Across much of the Circumpolar North, Indigenous peoples had common experiences within education systems based on "Western" ways of teaching, learning and knowledge and operating with the intent of assimilation. Now, across the North and elsewhere, such as New Zealand and Hawaii, Indigenous peoples are working to create Indigenous-controlled education systems based not on the Western form of schooling imposed on them for the past century (or longer) but rather based on Indigenous epistemologies and worldviews. In some circumpolar regions, these efforts are happening alongside the dominant Western education system, while in others, the Western systems are being replaced entirely.