Transcript Indigenous Secondary Education

Releasing privilege:
How can we develop Indigenous knowledge
& create credible pathways towards decolonization & genuine reconciliation in our
communities & schools? A perspective from
Australia.
Suzanne Jenkins
University of Notre Dame Australia
British Empire - established &
maintained through:
• bloodshed, violence, brutality, conquest
and war.
• yet the subject peoples of Empire did not
go quietly into history’s good night.
Underneath the veneer of the official
record exists another, rather different
story. Year in, year out there was
resistance to conquest, and rebellion
against occupation (Gott, 2012).
Two imperial traditions:
conquerors & conquered
• Use of language
• Incidents
Encounters
Skirmishes
• Massacre
Genocide
Annihilation
• ‘The Great Australian Silence’
• ‘The Cult of Forgetfulness’
• ‘Selective historical amnesia
• Variety of devices to evade consequences
of actions
Australia qualifies under UN
criteria for acts of genocide
• The killing of Indigenous people by
‘settlers’ & ‘rogue’ police.
• Forcible removal of Indigenous children,
with the express intent they cease to be
Indigenous.
• The attempt to achieve biological
disappearance of those deemed ‘halfcaste’.
• Policies of ‘protective’ Government.
Empire, ‘Whiteness’ & The First
Global Hegemony
• Promotion of ‘white’ Western ways of
knowing.
• Denial of Indigenous knowledge & culture.
• The ‘Great Chain of Being’
• Races deemed uneven
• Man’s fate was beyond his/her control
• ‘Might’ was ‘right’.
Western Research
• Adopted the methodology of natural
science – accurate measurement,
statistical analysis, experimentation, the
quest for predictive power & the role of
the detached, objective researcher.
• Modern world – urbanized, industrial
societies – invested heavily in scientific
knowledge – with little if any social
context.
In an Australian context
• Psychology has been particularly complicit
in the colonising process.
• It has acted as an agent for assimilation &
oppression.
• 20th Century adopted image of the ‘Expert’
• Practice of ‘Experts’ – to sustain values,
political arrangements, realities &
hierarchies of privilege.
• Assimilation was to be preceded by a
system of education.
1961 Assimilation endorsed as
Australian Government policy.
• de Lemos (1969) applies Piaget’s concept
of conservation to NT Aboriginal children.
• Her findings indicated this concept
develops much later in Aboriginal children
than in Europeans, & in some cases does
not develop at all.
• Conclusion: Aboriginal parents unable to
provide a conducive learning environment
• Solution – extend the school day.
Milroy & Milroy
• “Education is the process by which society
transmits its knowledge, culture, values,
experiences & wisdom to successive
generations….Education is a fundamental
right of all people; without education
people cannot fully exercise their rights or
fulfil their responsibilities as citizens of a
nation.”
Educational Disadvantage
• Aboriginal Australians are less likely to get a pre•
•
•
school education;
Are well behind mainstream rates in literacy &
numeracy skills development before they leave
primary school;
Have less access to secondary school in the
communities in which they live;
Are likely to be absent up to 3 times more often
than other students;
Educational Disadvantage
• Leave school, much younger;
• Are less than half as likely to go through
to Year 12;
• Are far more likely to do bridging & basic
entry programmes in universities &
vocational training institutions; &
• Obtain fewer & lower-level education
qualifications.
Enhancing Educational Attainment
One contribution towards enhancing the
prospects of educational attainment of
young Indigenous students has been the
initiative of a number of prestigious
schools that have offered academic places
or scholarships to intellectually able
Indigenous students, who otherwise
would be unable to access comparable
opportunities.
Kevin Rudd 2008
• $20 million funding for 2000 boarding
schools places over 20 years to prepare
Indigenous students to become ‘workplace
P-platers.
• The P-plater scheme seen as a key plank
of the employment drive aimed at
providing 50,00 jobs to Indigenous
Australians.
HOWEVER…..
• Education in Australia remains tied to
white culture, the industrial economy &
the means through which white culture
survives.
• Accepting such offers may result in a
shadow side reflecting multiple levels of
loss which pose a threat to Indigenous
family, community, cultural & self identity.
My Study aimed to capture ‘The
Lived Experience’
• The personal reality of that experience through
the eyes & subjective understandings of
participants who pursued an educational
pathway by leaving home communities to attend
school (Jenkins, 2013).
‘The Lived Experience’
• 8 Indigenous participants/partners shared their
•
•
stories that spanned 5 decades – 1950s – 1990s.
Emerging from the data analysis was a meta or
super-ordinate theme ‘Living Between Two
Worlds’ which is represented as a ‘Journey’
involving both ‘Loss & Gain’.
Highlighted was the never-ending nature of this
‘Journey’ & the need for a ‘Loss/Gain’ Audit to be
maintained.
Strongest negative themes
• Homesickness
• Racism
• Cultural Identity
• Curriculum
Context – unreconciled students
• We need to acknowledge that current
education policy seeks to socialise
Indigenous youth into Anglo-Australian
culture.
• Our Indigenous students are confronted
with daily realities of the legacy of past
acts of dispossession & disempowerment
& continuing realities of racism & systemic
disadvantage.
Challenge
• Create an education program which offers
equal opportunities to compete in
mainstream but which also maintains
Indigenous values and culture.
