EDUC 5140

Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change

Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

Introduction:

While the Australian Curriculum and the South Australian Certificate of Education

(SACE) provide teachers with guidelines for teaching the histories and cultures of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, there are still issues with the practice.

Examined within this review is the language used within these documents as well

as the responsibilities of, and resources available to teachers. Primary examples

of the incorporation of the histories and cultures of Aboriginal Peoples will be in a

visual arts context in alignment with my major learning area.

Australian Curriculum and SACE:

The current requirements of education policy ensure that students and teachers

gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander histories and cultures(ACARA 2016). Within the foundation to year 10

Australian curriculum, students are to gain a thorough understanding of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, learning about

different aspects within each school subject. Within the Arts, learning and

teaching is focused on Identity, Country/Place, People and Culture (ACARA

2011). In contrast, the English curriculums primary mention of Aboriginal

Peoples culture and history is in the context of English as an Additional

Language or Dialect (EALD). There is no explicit reference to the inclusion of the

culture or histories of Aboriginal Peoples (ACARA 2009) within learning and

teaching activities. Asking teachers from every subject area to include various

aspects of the culture and histories of Aboriginal Peoples within their course

content, to give students a coherent structure for in depth learning makes

logical sense. However within observations and discussions with students, as

 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

well as drawing from personal experience, it seems that content implementation

is not successfully achieved within classrooms. Students observed and

questioned1 regarding their education in the knowledge of Aboriginal Peoples

cultures and histories came from varying schools private and public, two

schools from the northern suburbs, one each from the eastern, western and

southern suburbs. None of these students are receiving, or did receive coherent

education in the culture and histories of Aboriginal Peoples, indicating there is a

knowledge deficit within educators.

While the Australian Curriculum requires education in the culture and histories of

Aboriginal Peoples, the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE)

guidelines does not include this mandate to; rather it asks teachers to provide

students with opportunities to learn about and recognising and respecting the

significant contribution of Aboriginal Peoples, cultures and histories; drawing

attention to the value of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and

perspectives from the past and the present and promoting the use of culturally

appropriate protocols when engaging with and learning from Aboriginal peoples

(SACE 2010; SACE 2011).

The language used within the SACE curriculum requirements leaves room for

little to no learning or teaching of Aboriginal cultures, histories or perspectives.

Opportunities implies possibilities, rather than requirements. Recognition and

drawing attention to leaves room for an acknowledgement of contributions

without learning about the reason, history and influences on contemporary

1 Students observed refer to students at Paralowie School where I did my first

and second placement. Students questioned refers to extended family with
children at high school and immediate family members who have graduated
within the last two years.
 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

Aboriginal culture. SACE also does not include the teaching of Aboriginal culture

and histories as a requirement, but rather the SACE board encourages teachers

to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and perspectives in

the design, delivery, and assessment of teaching and learning programs(SACE

2016). The use of the word encourages also leaves the proceeding suggestions

of content open to ignoration.

 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

Personal and Professional Responsibilities:

Whilst considering the content and students to be taught, one must take into

consideration the history of Australia, both pre and post colonisation. Fifty years

ago, Aboriginal Peoples were not considered to be citizens, denied every day

luxuries that most people take for granted today: voting in elections, the right to

marry whomever they please (a right still denied to the LGBT+ 2 community),

even the right to visit a cinema (Mellor, Bretherton et al. 2007;

ParliamentOfAustralia 2012). Generations of Aboriginal peoples were ripped from

their families and communities, denied the knowledge of their culture and made

invisible from the history of Australia in embarrassingly recent history. The first

European colonists documented their occupation as marked by a line of

blood(Carter 2006; Archdale 2016) Aboriginal Peoples were slaughtered. This

fact was denied by too many people in authority post federation; as recently as

five years ago, Australias then Minister for Education, Christopher Pyne believed

the emphasis of education in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and

cultures was too high (ADEVERTISER 2010 AS CITED IN ROSE 2015). Teachers

must navigate around and through Australias bloody history of systemic racism

and denial to provide all students with quality learning in Aboriginal cultures and

histories. To ignore this history in favour of pre-colonisation Aboriginal culture

and history would be to deny the changing nature of culture. Similarly, to

exclusively teach students about post-colonisation Aboriginal culture and the

multitude of atrocities committed unto Aboriginal Peoples would be to ignore the

fact that Aboriginal Peoples have lived in Australia since the beginning of the

2 LGBT+ is an acronym for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender plus. The plus
refers to additional sexual and gender identities.
 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

Dreaming (FlindersUniversity 2015; RRR 2016), thousands of years before

European colonists invaded Australia.

