Abstract:
Social justice in education is generally focused on changing systems and mindsets. This paper discusses this type of change specifically in relation to the need for recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and knowledges throughout the education sector as being of at least equal validity and value to western cultures and knowledges. In policy there have been some significant milestones achieved in this area. The Australian Curriculum and the introduction of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority (ACARA, 2016), as well as the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Standards 1.4 and 2.4) (AITSL, 2014) should change the way teachers teach and the way the education systems engage Indigenous knowledges. This type of change however does not occur simply because the policies are in place. To realise these changes in classroom practice it is necessary to normalise understandings of and relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia.
Using a content analysis technique through coding and memoing of a sample of 32 responses to a qualitative online survey, this paper will examine how the participating teachers perceived the task of teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures and how they felt they were performing in relation to it. This was a part of a broader doctoral research project, which examined the role of learning and teaching around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia in the Australian primary education systems.
These responses will then be discussed in relation to the normalisation framework for enhancing the way learning and teaching around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia happens in primary school classrooms, which I developed through my doctoral research. This framework outlines how a change process could occur and enable an enhanced learning and teaching practice around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia through the achievement of three levels of change. These levels are: classroom level changes including the need to provide more appropriate mirrors and windows to students in classroom teaching; teacher education level changes that require the “invisible” issues such as race, racism, colour-blindness, and whiteness to be addressed directly, consistently and comprehensively; and system level changes including both leadership in and responsibility for encouraging and enabling change at the other two levels. If change can be achieved at these levels then it should allow the work that teachers do to reflect the policies that are in place.
Using a content analysis technique through coding and memoing of a sample of 32 responses to a qualitative online survey, this paper will examine how the participating teachers perceived the task of teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures and how they felt they were performing in relation to it. This was a part of a broader doctoral research project, which examined the role of learning and teaching around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia in the Australian primary education systems.
These responses will then be discussed in relation to the normalisation framework for enhancing the way learning and teaching around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia happens in primary school classrooms, which I developed through my doctoral research. This framework outlines how a change process could occur and enable an enhanced learning and teaching practice around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia through the achievement of three levels of change. These levels are: classroom level changes including the need to provide more appropriate mirrors and windows to students in classroom teaching; teacher education level changes that require the “invisible” issues such as race, racism, colour-blindness, and whiteness to be addressed directly, consistently and comprehensively; and system level changes including both leadership in and responsibility for encouraging and enabling change at the other two levels. If change can be achieved at these levels then it should allow the work that teachers do to reflect the policies that are in place.