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A systematic review of pedagogies that support, engage and improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal students

The Australian Educational Researcher volume 46, pages 297–318 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

This review analyses studies that identify pedagogies to support, engage and improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student outcomes. Some studies focus on pedagogies to support and engage, while others describe pedagogies that are designed to improve engagement, attendance and academic skills. The role of context emerges as a key theme, particularly in remote areas. In larger studies, Aboriginal students are often a subset of a larger student group, included because of socio-economic status and achievement levels. Key findings indicate a disconnect between practice and outcomes where links to improved outcomes are by implication rather than evidence. Further, definitions and detail about pedagogies are mostly absent, relying on ‘common understandings’ of what pedagogy means. This review highlights that most of the research identifies effective pedagogies to engage and support Aboriginal students rather than to improve their educational outcomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Cathie Burgess & Christine Tennent

  2. Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

    Greg Vass

  3. Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Batchelor, Australia

    John Guenther

  4. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Kevin Lowe

  5. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Nikki Moodie

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  1. Cathie Burgess
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  2. Christine Tennent
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  3. Greg Vass
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  4. John Guenther
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  5. Kevin Lowe
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Correspondence to Cathie Burgess.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will be forthwith referred to as Aboriginal students acknowledging the historical socio-cultural and political significance of the term and the land upon which this review was conducted. The term Indigenous students will be used where it is used in a particular research study.

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Burgess, C., Tennent, C., Vass, G. et al. A systematic review of pedagogies that support, engage and improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal students. Aust. Educ. Res. 46, 297–318 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00315-5

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Keywords

  • Pedagogy
  • Aboriginal education
  • Indigenous
  • Systematic review
  • Teaching