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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture, and language are a key

part of Australia’s national identity and history. However, for a long period of time

their culture has been overlooked in favour of western ideals which transcended from

white invasion. Westernised thinking permeated into the Australian education system

generating barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students due to its

institutionalised nature, which doesn’t take into account the individual and isolates

local cultures. Westernised schooling doesn’t meet the learning processes reflective of

Australian natives’ culture. As the education system struggles to meet the learning

needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students an inevitable gap has

developed between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal students. An education system at

odds with its native culture undoubtedly led to a decrease in Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander student retention rates. In order to increase retention rates, schools and

teachers must strive for positive and respectful relationships with its local Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander communities. In order to achieve this, a number of key

policies have been crafted to assist schools and teachers to adjust their approaches to

meet the needs of all students, a need to generate a holistic and welcoming learning

environment for all students to flourish.

Intellect should not be the sole objective of Aboriginal education. Australia’s

Eurocentric approach to education attempts to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander students into its own outlook for success. Sarra (2010) identifies an

issue with this approach for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, he states

“If schools only seek to make Indigenous children smart, without developing any

positive sense of cultural identity, then we do little more than assimilate them into the

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mainstream. In this circumstance we all lose”. If changes aren’t made, Australia faces

the annihilation of the cultural heritage of one of the longest living societies within

the world. Schools must endeavor to provide a positive environment to foster cultural

identity as well as academic success. Pearson (2006) ascertains that there are key

components for increasing cultural identity and engagement for learning which will

lead to increased levels of retention over time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander students. These components encompass those which are specifically school

focused, community focused, and those which are interagency focused.

When schools are culturally welcoming, the learning and academic success will

follow. A school immersed in the involvement of local communities will inevitably

experience a more receptive and positive learning environment with richer ties to its

surrounding. Similarly, a cross-cultural exchange must be experienced between staff

and students of diverse cultural background. The task is to promote an education

system which fosters positive and respectful relationships through crafting and

sustaining a culturally inviting atmosphere.

There is an apparent division between the culture of schools and the culture of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders students home life. In order to raise cultural

continuity between the home and school, cross cultural support is needed. As

identified by Harrison (2011), local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community

involvement is crucial for the transition between home and school life for students

due to this divide. An involvement of local community consultations ensure

Indigenous perspectives permeate the education system and Aboriginal subject matter

is being accurately delivered. Often Schools are viewed as alien institutions. The task

of policy makers is to create a more welcoming cultural atmosphere for Aboriginal

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students. Across multiple policies regarding Indigenous education, community

partnership proves to be an essential and overarching topic which has shown

prominence in all negotiations. The 2008 Aboriginal Education Policy is one such

forum which encapsulates the importance of community involvement in Aboriginal

education. Standards 1.5 through to 1.7 all address areas of Aboriginal community

involvement to ensure “that Aboriginal people participate as equal partners in

education” (Australian Government, 2018). Policies such as the Aboriginal

Education Policy recognise the cultural differences experienced by Aboriginal

students. The drive to incorporate community involvement attempts to deconstruct the

barrier of cultural separation within schools. Community involvement will allow

Aboriginal voices to be heard regarding the teaching and learning of Indigenous

students.

As a future teacher I will endeavour to involve and consult with my local

Indigenous community regarding my teaching practices. As an Anglo Australian I can

admit I lack the knowledge to adequately utilise Aboriginal history effectively in a

classroom setting. By contacting local communities, I will be able to bring authentic

Indigenous experiences and knowledge into my lessons. This generates a positive

relationship with Indigenous students as I will endeavour to show respect and value

for their culture in an education system which has historically avoided the matter. As

community leaders emphasise “education needs to be exciting and culturally engaging

to encourage parental and community interest” (Pearson, 2004). When working with

Aboriginal content, consultations will allow me to efficiently use localised material.

Examples of this could be incorporating the dreamtime stories which are respective of

the local country. In order to do this, I could get in contact with local aboriginal

elders. When the school promotes an accurate and accepting nature towards

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Aboriginal culture and students, the retention rate will rise. If students feel accepted

and experience a positive learning environment in which their culture is reflective,

then they are more like to place value in their education which now regards a place

for their own history and culture.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their parents, school is a

foreign and sometimes uninviting place for their culture and history. In order to

improve retention rates and eliminate the foreign feeling of school settings, the school

and the educational setting more broadly have to demonstrate cultural

acknowledgement within its practices and teachings. More specifically “Aboriginal

life and culture should be represented in the classroom” (Partington, 2003, Groome

1995). When students experience a cultural acknowledgement for their values and

customs, students are more likely to develop positive relationships within the school

setting. Cultural acknowledgment could span from the inclusion of Aboriginal

curriculum content to the daily recognition of Aboriginals through the flying of the

Aboriginal flag on the school’s flagpole. The inclusion of subjects such as Aboriginal

Studies, proves an avenue in which Schools can acknowledge aboriginal culture in the

process of education. This elective subject is a further incentive to increase the

retention rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students through offering the

study of their own culture and history as an individual subject within the school

setting. This notion was encapsulated within National Indigenous English and

Numeracy Strategy, they ascertain that the inclusion of Aboriginal subjects will

“allow Indigenous students to study subjects that are grounded in their experience and

culture” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000, p. 26). This would assist in the

development of Aboriginal students’ self-esteem and their identity within society

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(Wray et al, 2005). Acknowledging Aboriginal culture within classroom practices is

vital for ensuring Indigenous students feel valued.

