Abstract
In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children attend formal early education at rates lower than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Research on factors influencing attendance and engagement in early childhood education has focused primarily on Indigenous children, families or community. In comparison, there is a dearth of research on the preparedness of mainstream educational contexts to receive Indigenous children and families, and to ensure cultural security via appropriate curricula and connections with community. To address this gap, Coffin’s (2007) model of cultural security is used to position mainstream educational contexts as responsible for ensuring that cultural needs are met for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. In this chapter, the authors juxtapose Indigenous and non-Indigenous approaches to school transition and share extracts from a yarning session with an Aboriginal educator and researcher who facilitated an Indigenous-led school transition program. The program attended to the needs of children, families and community via culturally meaningful engagement, curriculum content and pedagogies. The yarning about the school transition program and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s experiences of mainstream education highlights cultural entanglements between local traditions, protocols and curricula approaches, and mainstream schooling expectations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Abrams, L. S., & Moio, J. A. (2009). Critical race theory and the cultural competence dilemma in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 45(2), 245–261.
Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. London: Duke University Press.
Andersen, C., & Walter, M. (2014). Indigenous perspectives and cultural identity. In M. Hyde, L. Carpenter, R. Conway (Eds.), Diversity, inclusion and engagement (2nd ed., pp. 68–89). Docklands, VIC: Oxford University Press.
Armstrong, S., Buckley, S., Lonsdale, M., Milgate, G., Bennetts Kneebone, L., Cook, L., et al. (2012). Starting school: A strengths‐based approach towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Available via https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=indigenous_education. Accessed January 10, 2018.
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2015). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (6th Ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2010). Executive summary: The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter100Oct+2010. Accessed June 28, 2017.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2016). Australian demographic statistics. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0. Accessed August 10, 2017.
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016). Cross-curriculum priorities. https://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities. Accessed July 1, 2017.
Bernhard, J. K., & Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. (2010). The politics of language and educational practices: Promoting truly diverse child care settings. In O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on language and cultural diversity in early childhood education (pp. 21–42). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing Inc.
Bessarab, D., & Ng’andu, B. (2010). Yarning about yarning as a legitimate method in Indigenous research. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 3(1), 37–50.
Broome, R. (2010). Aboriginal Australians: A history since 1788 (4th ed.). Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Buchori, S., & Dobinson, T. (2015). Diversity in teaching and learning: Practitioners’ perspectives in a multicultural early childhood setting in Australia. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 40(1), 71–79.
Coffin, J. (2007). Rising to the challenge in Aboriginal health by creating cultural security. Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, 31(3), 22–24.
Coffin, J., & Green, C. (2017). Decolonising Australian community development tools. In C. Kickett-Tucker, D. Bessarab, J. Coffin, & M. Wright (Eds.), Mia Mia Aboriginal Community development: Fostering cultural security (pp. 73–90). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2009). Belonging, being and becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments.
Coté, J. (2009). Education and the colonial construction of whiteness. Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association e-journal, 5(1), 1–14.
Dean, C. (2010). A yarning place in narrative histories. History of Education Review, 39(2), 6–13.
Dockett, S., Mason, T., & Perry, B. (2006). Successful transition to school for Australian Aboriginal children. Childhood Education, 82(3), 139–144.
Dockett, S., & Perry, B. (2015). Transition to school: Time of opportunity, expectation, aspiration, and entitlement. In J. M. Iorio & W. Parnell (Eds.), Rethinking readiness in early childhood education: Implications for policy and practice (pp. 123–140). New York: Palgrave McMillan.
Dockett, S., Petriwskyj, A., & Perry, B. (2014). Theorising transition: Shifts and tensions. In B. Perry, S. Dockett, & A. Petriwskyj (Eds.), Transitions to school: International research, policy and practice (pp. 1–20). Dordrecht: Springer.
Dreise, M. (2007). My country, my mob: Embedding Indigenous perspectives in schools, an Arts framework. Canberra: Department of Education, Training and the Arts.
Dudgeon, P., Wright, M., & Coffin, J. (2010). Talking it and walking it: Cultural competence. Journal of Indigenous Studies Press, 13(3–4), 31–47.
