Abstract
The conundrum of Indigenous education in Australia is that there are multiple, highly contested and polarising narratives that vie to inform both public and policy debate about how to construct effective schooling of Aboriginal students. Two of these contested discourses, which are seen to drive much of this debate, highlight the complexity of concerns—one which is essentially aspirational in its intent but unperceptive to the realities of Aboriginal student achievement and a second data focused discourse that is managerial and evaluative in its focus to disclose policy and pedagogic failures on student outcomes. The first has posed the politically more palatable proposition that there has been a slow, sometimes faltering but inexorable improvement in Aboriginal education, while the second highlights a mounting body of qualitative data that document an overall failure by school systems to lift Aboriginal student education achievement. The author recognises the complex and historical nature of the multilayered ‘issues’ that sit at the heart of Aboriginal underachievement. He argues that one of those underpinning issues that has plagued Aboriginal education centres on the depth of the socio-cultural disconnect between Aboriginal students and their communities, and teachers. He also argues that, too often, teachers are appointed to schools with limited social, political and professional knowledge about the particular needs and aspirations of Aboriginal students such that it impacts on their capacity to establish authentic connections to students. The research on which this article is based sets out to provide an understanding of both the nature and dynamics of community and school engagement in sites with high proportions of Aboriginal students. The study aimed to investigate teachers’ capacity to develop authentic pedagogic practices that are responsive to the educational, cultural and aspirational needs of Aboriginal students. In particular, the research highlights how the relational dynamics between schools and Aboriginal people have been deeply affected by colonial histories of exclusion and systemic disadvantage, pervasive school discourses of marginalisation and in particular an ignorance about holistic needs of Aboriginal students at school and the resultant negative relational interactions between schools and Aboriginal families. This multisite ethnographic study was undertaken with Aboriginal community members, teachers and school principals in 2012 as doctoral research. It was conducted within a relational landscape characterised by an enduring socio-cultural dissonance between schools and their Aboriginal communities. The study focused on examples of authentic collaboration and purposeful interactions between Aboriginal communities and schools that were shown to support teachers in building deeper understanding that enhanced their cognisance of the wider needs of Aboriginal students. The findings in this article highlight that when authentic engagement between Aboriginal people and schools occurred, it appeared to positively impact the teachers’ professional knowledge and created a consequent interest within these communities to engage with their schools. The research further identified that in each site the Aboriginal participants articulated an interest in developing authentic school collaborations that would enhance student outcomes. These findings suggested that teachers need to honour, understand and actively reflect on community history, contexts and aspirations to develop the skills and knowledge to address the particular socio-cultural and educational needs of Aboriginal students.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott, T. P. (2014). Statement to the house of representatives—closing the gap [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-02-12/statement-house-representatives-closing-gap.
ACARA. (2009). National report on schooling in Australia 2009: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.
Au, W. (2012). Critical curriculum studies: Education, consciousness, and the politics of knowing. Florence, KY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
Audit Office of New South Wales. (2012). New South Wales Auditor-General’s report: performance Audit. Improving the literacy of Aboriginal students in NSW public schools—Department of Education and Communities. Sydney.
Auditor-General, N. S. W. (2008). Auditor-General’s report: Improving literacy and numeracy in NSW public schools: Department of Education and Training. Sydney: NSW Audit Office.
Auerbach, S. (2011). Beyond coffee with the principal: Toward leadership for authentic school–family partnerships. Journal of School Leadership, 20, 30.
Auerbach, S. (2012). Conceptualising leadership for authentic partnerships. In S. Auerbach (Ed.), School leadership for authentic family and community partnerships: Research perspectives for transforming practice (pp. 31–77). New York: Routledge.
Biddulph, F., Biddulph, J., & Biddulph, C. (2003). The complexity of community and family influences on children’s achievement in New Zealand: Best evidence synthesis (pp. 1–204). Wellington: New Zealand Ministry of Education.
Bishop, R. (2003). Changing power relations in education: Kaupapa Māori messages for ‘mainstream‘ education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Comparative Education, 39(27), 221–238.
