Padlayat, S., & Scully, A. (2018). Inuit Environmental Science: Land Survival and Culture for Innovative Inuit Futures (Scholarly Paper). Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Special Interest Group. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New York City, New York, April 13-17.

6. Calderon, D., Munoz, M., Resendiz, R., Resendiz, R., Scully, A., & Solis, S. (2017). This is Yanaguana:  Reframing Indigenous Texas for Environmental Education (Symposium). Indigenous Peoples of the   Americas and Environmental Education Special Interest Groups. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, April 27-May 1.