It is the responsibility of teachers to incorporate both pre and post colonisation

Aboriginal culture in a culturally appropriate and engaging manner.

As an example, within the visual arts, one of the most recognisable forms of

Aboriginal art is, of course, dot painting. This style of artwork arose in the 1970s

and is an adapted form of communication the dots within the artworks are to

disguise the sacred meanings behind the stories in the paintings (ArtLandish

2016).

A method of teaching about the Dreamtime and Aboriginal art (specifically dot

painting in this instance) would be to discuss the image, then the places or story

behind it before finally discussing the importance of disguising of the sacred

meaning. The focus of the class can be on disguise and camouflage, in life, in

Aboriginal artworks contemporary, colonist and pre colonisation periods and

in other styles of artwork. This adaptation and reinterpretation of teaching

Aboriginal culture and histories allows for cultural protocols to be respected while

still teaching students the importance of these stories and cultures. This method

for content selection meets the Highly Accomplished category of AITSL standard

2.2 Content Organisation and Selection: Exhibit innovative practice in the

selection and organisation of content and delivery of learning and teaching

programs (AITSL 2014).

This approach also encourages a deeper understanding of Aboriginal

perspectives. The pedagogical choice to focus on building knowledge and

understanding before asking students to apply the same concept in their own
 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

artworks is influenced by the Piagetian concepts of assimilation and

accommodation of information and the underlying constructivist theory

(Agbenyega 2009). By comparing the disguising of the Dreamtime in Aboriginal

artworks to other instances of disguise, camouflage and hiding, including within

the lives of the students, in nature and in works sacred to other cultures, they

have something to compare to the need to disguise sacred meanings in

abstraction.
 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

AITSL Standards in Practice:

The AITSL standards are the criteria to which teachers must measure their

knowledge and practice against; they outline what teachers should know and

be able to do in order to be able to provide high quality learning experiences for

all students (AITSL 2014).

Two focus areas within the standards explicitly address the teaching and learning

of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander culture, histories and students: 1.4

Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and 2.4

Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote

reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Both of these

focus areas need to be effectively employed for them to work successfully; the

respect and understanding must be present to be able to effectively teach

Aboriginal students. The Respect, Relationships and Reconciliation modules

(2016) state that Showing respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

peoples can be demonstrated by seeking opinion from a wide range of elders

and other community members; this then implies that community engagement

with student learning is one such way to promote reconciliation and develop

strategies to teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Focus area 3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process is a vitally

important one to remember when considering strategies for teaching Aboriginal

students. There is still a significant education gap between Indigenous and non-

Indigenous students; the 2006 Census demonstrated that there was between a

10 and 24% difference in school attendance; Purdie and Buckley (2010) also

believe that the difference in retaining Aboriginal students from years 7/8 to year

12 was 45% for Indigenous students compared to 77% for non-Indigenous

 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

students. Parents or carers tend to cite school related factors for nonattendance

while educators tend to believe that the attitude of the primary caregiver/s and

the home environment are the cause. Boulden (2006 as cited in Purdie and

Buckley 2010) believes that A particular school-based issue of importance is

teacher quality. A teachers purpose is not to make judgements against students

or their family without cause; a teacher can, however make a difference in a

students school environment. The average teacher rarely has contact with

parents or caregivers (UniSA and -Redacted- 2016). Focus area 7.3 Engage with

the parents/carers goes hand in hand with area 3.7 and dictates that we must

have contact. At a proficient level, a teacher would establish and maintain

respectful collaborative relationships with parents/carers regarding their

childrens learning and wellbeing; logically, if parents, teachers and students

can collaborate to achieve the best possible educational outcome for the

student, regardless of whether they are Indigenous or non-Indigenous students,

the school environment will become a more pleasant place for all students. This

may mean that Aboriginal students have pre- negotiated study patterns or

methods in place during times of cultural significance i.e the death of a

community member. These negotiations are also easily applied to students of all

cultures and heritages with similar cultural or religiously significant times.

