Sitnikova A.A. Indigenous Education: Current Status and Problems

Abstract: The subject ofthe research is the indigenous education in various countries including Australia, Canada, Norway and the United States. The author of the article considers the foreign and Russian practices of indigenous education. The focus is made on the global experience of providing higher education to indigenous peoples of the North. The possibilities of modern Russian universities for the development of an internationally significant master's programs on indigenous education are examined. By analyzing the experience of the universities of Norway, USA, Australia, Canada and Russia, Sitnikova offers the challenge to develop relevant and dynamic master's programs in the field of education for the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East. The main research method used by the author of the article is the critical analysis of university programs and curriculum in the sphere of indigenous education. Theoretical review is completed with additional knowledge obtained by the author in the course of her field trips to the places of indigenous small ethnic communities in the Krasnoyarsk Region during the period of 2010 - 2015. As the main conclusion of the research, the author emphazies the need for particular recommendations to be made for federal and regional executive and legislative authorities, local government bodies, social organizations for indigenous peoples of the North and chiefs of university educational programs. The researcher suggests to develop and implement a new educational program that would be based on international standards of indigenous education at Siberian Federal University. 

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