When everyone in the school community shares a common goal of Strong and Smart, developing collaborative and innovative ways to support student success is more achievable and becomes more sustainable in the long term.
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The Stronger Smarter Approach is a transformative educational philosophy and strategy that empowers schools to challenge the deficit thinking and low expectations that have historically shaped Indigenous education, replacing them with strength-based, high-expectations practices. It is grounded in the belief that all students have the right to feel strong in their cultural identity and smart in their learning.
The Stronger Smarter Approach describes the three Spheres of the Personal, School and Community. When the Stronger Smarter Approach is enacted, these three Spheres’ come together as a connecting space of innovation and creation. This cross-over or flow space is part of Indigenous Knowledge systems and practices.
This is a powerful, interconnected network of influence, where personal responsibility for change, school culture, and community engagement reinforce one another, amplifying the impact of Stronger Smarter practices and driving lasting, systemic transformation.
The Stronger Smarter Approach is not a program or checklist—it is a way of thinking, being, and leading that transforms how education is experienced by students, staff, and communities alike. It is an education revolution that is not just about reforming curriculum or pedagogy. The philosophical shift from deficit thinking to strength-based thinking changes the entire mindset of how education is delivered to First Nations students.
The four Stronger Smarter Cornerstones provide the underlying values and ways of being and doing that form the foundation for the Stronger Smarter Approach.
Schools can be powerful sites of social change when they embrace a positive sense of cultural identity, foster inclusive leadership, and co-create aspirational learning environments with their communities. This is a shift that means doing things differently and working collaboratively to build inclusive, empowering learning environments where all children can thrive both culturally and academically.
The Stronger Smarter Metastrategies bring the Stronger Smarter Approach to life with a set of interconnected high level strategies to guide transformational change in schools and communities.
Read our Blogs about the Stronger Smarter Approach.