Bishop, R. (2012). Indigenous methods in qualitative educational research. In S. Delamont & A. Jones (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research in education (pp. 126–140). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Blackman, L., Cromby, J., Hook, D., Papadopoulos, D., & Walkerdine, V. (2008). Creating subjectivities. Subjectivity, 22(1), 1.
Brandon, W. (2003). Toward a white teachers’ guide to playing fair: Exploring the cultural politics of multicultural teaching. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 16(1), 31–50.
Brunner, C. (1995). The legacy of disconnection between the public schools and their constituents. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools (ED396441), 34.
Byrd, J. (2011). Transit of empire: Indigenous critiques of colonisation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Calderhead, J. (1996). Teachers: Beliefs and knowledge. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds.), A handbook of educational psychology (pp. 709–725). London: Prentice Hall International.
Chilisa, B. (2012). Indigenous research methodologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
COAG. (2009). COAG meeting in Council of Australian Governments (Vol. 2014). Canberra: Commonwealth-State Relations Branch, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Comber, B., & Kamler, B. (2004). Getting out of deficit: Pedagogies of reconnection. Teaching Education, 15(3), 294–310.
Crasnow, S. (2009). Is standpoint theory a resource for feminist epistemology? An introduction. Hypatia, 24(4), 189–192.
Daniel, G. (2011). Family-school partnerships: Towards sustainable pedagogical practice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39(2), 165–176.
Deliovsky, K. (2010). Standpoint analysis. In A. Mills, G. Durepos, & E. Wiebe (Eds.), Encyclopedia of case study research (pp. 885–887). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Dreise, T., & Thomson, S. (2014). Unfinished business: PISA shows Indigenous youth are being left behind. In ACER Occasional essays (p. 5). Melbourne: ACER.
Edvantia. (2005). Research brief: Linking student achievement to school, family and community involvement. Nashville, TN: Appalachia Educational Laboratory.
Epstein, J., & Sheldon, S. (2006). Moving forward: Ideas for research on school, family, and community partnerships. In C. Conrad & R. Serlin (Eds.), SAGE handbook for research in education: Engaging ideas and enriching inquiry (pp. 117–138). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Fang, Z. (1996). A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices. Educational Research, 38(1), 47–65.
Ford, M. (2012). Achievement gaps in Australia: What NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia. Race Ethnicity and Education, 16(1), 80–102.
Garcia, E., Aris, B., Murri, N., & Serna, C. (2010). Developing responsive teachers: A challenge for a democratic reality. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(3), 132–142.
Goos, M. (2004). Home, school and community partnerships to support children’s numeracy. APMC, 9(4), 18–20.
Grande, S. (2009). Red pedagogy: Indigenous theories of redistribution (a.k.a. Sovereignty). In M. Apple, W. Au, & L. Gandin (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of critical education (pp. 190–203). New York: Routledge.
Grant, S. J. (2015). IQ2 debate: Racism is destroying the Australian dream. Sydney: The Ethics Centre.
Gray, J., & Beresford, Q. (2008). A ‘formidable challenge’: Australia’s quest for equity in Indigenous education. Australian Journal of Education, 52(2), 197–223.
Gruenewald, D. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 3–12.
Harrison, N. (2013). Country teaches: The significance of the local in the Australian history curriculum. Australian Journal of Education, 57(3), 214–224.
Howard, P., Feirer, M., Lowe, K., Ziems, S., & Anderson, J. (2004). Mathematics in Aboriginal contexts: Building school–community capacity (p. 14). Sydney, NSW: Board of Studies.
Jeynes, W. (2010). The salience of the subtle aspects of parental involvement: Implications for school-based programs. Teachers College Record, 112(3), 747–774.
Karvelas, P. (2015, February 11). Closing the Gap: how are we getting it so wrong? The Drum ABC TV. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-11/karvelas-closing-the-gap-how-are-we-getting-it-so-wrong/6086018.
Keskitalo, P., & Määttä, K. (2011). How do the Sámi culture and school culture converge—or do they? The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 40, 112–119. doi:10.1375/ajie.40.112.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Towards a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491.
Ladwig, J. (2010). Curriculum and teacher change. In P. Peterson, E. Baker, & B. McGaw (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education. Oxford: Elsevier.
