Abstract:
This paper critiques the need to ‘know’ Aboriginal people and culture in order to address Indigenous disadvantage. Focusing on the way in which this ‘knowledge’ discourse relates to education, this paper draws on existing literature to highlight the potential for teacher education to be on the frontline of education policy in shifting beyond a deficit approach to Indigenous learning, and explores the possibilities for a re-framing of teacher education to address these goals.Since the start of Aboriginal compulsory schooling in Australia in the mid 1900s, the difference in educational outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their non-Indigenous counterparts has been well documented. By the end of the 20th century this difference became known as the ‘gap’. While ‘gap’ discourse is increasingly being critiqued as ubiquitous (Pholi et al. 2009), Close the Gap continues to be the primary policy framework guiding educational practice in response to Indigenous education. The Closing the Gap policy suggests the answer lies in ‘fixing’ Aboriginal disadvantage, not in the privilege and advantage of the dominant group membership. Yet National Professional Teacher Standards speak of ‘knowing’ the ‘Other’, through both more effective teaching strategies and increased cultural understandings, but do not recognise race and racism variables that impact on education outcomes (De Plevitz, 2007, Moreton-Robinson et al., 2012). Instead, a key strategy in response to addressing the inequity is to enhance ‘cultural competence’ in the workforce, particularly in teacher education.In this paper I contend that the renewed vigour in these initiatives, while more sophisticated and supported by numerous frameworks, is not new. It is another name for the cultural awareness so prevalent amongst the teaching population from the 1970s to the 1990s. It too focused on learning ‘about’ Aboriginal people and was linked to efforts to address disadvantage. While cultural competence is about ‘knowing’ Indigenous peoples and their cultures, it is written ‘for’ non-Indigenous teachers. The notion of the ‘Other’ is strongly embedded in this premise and raises the questions of what cultural competence means to Indigenous people. Moreton-Robinson, A., Singh, D., Kolopenuk, J., & Robinson,A. (2012). Learning the lessons?: Pre-service Teacher Preparation for Teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students. A report prepared for the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment, October 2012.Pholi, K., Black, D., & Richards, C. (2009). Is ‘Close the Gap’ a useful approach to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians? Australian Review of Public Affairs, 9(2), 1-13.