Student Success Research Consortium: Two Worlds Community-First Research

Although this article does not directly address the provision or improvement of early childhood education (ECE) to grade 12 education, it does address the theme of Indigenous Knowledges and provides an example of how to conduct community-first educational research. Research that is centered on a community-first perspective must be negotiated so as to cultivate respectful, reciprocal, and responsible relationships with the community in which the research is situated. The Student Success Research Consortium on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory is a research collaboration that seeks to examine ways of defining and supporting student success from a community perspective. This article explores the emergence of community-first processes that occurred while the foundation for the educational research was being developed. We discuss the distinctions between community-based research and our approach to community-first research that we describe as land-based research. We also focus on the consideration of Aboriginal ethics from a community viewpoint, the development of a memorandum of understanding, and the emergence and implications of ethical space. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]