The curriculum in Australian schools is a highly contentious and political issue. For remote indigenous communities this is even more so. School curriculums in Australia are western culturally based and thus this effects the learning capabilities of indigenous students in remote communities. “Most indigenous Australians living in the Northern Territory want their children to go to school and get an education. They also want their children to learn the ways of their ancestors, to be strong in the knowledge of their indigenous laws and beliefs.”(Linkson, M. 1999, pp. 41-48) School curriculums are for the majority of students, which in Australia is mainly western. The cultural bias in our school curriculums is inextricably linked to the progress of the western civilization and thus rarely takes into account any other cultures. Students of indigenous background often have to cross between cultural confines of school and home. “The role of schools reflect embedded cultural attitudes, expectations and representations about indigenous people.” (Tess Lea, Aggie Wegner, Eva McRae-Williams, Richard Chenhall & Catherine Holmes 2011, pp 265-280) Many remote schools curriculums are principally prejudiced to western cultures and thus have a negative impact on the indigenous students, and thus will consequently affects their level of academic achievement.
Indigenous Australians students cannot possibly learn a non-indigenous curriculum without being aggravated by the western culture taught within. “From the day they begin their formal schooling, Aboriginal children have to confront another world. This is a world in which their own values and culture are denied, their language and communication strategies are challenged and their identity and se...
... middle of paper ...
...
Pat Torres & Allan Arnott (1999) Educating for Uncertainty in a Changing World: Issues within an Australian remote indigenous context, Comparative Education, 35:2, 225-234.
Prior, M 2013 'Language and literacy challenges for Indigenous children in Australia', Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 123-137.
Reynolds, R. J. (2002). The search for relevance and identity: The education and socialization of Australian Aboriginal students. International Education, 31(2), 18-32
Richard J. Reynolds (2005) The Education of Indigenous Australian Students: Same Story, Different Hemisphere, Multicultural Perspectives, 7:2, 48-55.
Tess Lea , Aggie Wegner , Eva McRae-Williams , Richard Chenhall & Catherine Holmes (2011) Problematising school space for Indigenous education: teachers’ and parents’ perspectives, Ethnography and Education, 6:3, 265-280.
What is the connection between official education policies and key events in Aboriginal Australian history? How have Aboriginal people responded to these policies?
From the time the British first settled the continent to the present, the Aboriginal people of Australia and the English-speaking Australian government have had a rocky relationship. For many years, aboriginal Australians experienced much discrimination and racism. Like Native Americans in the United States, the Aborigines were displaced from their tribal lands and forced into designated settlements. This was all part of an attempt on the part of the government and the European settlers to eradicate Aboriginal culture. Though overtly racist policies have now been done away with and formal apologies given, much of Aboriginal culture has been lost. Efforts to revive it are now underway, and at the forefront of these are efforts to revitalize and recognize the importance of the many Aboriginal languages and their variants. Unfortunately the more current policies of the Australian government have failed to be consistent. Though they may appear to support bilingual education efforts, policies are often poorly implemented and underfunded. In addition, Australian bilingual education policies tend to be inherently flawed due to a focus on greater English literacy, rather than displaying recognition of the value in preserving Aboriginal languages.
This essay will discuss the Aboriginal Education policies in Victoria and Federally and how these policies impacted upon the children of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. This essay will further analyse the impact these past policies had on the Aboriginal and Torres strait Islanders’ families and children’s education and how current policies were put in place to assist indigenous students’ access to education. Further to this an analysis of how teachers can implement these changes in the curriculum and classroom.
There is a vast inequality between the education of an aboriginal and that of a non-aboriginal person. “Only 31 percent – about half the Canadian average – of the Aboriginal on-reserve population has a high school education” (Center for Social Justice, 2011). This is a staggering number when we stop to consider how hard it is in our society to become successful in life when one does not have at least a high school education. In the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms every citizen of Canada is guaranteed an education and yet the students on these reserves...
Though the film mentioned the impact that residential schools had and still has on the aboriginal people, I felt that this issue needed to be stressed further because the legacy of the schools is still extremely prominent in aboriginal communities today. The film refers to the fact that residential schools harmed the aboriginal people because they were not able to learn their culture, which has resulted in the formation of internalized oppression within in the group. “The...