For me, I will endeavour to seek out relevant material which incorporates

Aboriginal content or experiences in order to make my classroom inclusive and

inviting for the cultures of my students. Many of these acknowledgments could be my

approaches to my educating practices. In order to increase engagement within my

lessons and bring Aboriginal ways of knowing and being “out of the dusty corners of

anthropology and linguistics” I will adopt the eight ways pedagogy in my teaching

(Yunkaporta, & Kirby in Bell, Milgate and Prudie, 2011). This approach offers me

eight pedagogies which target holistic learning for all students, specifically

Aboriginal, as the principles speak to the Indigenous ways of learning. When

Aboriginal students feel acknowledged, educational participation and outcomes will

improve significantly. Part of the acknowledgment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander student involves the relationship these student experience within their

educational environments and their exposure of their culture within the school setting.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture holds many attributes which

separate it from Westernised cultural practices. Education for instance is typically

different within each culture. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people hold

sophisticated educational practices which are heavily based on spoken knowledge and

teaching through experience and observation. Westernised approaches to education

hold verbal instruction and written practices as the basis for learning. One of the key

standards within the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers is ‘Know your

students and how they learn’ (Australian Institute for Teaching and School

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Leadership). In order to know your students and how they learn, you have to

understand their culture. To develop a positive relationship with students’, and to be

able to determine how they learn best, teachers must engage with students’ cultures.

The epistemology of a cultural group is crucial to the educational efforts for its

children. As an outsider to the culture it is fair to say I am a novice regarding the long

history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Within the

classroom my cultural background is met with the diverse cultural backgrounds of my

students. What transpires between myself and the students is the navigation of cross

cultures. A cross-cultural respect is needed for a positive and respectful relationships

to develop. Both myself and my students’ will need to take the time and space to

evaluate the others cultural perspective and positioning in order for us to effectively

work together on their learning journey. For Indigenous students’ this task of cross

cultural respect is typically easier as they have grown up and experienced the non-

indigenous culture. Myself as the teacher with limited knowledge of Aboriginal

culture will have to put in the effort to learn the Aboriginal culture, history and values

in order to facilitate my side of the cross-cultural respect. This cross cultural exchange

can be achieved by engaging with the students’ and showing an interests in topics

they may bring up. This process of engagement transpires to develop a positive and

respectful relationship between myself and students as I will demonstrate an interest

in their live and therefore their cultural practices.

Over the years, the approach of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history

within education has gone from a fixed to a growth mindset. The education system

today can significantly benefit from crafting a holistic learning environment which is

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culturally inviting for students to learn in and reach their educational potential.

Historically, poor results and low retention rates have been rendered as the outcome

of a cultural mismatch between the student’s home culture and the educational culture

of the school which held conflicting expectations. It is the job of current policy

makers and educators to remove these barriers which limit the success and retention

of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. In order to improve retention rates,

the education system must shift its groundings in Eurocentric principles and become

open to the learning process of alternate cultures. Intercultural learning and

approaches to education proves to be a means of bridging the educational gap.

Through the exploration of community involvement, cultural acknowledgment, and

cross-cultural exchange, there becomes a clear set of components for Aboriginal

education and the development of positive and respectful relationships with these

students. When students feel valued and experience a positive learning environment

retention rates will rise. The task of current and future teachers, like myself, is to

continue this drive in ensuring cultural identity is valued and utilised in my practices

within the classroom.

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Reference

ACARA (2016) Aboriginal and Torres
 Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.

Retrieved 2 Septemeber from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f- 10

curriculum/cross-curriculum- priorities/aboriginal-and-torres-strait- islander
histories-and-cultures/

Australian Government. (2018). Aboriginal Education Policy. Retrieved from

https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/aboriginal-education-and
training-policy

Australian Institute for Teaching and Leadership. (2011). Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers. Retrieved September 2, 2018, from
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/apst
resources/australian_professional_standard_for_teachers_final.pdf

Commonwealth of Australia (2000). National Indigenous English and Numeracy

Strategy. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and
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Groome, H. (1995). Working Purposefully with Aboriginal Students. NSW: Social

Science Press.

Harrison, N. (2011). Teaching and learning in Aboriginal Education. South

Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Lowe, K. & Yunkaporta, T. (2013) The inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander
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cognitive and socio-political
 evaluation. Curriculum perspectives
 33(2), 1-14

Parington, G. (2003). Why Indigenous Issues are an Essential Component of

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Patterson, J. (2006). Whole of government action on young people’s engagement and

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collaboration. Conference of the Australian Association for Research in

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Price, K. (2015). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education: An introduction for
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Purdie, N., Milgate, G., Bell, R. (2012). Yarning up Indigenous Pedagogies: A

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Sarra, C, (2010). Stronger Smarter Approaches to Indigenous Leadership in Education

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Education. Monash University Publishing

Yunkaporta, T & Kirby, M 2011, ‘Yarning up Indigenous pedagogies: A dialogue

about eight Aboriginal ways of learning’, in Bell, R., Milgate, G., & Purdie,
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