Elder, C. (2009). Dreams and nightmares of a white Australia. Peter Lang, Bern: Representing Aboriginal assimilation in the Mid-twentieth Century.
Falchi, L., & Friedman, J. W. (2015). Rethinking the discourse of readiness in preschool. In J. M. Iorio & W. Parnell (Eds.), Rethinking readiness in early childhood education: Implications for policy and practice (pp. 109–122). New York: Palgrave McMillan.
Grace, R., & Trudgett, M. (2012). It’s not rocket science: The perspectives of Indigenous early childhood workers on supporting the engagement of Indigenous families in early childhood settings. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(2), 10–18.
Haebich, A. (2008). Marked bodies: A corporeal history of colonial Australia. Borderlands e-journal, 7(2).
Logan City. (2017). Community profile: Population and dwellings. http://profile.id.com.au/logan/population-2016. Accessed August 10, 2017.
Martin, K. (1999). When ‘why?’ becomes ‘why not?’: Cultural safety and Aboriginal early childhood services. Every Child, 5(4), 6–7.
Martin, K. (2007). Ma(r)king tracks and reconceptualising Aboriginal early childhood education. Childrenz Issues, 11(1), 15–20.
Martin, K. (2016). Aboriginal early childhood education: Contexts and conditions. In K. Martin (Ed.), Voices, visions: Aboriginal early childhood education in Australia (pp. 9–19). Jamberoo, NSW: Pademelon Press.
McConnochie, K., & Russell, A. (1982). Early childhood services for Aboriginal children. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service.
McLeod, S., & McCormack, J. (Eds.). (2015). Introduction to speech, language and literacy. Sydney: Oxford University Press.
McTurk, N., Lea, T., Robinson, G., Nutton, G., & Carapetis, J. R. (2011). Defining and assessing the school readiness of Indigenous Australian children. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(1), 69–76.
Miller, M. G. (2015). Consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in early childhood education: The impact of colonial discourses. The Australian Educational Researcher, 42(5), 549–565.
Miller, M. G. (2017). Cultural inclusion. Canberra: Early Childhood Australia Inc.
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2004). Whiteness, epistemology and Indigenous representation. In A. Moreton-Robinson (Ed.), Whitening race: Essays in social and cultural criticism (pp. 75–88). Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Noel, A. (2011). Easing the transition to school: Administrators’ descriptions of transition to school activities. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(4), 44–52.
OECD. (2017). Australia: Better life index. http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/australia/. Accessed July 18, 2017.
Paradies, Y. (2017). Overcoming racism as a barrier to community development. In C. Kickett-Tucker, D. Bessarab, J. Coffin, & M. Wright (Eds.), Mia Mia Aboriginal Community development: Fostering cultural security (pp. 169–185). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Petriwskyj, A. (2010). Kindergarten transitions and linkages to primary school—Readiness reconceptualized. In P. Peterson, E. Baker, & B. McGraw (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (pp. 120–125). Oxford: Elsevier.
Petriwskyj, A. (2014). Critical theory and inclusive transitions to school. In B. Perry, S. Dockett, & A. Petriwskyj (Eds.), Transitions to school: International research, policy and practice (pp. 201–218). Dordrecht: Springer.
Price, K. (2012a). A brief history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in Australia. In K. Price (Ed.), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education: An introduction for the teaching profession (pp. 1–20). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Price, K. (2012b). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies in the classroom. In K. Price (Ed.), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education: An introduction for the teaching profession (pp. 151–163). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Rose, M. (2012). The silent apartheid as the practitioner’s blindspot. In K. Price (Ed.), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education: An introduction for the teaching profession (pp. 64–80). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Thorpe, K., Vromans, L., & Bell-Booth, R. (2011). Accessing kindergarten in Queensland. A report to the Queensland Office for Early Childhood Education and Care. Available via https://det.qld.gov.au/earlychildhood/news/Documents/pdf/access-report.pdf. Accessed August 14, 2017.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Miller, M.G., Dawson-Sinclair, K., Eivers, A., Thorpe, K. (2019). Cultural Security in Australian Classrooms: Entanglements with Mainstream Education as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children Transition to School. In: Hviid, P., Märtsin, M. (eds) Culture in Education and Education in Culture. Cultural Psychology of Education, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28412-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28412-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-28411-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-28412-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)