The Aboriginal People

“Many Aborigines removed from their families complained of harsh conditions, denial of parental contact and cultural heritage, harsh punishment and physical and sexual abuse” (Buti), the ruthless encounters the australian aborigines faced were just as violent as the Canadian aborigines. The teachers in the Australian schools were also taught to instil the christian religion and strip the children of any aboriginal cultural identity. The children explain their experience in these schools and describe the authority that is supposed to be taking care of

Country is precious, vital, and considered home to Aboriginals. To them, country is family, as they often describe it as if shares similar human characteristics. They care for country as they would to their brother or sister, and hold a certain responsibility to nurture country as it provides a sustained, well-nourished life. Each community member plays a role in the protection of country. Every member embraces a different, unique skills and when combined offer a greater life for everyone. Country is key to learning the essential hunting and gathering skills to live, feed and thrive off the land which is embedded in Indigenous culture.

The Australian Curriculum currently is struggling with incorporating indigenous perspectives as a key focus in the curriculum properly. It is lacking the ability to normalise indigenous knowledge and instead represents

As many Aboriginals stood in the way of European economic expansion, Europeans forced the younger generation of Aboriginals to residential schools. This justified and assisted in their need to revolutionize former Aboriginal beliefs. More specifically, the correspondence principle identifies the changes Aboriginal children had to make in school in order to reflect that of the normal workplace. For instance, certain ideologies were enforced by residential schools. Aboriginal children were punished if they spoke in their native tongue, as this rule was reflected and followed in the workplace. With these regulations in place, the Aboriginal culture was on the verge of destruction, as it was nearly impossible for any future Aboriginal generations to receive proper knowledge on their native culture. More generally, conflict theory is based on social inequality, and it explains how the powerful promote their own interests at the expense of the weak (Ravelli & Webber, 2010). Residential schools signify this notion, as the Aboriginals were mistreated and abused by the more powerful, prominent religious figures in the school. Overall, the conflict theory best describes the residential school system, and it correctly identifies how the Aboriginal culture was destroyed as a result.

In this essay we will try to provide a brief overview of educational issues of Aboriginal communities in Australia and Victoria and the elements that influence the educational outcomes of young Aboriginal people, such as culture and contemporary challenges. In addition to this, the inclusion of Aboriginal content in the Victorian curriculum and classroom practices will be explored as well as contemporary government policies.

Teachers in Australia have the responsibility of catering to the learning needs and abilities of the students in their classroom. Additionally they are also responsible for catering to the unique cultural backgrounds of each student, in particular the cultures of Indigenous Australians. The teacher can cater to the diverse and complex Indigenous cultures by creating a learning environment that is based on effective student engagement for Aboriginal students. Studies have shown that Aboriginal students are currently not academically achieving as well as non-Aboriginal students (What Works: Core Issue 5). Closing the academic performance gap is considered a national priority. As a result, the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework has been developed to ensure that schools are delivering the best possible education to all students, specifically those who identify as Aboriginal. During term 3, 2017, I completed my final practicum at Baler Primary School in a year 4 classroom. The students in my class came from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, many of which identified as Aboriginal. Throughout this essay I will use examples from my final practicum at Baler Primary School in South Hedland to discuss how to make learning engaging, accessible and culturally responsive for Aboriginal students.

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada had gone through many situations to get to where they are today with their education system. Pain, sorrow, doubt, and hope are all feelings brought to mind when thinking about the history and the future of Aboriginal education. By taking a look at the past, anyone can see that the right to education for Aboriginal peoples has been fought about as early as the 1870s. This is still is a pressing issue today. Elder teachings, residential, reserve and post-secondary schools have all been concerning events of the past as well as the present. Though education has improved for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, there are still many concerns and needs of reconciliation for the past to improve the future.

I have not had a lot of experience with the Aboriginal culture apart from viewing Welcome to Country ceremonies at community events and listening to Acknowledgment of Country within school assemblies and events spoken by non-Indigenous people. I have visited many significant landmarks and historical areas relating to the Aboriginal culture within my area but hope that this critical reflection journal will help me to develop a greater understanding, awareness and knowledge of the first and traditional custodians of the country in which I now live. This journal will analyse the topics of: Acknowledgement to Country, Introduction to the unit and Preparation to teach; Identity culture and stereotypes; and, Indigenous Australian Histories and Policy and how these may impact on my pedagogy and future

Indigenous education is utmost challenging to incorporate throughout the holistic approach in schools. This is why educators need to incorporate Indigenous perspectives in all units of work to build a safe, positive, yet constructive learning environment for students, families and the community. By undertaking this all students can learn in different ways to build an understanding of the history, beliefs, and Australian heritage.

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the curriculum has now become a high priority amoungst schools across the nation. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2013), recognises “that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority is designed for all students to engage in reconciliation, respect and recognition of the world’s oldest continuous living cultures”. By including this, the curriculum will continue to see Indigenous culture throughout school become part of the norm. Furthermore Indigenous Australian perspectives can and should be included in the classroom and any barriers that arise can be overcome.

Research an aspect of Australian history (e.g. policy, practice) and outline the ways in which this aspect has impacted on Aboriginal people and Aboriginal education.

The Canadian native aboriginals are the original indigenous settlers of North Canada in Canada. They are made up of the Inuit, Metis and the First nation. Through archeological evidence old crow flats seem to the earliest known settlement sites for the aboriginals. Other archeological evidence reveals the following characteristics of the Aboriginal culture: ceremonial architecture, permanent settlement, agriculture and complex social hierarchy. A number of treaties and laws have been enacted amongst the First nation and European immigrants throughout Canada. For instance the Aboriginal self-government right was a step to assimilate them in Canadian society. This allows for a chance to manage

Aboriginal people in Canada are the native peoples in North America within the boundaries of present-day Canada. In the 1880’s there was a start of residential schools which took Aboriginal kids from their family to schools to learn the Roman Catholics way of culture and not their own. In residential schools Aboriginal languages were forbidden in most operations of the school, Aboriginal ways were abolished and the Euro-Canadian manner was held out as superior. Aboriginal’s residential schools are careless, there were mental and physical abuse, Aboriginals losing their culture and the after effects of residential schools.

History has unveiled the early contacts of colonization from the Europeans that set motion to cultural oppression and exclusion of the Aboriginal communities (Kirmayer, Tait, Simpson & Simpson, 2009). The introduction of the residential school system was meant to eliminate the indigenous people’s cultural heritage and way of life, creating a historical trauma. As a result, survivors of the residential school system left the majority of the Aboriginal population without a sense of cultural heritage, lack of self-esteem, and depression (Gone, 2010). Aboriginal culture was suppressed, breaking the connection of traditional knowledge from parent to child (Kirmayer, Tait, Simpson & Simpson, 2009). Trans-generational trauma of the Aboriginal people has left psychologically and physically damage towards their own heritage (Gray & Nye, 2001).

Throughout the last fifty years two diametrically opposed views have played out. H.C. Coombs argued that the priority was to use the curriculum and teaching methods to rebuild and sustain traditional Aboriginal culture destroyed by colonisation, racism and oppression. He supported Moira Kingston’s view that all Aborigines had a “world view derived from the Dreaming and irreconcilable with the demands of a modern industrialised market economy.” Sir Paul Hasluck represented the opposing assimiliationist view that schools should give priority to literacy, numeracy and technical and scientific knowledge to asssist integration in the workforce.Many theorists and practitioners have focused on the one third of students in Aboriginal schools with a specifically Aboriginal education rather than the majority attending the same schools as non-Indigenous children. In either case major problems were indentified with Aboriginal education by 2000.