Indigenous students in schools have made it clear as to what they want and need from the education system. Knowledge of Indigenous humanity and diversity, the history of colonialism, local history and contemporary culture, indigenous knowledge, languages and worldviews are topic in which they want to become evident in school system that are able to help with their health and wellness. There has been and there are continuing attempts to reform First Nations education funding. Aboriginal children and adults continue to face these unsuccessful attempts which continue to horrify Canadians.
The education of Aboriginal people is a challenge that has been a concern for many years and is still an issue. However, it remains the best way young people can climb out of poverty. With the colonialization and the oppression of Aboriginals, there have been many lasting side effects that continue to be affecting the Aboriginal youth today. “While retention and graduation rates have improved among urban Aboriginal population, an educational gap still remains between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in urban settings” (Donovan, 127). Many suffer from a diminished self-worth, as they do not feel valued and feel inferior to their classmates. In this essay I am going to outline the reasons Aboriginals are struggling, discuss what is being done
Indigenous Australian land rights have sparked controversy between Non Indigenous and Indigenous Australians throughout history. The struggle to determine who the rightful owners of the land are is still largely controversial throughout Australia today. Indigenous Australian land rights however, go deeper than simply owning the land as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have established an innate spiritual connection making them one with the land. The emphasis of this essay is to determine how Indigenous Australian land rights have impacted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, highlighting land rights regarding the Mabo v. the State of Queensland case and the importance behind today’s teachers understanding and including Indigenous
To what extent have the views of the Indigenous population impacted on the educational outcomes for Australian aboriginal teenagers.
Windisch, Lydia E., Vickii B. Jenvey; Marlene Drysdale. 2003. "Indigenous parents' ratings of the importance of play, indigenous games and language, and early childhood education." Australian Journal of Early Childhood. 28(3):50-56.
The inequality in Australian education can be attributed to a history of low expectations and discrimination placed on Indigenous people by the government and society. Aboriginal children were denied the right to education until the 1970s due to the discrimitory views of the government and society. The Indigenous population were the sub-standard race of humanity with little to no chance of succeeding in life and these attitudes affected the educational choices offered to them (Ray & Poonwassie, 1992). As the superior race, the Anglo-Celtic Australians, considered themselves both intellectually and socio-culturally more advanced than their inferior Aboriginal neighbours (Foley, 2013). As a consequence of these racially and culturally motivated preconceptions, children of Aboriginal descent were considered unskilled outside of their own and were deemed incapable of excelling in ‘civilised’ white society (Foley, 2013). As a result, the Australian Government, in an effort to civilise and nurture politeness within the Aboriginal people, constructed “structured” (p 139) education training institutions in 1814. However, these problems only provided sufficient schooling for menial work: Aboriginal male children were prepared for agricultural employment, while girls were trained for domesticated services (Foley, 2013). Thus, as a direct consequence of low expectation for life success, Aboriginal children were offered minimal schooling ‘consistent with the perception about the limitations inherent in their race and their expected station in life at the lowest rung of white society’ (Beresford & Partington, 2003, p43). According to Foley (2013) this combination of low expectations and poor academic grounding meant that Indigenous children we...
This is something that I will have to actively remember to do while planning lessons until it becomes habit. In my future lessons, I will ensure that I embrace Indigenous identities throughout all subjects, not as something on its own. This will help me meet both the AITSL standards and the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and
To the indigenous community, country and story creates a strong cultural identity and is the starting point to their education. The second outcome; connected with and contribute to their world, is shown through the experience and learning of the indigenous culture and the history of the country and land they live in. Outcome three; strong sense of wellbeing is shown through enhancing indigenous children’s wellbeing socially, culturally, mentally and emotionally through learning about their heritage, country and history through the stories passed down through generations and gaining a sense of belonging and self identity. Both outcome four and five; confident and involved learners and effective communicators are important as they show a unity and understanding between the indigenous culture through learning about the country and stories together about the indigenous
McKinley, Elizabeth. “Locating The Global: Culture, Language And Science Education For Indigenous Students. ”International Journal of Science Education 27.2 (2005): 227-241. Academic Search Premier. Web.19 Apr. 2012.
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J.& Boyd, R. (2007) Culture and Education, Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.