This report will investigate the importance of educating non-Indigenous Australians about Indigenous culture and epistemologies. There are many ways in which knowledge can be shared and the acquisition of this knowledge can greatly benefit society in many ways. The first advantage is that it has the potential to enhance interpersonal relationships which may help overcome prejudiced or racist attitudes within society. A lot of literature focuses on the importance of empathy; however, the need for this knowledge goes beyond just the benefits for interpersonal relationships, it also includes benefit for health of people, animals and land. It is important that this knowledge is taught by people with a lived experience to avoid …show more content…
It can also provide non-Indigenous people with alternative ways of viewing and dealing with aspects of their own lives.
Another benefit of sharing Indigenous knowledge can be seen in land and natural resource management. Integration of these knowledges with western knowledge systems can help preserve the biodiversity of Australia.
The importance of learning within context has been highlighted, the majority of research and literature on Indigenous people is completed by non-Indigenous people. Most literature is written by people observing Indigenous life rather than those who have a lived experience. This can lead to misinterpretation of facts, and some facts being omitted or over simplified to serve the purpose of the author.
Background
The recent cuts to funding for tertiary education in Australia have forced universities across the country to make cuts to various areas of study. Indigenous education is one area experiencing reduced funding. The School of Indigenous Australian Studies at James Cook University in Cairns is no exception to these cuts. The number of subjects being offered internally is dropping, recently, students were informed that this is due to the school being down to three academic staff and looking to cut back to only one academic staff member in the future.
Aiding Multicultural Education A study by Brown (2007) on racialized societal dissonance in America highlighted the importance of educating those that were
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
The structure of this paper will follow the Cultural Competency Framework as a means for exploring the above stated speeches. This framework moves through knowledge; informed practice/informed decision; and positive/effective learning and development. At the knowledge stage the content, importance and effect of the speeches will be explored, as well as their context. To address informed practice/informed decision the paper looks more closely at the issues which are raised in the speeches and their impact on Indigenous Australians. Finally positive/effective learning and development will be acknowledged through the exploration of the education implications that these issues can have in the classroom.
Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within
The discourse of whiteness has severely impacted on the educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (herein referred to as Indigenous Peoples). The discourse is based on an ontology founded on overt racism, discrimination, prejudice, exclusion and dispossession and towards all Indigenous Peoples. Subsequently, the history of Indigenous Peoples experiences in relation to education is extremely negative. They have been denied the right to the same education as non-Indigenous students, frequently expelled and continually forced to deny their cultural identity. The discourse of whiteness has resulted in pedagogies and pedagogical practices that are overly racist and not inclusive of Indigenous Peoples culture. To improve future educational outcomes it is necessary to decolonise Australia and rewrite the curriculum so that it is inclusive for all students.
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.
Through my life, I have seen several different approaches to Indigenous people’s rights and importance in Australia. I have been fortunate enough to visit Ayers Rock and undertake a tour which allowed me to see Aboriginal culture in art and drawings as well as hearing Dreamtime stories from guides. I have also witnessed family friends who have been severely racist and disrespectful of Indigenous heritage and history. I also was lucky to work with some Indigenous students who were in Reception during my Professional Experience 1, and I was able to see first-hand how a culture clash can affect a student’s behaviour. I feel that even before entering this course, I have had the privilege of being able to observe both positives and negatives
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.
An innate understanding that all beings on the planet are important for the subsistence of each other is a large part of Indigenous ideology, as well as the respect for the vast ways with which beings on the planet interact; whether they are “animate” or “inanimate”, they are all apart of the “web of relationships” (Battiste & Henderson, 2000, p. 44). Drawing from this view, most Indigenous Peoples believe that every member of a community has their own thoughts, gifts, and knowledge that they are able to contribute to the group. This means that there is also a large appreciation of Reciprocity because all knowledge is good knowledge, and that means all knowledge holds some validity and truth. Dreams, for example, are seen as premonitions and fact. As it happens, Indigenous Peoples place much of their societal values into facets of life that are intangible, such as emotions, spirituality, and mentality. It is for this reason that maintaining healthy and Respect-based Relationships amongst all beings on the planet is such an important part of Indigenous identity. The holistic understanding of the world can only occur if individuals are listening to each other as well as sharing whatever knowledge that they have to share.
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.
In 2006 the Government published a report “Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage” which showed that approximately 32% of Indigenous people lived in major cities, a further 21% lived in inner regional areas, 22% in outer regional areas. An estimated 9% lived in remote areas and 15% in very remote areas: compare this to 90% of Non-Indigenous people who live in major cities or inner regional areas. These figures show that almost half the Indigenous population has very limited access to many services. Another obstacle to formal education and training is cultural attitude which has only recently began to change as the Indigenous community becomes more politically aware and sophisticated. In 2006 there were only 36% of students completing year 12, in comparison 76% of non-Indigenous students finished year 12. Economically the average Indigenous family is much worse off, earning a median income that is 65% of non-Indigenous households, add to this the historical absence of western scholarship and it is obvious that there is not an equality of opportunity available to most of the Indigenous population.
The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,
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.
60% of aboriginal children are significantly behind non-indigenous Australians by the time they start years one. Only 40% of aboriginal children stay at school through to year twelve. Causes of this include language because English is their second language, inappropriate context; material being taught does not relate to the aboriginals lives. Over crowed house where aboriginal children cannot learn to do homework is a big factor in them being behind in education.
Learning from indigenous knowledge in education: Indigenuous knowledge has been the foundation for learning that aboriginal families, communities and nations have always maintained for their children. It has been our knowledge systems, cultural traditions and values, and ancestral languages that have affirmed our place within the Canadian context. Indigenous perspectives on learning do not see indigenous and western knowledge traditions in opposition to one another.(Battisfe,2002).Indigenous peoples ability to thrive is a testament to the ways they can a
Most indigenous people live near the coastal or forest throughout Australia. In northern Australia, around a third of landscape have owned by indigenous people (Department of the Environment, 2013). In the area with reach of biodiversity like wetland tropics, there were eighteen tribal groups living for more than 8000 years, namely Girramay, Gulnay, Bandjin, Kuku-Yalanji, Nywaigi, Gugu-Badhun, Koko Muluridji, Wulgurukaba, Kunggandji, Ngadjon-jii, Warungnu, Yirrganydji, Jirrbal, Djabugay, Yidinji, Djiru, Warrgamay and Ma:Mu (Hill, 2015; Wet Tropics Management Authority, 2016). These groups have a traditional relationship and ecological knowledge in managing ecosystem through fire, pest and weed management.