The Australian Curriculum

Critical issues facing educators today include; educational inequity, socio-economic status of students, cultural diversity, stereotyping, dominate cultural paradigms, and social disadvantage. Because of these issues, educators will be best prepared for classroom life if they find ways to adapt and modify the learning environment in order, to provide for inclusive regardless of the learners needs. All children in Australia are presented with the opportunity to attend schools which are designed to be inclusive for any and all abilities. Due to the diverse nature of the school age population in Australia classrooms are made up of an assortment of needs in relation to social, cognitive, and physical areas of learning.

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 Australian Curriculum for the Humanities and Social Sciences plays an important role in harnessing students’ curiosity and imagination about the world they live in and empowers them to actively shape their lives; make reflective, informed decisions; value their belonging in a diverse and dynamic society; and positively contribute locally, nationally, regionally and

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.

It is vital for teachers to recognise indigenous literacies and aboriginal English in all classrooms as it builds a sense of equality and a non-discriminating environment. As a future teacher I believe that it is my role to create a classroom that mirrors these key factors, as it will build the foundations for a nourishing learning environment. This type of learning environment will aid in linking the students parents and the surrounding community together that encourages an equal society.

This means that Critical Race Theory highlights there is still bias towards Indigenous education favouring Western pedagogies and that schooling is more about being held accountable for teaching curriculum to students that “challenged the education system’s apathetic mindset regarding the implicit acceptance of institutionalised racism and the maintenance of a deficit paradigm permeating the provision of education to Indigenous students. This highlight of the relevance of Critical Race theories assert that issues with race remain prevalent in Australia. Clearly, there is a distinct impact on the experiences and engagement for Indigenous students in educational settings arising from race-based assumptions. The NAPLAN data rearticulates the superiority of non-Indigenous students, allowing blame to continue being directed towards Indigenous peoples for failing to take advantage of this opportunity that those voices with more power can dominate the discourse and silence or marginalise the less powerful voices” (Vass,2013, pp.92-93). Critical Race theory endorses the notion that there is institutionalised racism in the education system and there is still academic disadvantage for Indigenous students that is still ongoing in Australia and that the experience and engagement, or is some cases limited engagement of schooling from Indigenous

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.

By taking into account First Nations epistemology, both in methods and content, learning can become a process that builds on First Australians culture and identity, which in turn, will also enrich the educational experiences of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (Hughes et al., 2004; Yunkaporta, 2009). Furthermore, in order for there to be effective incorporation of First Nations learning styles into school practice, it is of vital importance that school communities, both in and outside of the teaching and learning environment, come together to plan, outline and ultimately implement a curriculum and school ethos that supports First Nations learning styles, culture and identity on a daily basis. Working closely with local community members or elders, school liaison officers and other fellow First Nation teachers is crucial to the success of this process. Santoro, Reid, Crawford, and Simpson (2011) provide further clarification suggesting the time has come that all education professionals listened to, and learned from First Nations teachers. Only then, can the bridges of social injustice, inequality and uninformed assumptions be rebuilt with new found enthusiasm and

Martin Nakata has been at the forefront for the concept of Indigenising the curriculum and encourages conversations to be had about the conceptual underpinnings of Cultural Competence. Nakata speaks positively of Indigenisation as “making a space within universities that is recognisably Indigenous: a space formed by asserting content, practises and processes that culturally affirm Indigenous people, students and its encompassing perspectives” (Nakata 2004, 9). Nakata focuses on the incorporation of an Indigenous voice in this process, despite majority of the academics and students enrolled in Indigenous studies identifying as Non-Indigenous. Thus being, critical engagement of the position of Indigenous studies within a curriculum challenges the notions of the pedagogical teachings that is predicated on learnings about the distinctive of Indigenous cultures and the effects of colonisation on these assumptions in which Cultural Competence is formed upon. Nakata suggests that challenging Indigenous studies on the praxis of Western constructions of Indigenous people and contesting the Western educational tools and methods can be effectively used as ‘self-reflexivity’ for Non-Indigenous students (Nakata 2012,

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.

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.