Indigenous Australian Histories and policies
This week’s learning has significantly developed my awareness of Indigenous origins, history and culture. I discovered the multiple recordings of Indigenous origins and events that occurred before and after European settlement. Before starting this unit I did not have proper knowledge of previous government policies of discriminating the lives of Indigenous Australians such as protection, assimilation, integration, self-determination, multiculturalism and the Howard Government’s mean-spirited practical reconciliation (Harrison & Sellwood, 2016); and how Indigenous Australians struggled to earn the equality (Miller, 2012) to reach the current policy of ‘Closing the Gap’. What this week’s learning have highlighted that today Australian classrooms acknowledge, respect and deliver Indigenous Australian histories more adequately than ever before. I now understand that Indigenous perspectives would help students to learn the interconnectedness of Indigenous histories and relate these to contemporary life for Indigenous Australians (The Department of Education, 2017). This understanding is essential for me to evaluate my own knowledge of Indigenous Australian histories and policies to develop a holistic approach to include Indigenous perspectives in classrooms.
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I am now aware that undertaking the cultural awareness training would help strengthen my cultural competence. History plays a vital role in the education system. My job as a teacher has to must consider the Indigenous perspectives while introducing the history in classrooms so that students learn to see the world from an Indigenous perspectives instead of the dominant cultural viewpoint (The Department of Education,
The Australian Curriculum currently is struggling with incorporating indigenous perspectives as a key focus in the curriculum properly. It is lacking the ability to normalise indigenous knowledge and instead represents
This indirectly implies the significant role of culture in improving educational outcomes of Aboriginal population. Which role does the acknowledgement of culture play in education of Aboriginal students? Meyer (1998, as cited in Hanlen, 2010) argues that the Aboriginal communities consider the knowledge to come through other people’s knowledge and that a person exists through interaction with other people. Education is considered to be a process which never stops and which is taking place inside the family and daily activities (Hanlen, as cited in Hanlen, 2010). Furthermore, Hanlen argues that the Aboriginal people think about goals of the community as more important than individual goals and all aspects of life are
To begin with, a clarification must be made. Although for the purposes of this assessment I will be using the term Indigenous Australians, it is not the most appropriate term to be using, as the technical definition of indigenous is ‘originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native’ (‘Indigenous’, 1987). The more correct term would be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
Aboriginal-Canadians have an excessive history of mistreatment and discrimination in Canada. Europeans considered Canada’s First Nations as savages, eventually residential schools were created which in extreme cases were comparable to Prisoner of War camps. According to Evelyn Kallen, “Substandard housing breeding disease and death, closed schools due to lack of teachers, heat, and/or running water are only two examples of continuing, dehumanizing life conditions on many reserves” (198). Although, extensive improvements have been made to reservations and Aboriginal rights, more improvement remains necessary. Allan Blakeney stated, “An important starting point of course, is that Aboriginal people in Canada do not, as a group, occupy high
Teachers in Australia have the responsibility of catering to the learning needs and abilities of the students in their classroom. Additionally they are also responsible for catering to the unique cultural backgrounds of each student, in particular the cultures of Indigenous Australians. The teacher can cater to the diverse and complex Indigenous cultures by creating a learning environment that is based on effective student engagement for Aboriginal students. Studies have shown that Aboriginal students are currently not academically achieving as well as non-Aboriginal students (What Works: Core Issue 5). Closing the academic performance gap is considered a national priority. As a result, the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework has been developed to ensure that schools are delivering the best possible education to all students, specifically those who identify as Aboriginal. During term 3, 2017, I completed my final practicum at Baler Primary School in a year 4 classroom. The students in my class came from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, many of which identified as Aboriginal. Throughout this essay I will use examples from my final practicum at Baler Primary School in South Hedland to discuss how to make learning engaging, accessible and culturally responsive for Aboriginal students.
Through my life, I have seen several different approaches to Indigenous people’s rights and importance in Australia. I have been fortunate enough to visit Ayers Rock and undertake a tour which allowed me to see Aboriginal culture in art and drawings as well as hearing Dreamtime stories from guides. I have also witnessed family friends who have been severely racist and disrespectful of Indigenous heritage and history. I also was lucky to work with some Indigenous students who were in Reception during my Professional Experience 1, and I was able to see first-hand how a culture clash can affect a student’s behaviour. I feel that even before entering this course, I have had the privilege of being able to observe both positives and negatives
Teachers should foster self-worth, confidence and self-efficacy among Aboriginal students. This is important because it can help overcome intergenerational trauma (Menzies, 2013). Schools have played a significant role in creating this trauma in the past through successive bad policy and pedagogy (Harrison & Sellwood, 2016). For example, past practices included low expectations and inappropriate materials with an aim to assimilate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Harrison & Sellwood, 2016). Good pedagogy develops students based on pride and confidence and negates shame and confusion (Goodman cited in Department of education and training WA, 2007). For example, the program in Cherbourg State School aims to develop pride in Aboriginal
Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the curriculum has now become a high priority amoungst schools across the nation. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2013), recognises “that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority is designed for all students to engage in reconciliation, respect and recognition of the world’s oldest continuous living cultures”. By including this, the curriculum will continue to see Indigenous culture throughout school become part of the norm. Furthermore Indigenous Australian perspectives can and should be included in the classroom and any barriers that arise can be overcome.
Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within
In relation to teaching Indigenous origins, history and culture - the demonstration of the Australian Institute for Teaching and Schools (AITSL) standard 2.4 will assist me. “The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards)* reflect and build on national and international evidence that a teacher’s effectiveness has a powerful impact on students” (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2012). There are seven teaching standards that can guide teachers and improve their
The colonisation' of Australia by Europeans has caused a lot of problem for the local Aborigines. It drastically reduced their population, damaged ancient family ties, and removed thousands of Aboriginal people from the land they had lived on for centuries. In many cases, the loss of land can mean more than just physical displacement. Because land is so much connected to history and spirituality, the loss of it can lead to a loss of identity. This paper will examine the works of Tim Rowse and Jeremy Beckett as well as other symbols of identity that are available to modern Aborigines in post colonial Australia.
Throughout the last fifty years two diametrically opposed views have played out. H.C. Coombs argued that the priority was to use the curriculum and teaching methods to rebuild and sustain traditional Aboriginal culture destroyed by colonisation, racism and oppression. He supported Moira Kingston’s view that all Aborigines had a “world view derived from the Dreaming and irreconcilable with the demands of a modern industrialised market economy.” Sir Paul Hasluck represented the opposing assimiliationist view that schools should give priority to literacy, numeracy and technical and scientific knowledge to asssist integration in the workforce.Many theorists and practitioners have focused on the one third of students in Aboriginal schools with a specifically Aboriginal education rather than the majority attending the same schools as non-Indigenous children. In either case major problems were indentified with Aboriginal education by 2000.
Aboriginals or indigenous Australians are the native people of Australia. Aboriginals were nomadic people who came to Australia about 40,000 – 60,000 years ago from Southeast Asia. Religion is a great part of Aboriginal culture. The essay answers these questions: What do Aboriginals belief? What is a Kinship system? What is Dreaming and Dreamtime? What rituals does Aboriginals have?
Aborigines are believed to have lived in Australia for between 60,000 and 40,000 years, their early ancestors coming from South-East Asia. Precise population details for the period before European colonisation are unavailable, but it is estimated that there were between 300,000 and 1,000,000 Aborigines in Australia when European settlers first arrived in 1788.
In this class, I was presented with an opportunity to reflect upon my personal knowledge of Indigenous