Lonsdale, M. (2008). Schools first: final report. In Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation (p. 65). Camberwell, VIC: ACER.
Lowe, K. (2011). A critique of school and Aboriginal community partnerships. In N. Purdie, G. Milgare, & H. Bell (Eds.), Two way teaching and learning—toward culturally reflective and relevant education. Melbourne: ACER.
Lowe, K. (2016). Walanbaa warramildanha: Standing their ground: Honouring Aboriginal standpoint to effect teachers’ professional knowledge. Ph.D., The University of Newcastle, Newcastle. Retrieved from http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:22506.
Lowe, K., & Ash, A. (2006). Talking each other’s lingo: The Aboriginal Languages K-10 syllabus and its role in language revival in NSW. Sydney, NSW: Board of Studies. http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/files/talking_each_others_lingo.pdf.
Lowe, K., & Yunkaporta, T. (2013). The inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in the Australian National Curriculum: A cultural, cognitive and socio-political evaluation. Curriculum Perspectives, 33(1), 15–30.
Luke, A. (2009). On Indigenous education. Teaching Education, 20(1), 1–5. doi:10.1080/10476210902724011.
Luke, A., Cazden, C., Coopes, R., Klenowshi, V., Ladwig, J., & Lester, J. (2013). Summative evaluation of the Stronger Smarter Learning Communities Project. Retrieved from Brisbane, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/59535/.
Martin, A. (2006). Motivational psychology for the education of Indigenous Australian students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 35, 30–43.
Martin, K. (2008). Please knock before you enter: Aboriginal regulation of outsiders and the implications for research. Teneriffe, QLD: Post Pressed.
McConnochie, K., & Nolan, W. (2006). Re-visioning professional practice: Reconciliation, professional indifference, and Indigenous Australians. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS), 12(1/2), 61–74.
McKown, C., & Weinstein, R. S. (2008). Teacher expectations, classroom context, and the achievement gap. Journal of School Psychology, 46(3), 235–261.
Morris, B. (1992). Frontier colonialism as a culture of terror. Journal of Australian Studies, 16(35), 72–87.
Muller, D. (2012). Parents as partners in Indigenous children’s learning (p. 75). Canberra: Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau.
Munns, G. (1998). “They just can’t hack that”. Aboriginal students, their teachers and responses to schools and classrooms. In G. Partington (Ed.), Perspectives on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education (pp. 171–188). Katoomba, NSW: Social Science Press.
Munns, G., Martin, A. J., & Craven, R. G. (2006). What can free the spirit? Motivating Indigenous students to be producers of their own educational futures. Paper presented at the 4th International SELF research conference, self-concept, motivation, social and personal identity for the 21st century, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Munns, G., Martin, A., & Craven, R. (2008). To free the spirit? Motivation and engagement of Indigenous students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37(01), 98–107.
Nakata, M. (1997). The cultural interface: An exploration of the intersection of Western knowledge systems and Torres Strait Islanders positions and experiences. Townsville, Qld: James Cook University.
Nakata, M. (2007a). The cultural interface. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37(Supplement), 7–14.
Nakata, M. (2007b). Disciplining the savages: Savaging the disciplines. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Nakata, M. (2010). The cultural interface of islander and scientific knowledge. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 39(Supplement), 53–57.
NSW Department of Education & Communities. (2011). Connected communities. Discussion Paper, Sydney.
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2008). Aboriginal education and training policy. (PD/2008/0385/V02). Sydney. Retrieved from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/students/access_equity/aborig_edu/PD20080385.shtml.
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2009). Annual report: Performance highlights (p. 74). Sydney, NSW: Department of Education and Training.
NSW AECG, & NSW DET. (1999). Securing a collaborative partnership into the future. Sydney: NSW Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from http://www.aecg.nsw.edu.au/publications/partnership-agreement.pdf.
NSW AECG, & NSW DET. (2004). The report of the review of Aboriginal education: Yanigurra Muya: Ganggurrinyma Yarri Guurulaw Yirringin.gurray. In A. Laughlin & C. Davison (Eds.), Freeing the spirit: dreaming an equal future (pp. 1–274). Sydney: NSW Department of Education and Training.