Respect, Relationships and Reconciliation (3R) Modules and

Resources (RRR 2016):

The 3R modules and resources present an invaluable learning resource for pre-

service teachers to further their understanding of teaching and learning about

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories.

 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

The content not only serves to educate teachers on history, culture and privilege

the tasks asked of the participant within the self-reflection module also inspires

classroom teaching concepts. The task is to write an essay on the participants

personal identity with considerations to gender, social class and cultural

background. One aspect not mentioned within this list is sexual identity or

orientation. The LGBT+ community has some of the poorest mental health

statistics in Australia (Rosenstreich 2013) resulting from the discrimination and

exclusion LGBT+ people face daily. As a determinant of health, discrimination

and exclusion are common factors in the lives of Aboriginal Peoples as discussed

throughout the 3R modules; it makes sense that both culture and sexuality are

issues of identity that need to be considered when discussing the advantages

and disadvantages an individual has. This task, however is easily applied to more

than one subject area the visual arts, through the incorporation and

development of visual symbols to represent facets of identity; English, EALD and

humanities and social sciences as an assessment to introduce or conclude a unit

on identity and the impact of society upon advantages and disadvantages of

individuals.

The module which examines practices within the AITSL focus area 1.4

Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students stresses the

importance of challenging a deficit thinking mindset and maintaining

communications with parents and caregivers. Rather than making assumptions

about students abilities and behaviours, teachers should make realistic demands

of students that is, having high expectations of students and maintaining a

respectful student-teacher relationship (RRR 2016). This attitude is consistent

with Banduras (1997 as cited in Woolfolk-Hoy and Weinstein) theory of reciprocal

 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

determinism. This theory describes the impact of personal factors, behaviours

and the environment upon attitudes and behaviours a person exudes; for

example, if a teacher is consistently hostile towards a student based on a first

impression, the student is likely to respond in a similar manner, feeding a cycle

that leads towards disengagement and the teacher investing and expecting less

and less of that student (Woolfolk-Hoy, Weinstein et al. 2006). The opposite is

also true. The more time and effort teachers put into students and the higher

expectations they have, the more likely the student is to invest their own time

and effort into the class.

The importance of an open line of communication with parents and caregivers is

heavily emphasised, as is the recognition of the challenges teachers may face

with some Indigenous parents or caregivers with negative attitudes towards

school based on their own experiences with schooling. In this instance, it is

important to use the Indigenous Education Worker at the school to learn

information relevant to the school, community and the families of students that

will enable the teacher to open communications.

The final module based around AISTL focus area 2.4 Understand and respect

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between

Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians discusses the methods of teaching

the histories and culture of Aboriginal Peoples in distinct sections: Identity,

Country and Place, Significant Events, and Improving Classroom Practice. The

Arts in particular is an area where suggestions from the Improving Classroom

Practice topic are commonplace within the practice of many artists community

partnerships. This is particularly important in opening the lines of communication

between parents and caregivers as well as the wider community and should
 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

always be seen as a two way process, with both parties learning together and

from each other (Board of Studies NSW 2008, as cited in RRR 2016).

This module also asks the participant to critique how they evaluate classroom

texts, the biases they demonstrate; the messages being communicated to

students through hidden curriculum what is not taught and how to

incorporate digital media and technology within the classroom, incorporating the

information and communication technology capability from the ACARA General

capabilities (ACARA 2016).

Conclusion:

While there may be a knowledge deficit in current practicing teachers, the

inclusion of the RRR modules and resources provide an invaluable opportunity to

learn about and how to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

knowledge, history and culture into everyday curriculum. In addition, the

importance of acknowledging, respecting and learning from both the pre- and

post-colonisation history of Australia is another step towards reconciliation of

Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians. Above anything else, however, the

most important aspects of teaching about the culture and history of Aboriginal

Peoples and teaching Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students are respect and

communication. These concepts are so intrinsically linked that you cannot have
 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

one without the other and only when teachers are able to demonstrate and

employ both of these will there be truly successful change within and without the

classroom.

2,438 words
 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

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 EDUC 5140
Aboriginal Education, Culture, Curriculum and Change
Critical Review
Amber Archdale | Student ID 110093159

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