NSW AECG, & NSW DET. (2010). Together we are; together we can; together we will: Maintaining a collaborative partnership into the future—partnership agreement 2010–2020 (pp. 1–8). Sydney: NSW Department of Education and Training.
Partington, G. (1998). “In those days it was that rough”: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and education. In G. Partington (Ed.), Perspectives on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education (pp. 27–54). Katoomba, NSW: Social Science Press.
Pohlhaus, G. (2002). Knowing communities: an investigation of Harding’s standpoint epistemology. Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy Organisation & Society, 16(3), 283–293.
Porsanger, J. (2004). An essay about Indigenous methodology. Nordlit, 8(1), 105–120.
Reynolds, R. (2005). The education of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: Repair or radical change. Childhood Education, 82(1), 31–36.
Richardson, V., & Placier, P. (2001). Teacher change. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., Vol. 43, pp. 905–947). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
Rigney, L. I. (1997). Internationalisation of an Indigenous anti-colonial cultural critique of research methodologies: A guide to Indigenist research methodology and its principles. Journal for Native American Studies, WICAZO Sa Review, 14(2), 109–121.
Saunders, R. S., & Hill, S. (2007). Native education and in-classroom coalition-building: Factors and models in delivering an equitous authentic education. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(4), 1015–1045.
SCRGSP. (2014). Overcoming Indigenous disadvantage: Key indicators 2014—report (p. 3252). Canberra: Productivity Commission.
Short, D. (2003). Reconciliation, assimilation, and the Indigenous peoples of Australia. International Political Science Review, 24(4), 491–513.
Sleeter, C. (2012). Confronting the marginalization of culturally responsive pedagogy. Urban Education, 47(3), 562–584.
Smith, L. T. (2000). Kaupapa Maori research. In M. Battiste (Ed.), Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision (pp. 225–247). Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.
Stronger Smarter Institute. (2014). High-expectations relationships: A foundation for quality learning environments in all Australian schools (p. 21). Brisbane: Stronger Smarter Institute.
Timperley, H. (2008). Teacher professional learning and development. In Educational practices series—18 (pp. 32). Brussels: Academy of Education.
Timperley, H., & Alton-Lee, A. (2008). Reframing teacher professional learning: An alternative policy approach to strengthening valued outcomes for diverse learners. Review of Research in Education, 32(1), 328–369.
Timperley, H., & Robinson, V. (2002). Achieving school improvement through challenging and changing teacher’s schema. Journal of Educational Change, 2(4), 281–300.
Turnbull, M. P. (2016). Closing the gap. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Tyler, K., Uqdah, A., Dillihunt, M., Beatty-Hazelbaker, R., Conner, T., Gadson, N., et al. (2008). Cultural discontinuity: Toward a qualitative investigation of a major hypothesis in education. Educational Researcher, 37, 280–297.
Vass, G. (2015). Putting critical race theory to work in Australian education research: ‘We are with the garden hose here’. The Australian Educational Researcher, 42(3), 371–394.
Wilson, S. (2001). What is Indigenous research methodology? Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 175–179.
Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Halifax, CA: Fernwood Publishing.
Woodburn, J., & Glanville, B. (2016, February 9). Connected Communities program failing to improve academic outcomes for Aboriginal students in NSW, report finds, p. 4.
Yunkaporta, T. (2009). Draft report for DET on Indigenous Research Project conducted by Tyson Yunkaporta, Aboriginal Education Consultant, in Western NSW region schools, 2007–2009 (p. 52). Dubbo, NSW: Western Region, Department of Education and Training.
Yunkaporta, T., & NSW DEC - Western Region. (2009). 8 Aboriginal ways of knowing. Retrieved from http://8ways.wikispaces.com/.
Zembylas, M. (2016). Teacher resistance to engage with ‘alternative’ perspectives of difficult histories: The limits and prospects of affective disruption. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37, 1–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Gamilaraay ‘literally translated as ‘They stood their ground, and looked out’.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lowe, K. Walanbaa warramildanha: The impact of authentic Aboriginal community and school engagement on teachers’ professional knowledge. Aust. Educ. Res. 44, 35–54 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-017-0229-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-017-0229-8