• Unless an Indigenous view of the world is
respected: education remains a powerful
form of cultural invasion.
Freire 1996 ‘The Pedagogy of
the Oppressed’
• Warns against a system which turns
students into ‘containers’ to be filled by
teachers.
• Promotes ‘cultural synthesis’ in
transforming education into the ‘practice
of freedom’ as opposed to the ‘practice of
domination’.
• An agenda of inclusiveness & integration.
Today
• Curriculum development
• Theoretical orientation &
• Rationale
continue to underpin educational
programmes designed to promote ‘white’
Western style learning & evaluation.
Genuine reconciliation involves:
• Decentring the dominant narrative.
• Acknowledging the gains & losses of our
current systems & actively seeking to
address them.
• Intricately weaving Indigenous voices into
the Nation’s voice.
• Enabling all Australians to live, not
between but within two worlds.
Reconciliation requires:
• Honest acknowledgement of harm.
• Sincere regret & readiness to apologise &
let go of anger & bitterness.
• Commitment not to repeat the injury.
• Sincere efforts to redress past grievances.
• Entering a new mutually enriching
relationship.
Action is needed to enable
counsellors & educators to:
• To develop reflective competency in &
respect for the distinct & rich diverse
nature of Indigenous cultural identity &
experience.
• to journey in two cultural & traditional
worlds, with sensitivity, respect & genuine
positive regard.
• To embrace a process of de-colonisation &
reconciliation.
An Indigenous View of the
World
• ‘Liyarn’ – the coming together of spirit &
spiritiual connection – people & country.
• ‘Kanyini’ – connectedness to life & life’s
purpose – beliefs, spirituality, land, family
• ‘Dadirri’ – inner, deep listening & quiet,
still awareness
Cultural Healing
• These are some of the elements inherent
in Indigenous culture that promote,
restore & maintain health & wellbeing.
• To have endured for so long indicates
these Indigenous knowledge systems are
both functional & adaptive in their content
& health-promoting in their goals.
The past is always in the
present:
• Understanding the past, acknowledging
the process & effects of colonisation,
allows us to critique the present & actively
shape the future.
• An authentic understanding of history will
enable Indigenous students to be proud of
their resilience & strength, & their
heritage.
The Burgess Five Stage Decolonisation Model (Muller 2007)
• Stage 1 - Rediscovery & Recovery
• Stage 2 - Mourning
• Stage 3 – Dreaming
• Stage 4 – Commitment
• Stage 5 - Action
Rediscovery & Recovery
• A full & honest acknowledgement of
history which offers opportunities & hope,
not determinism.
• Developing personal, professional and
social introspection & commitment to
change.
• The establishment of a new, invigorated
sense of identity for both Indigenous &
Non-Indigenous Australians.
Mourning
• A massive shift in understanding, in seeing
the world in a new way.
• ‘Unsettling the settler’.
• A shift in how ‘shame’ is viewed – shame
as bad and pride as good – explore the
constructive, productive qualities of shame
(Zembylas, 2008).
• Addressing issues of grief, loss, anger &
injustice.
Dreaming
• Imagining a better future for all
Australians.
• Planning how this can be achieved.
• The establishment of hope, progress &
justice.
• Strengthening values of freedom &
equality.
Commitment
• The paradoxical theory of change: change
tends to occur when we become aware of
what we are as opposed to trying to
become what we are not (Corey, 2006).
• Accept who we are & commit towards
achieving who we want to become.
• Embrace a vision of possible, potential
futures.
Action
• The ‘current picture’ is transformed into
the ‘preferred picture’ .
• Developing alliances through openness,
congruence, transparency, genuineness &
respect.
• The role of social workers, counsellors &
educators as change-agents & cultural
brokers helping to determine cultural
markers & how they can be utilised.
Some suggestions towards
achieving this (Greville, 2000)
• A rich & diverse student/community base.
• Well articulated cross-cultural perspectives
• Multiple discourses informing curriculum
allowing for multiple critical positions.
• A staff group willing to experiment & work
collaboratively to develop new curriculum
initiatives & transform their own practice.
Releasing Privilege: Embracing
Indigenous Sovereignty
• White sovereignty – a patriarchal model
maintained through dominance & force.
• Indigenous sovereignty – not one
sovereign state, it embraces diversity &
focuses on inclusivity.
• Indigenous sovereignty poses a solution to
white supremacy in its deflation of power.
(Watson, 2007)
References
• Corey, G. (2005) Theory & Practice of
Counselling & Psychotherapy (7th ed.)
United States: Thomson-Brooks/Cole.
• de Lemos, M. (1969) ‘Conceptual
development in Aboriginal children:
implications for Aboriginal education’, in
Dunn, S.S. & Tatz, C. M. (eds) Aborigines
and Education, Melbourne: Sun Books.
References
• Freire, P. (1996) The Pedagogy of the
Oppressed, London: Penguin Books
• Gott, R. (2012) Britain’s Empire:
Resistance, Repression & Revolt,
London:Verso.
• Greville, H. (2000) Walking the Fine Line:
Transforming Literacies for Social Change,
Perth: Gunada Press.
References
• Jenkins, S. (2013) Indigenous Secondary
Education: What implications for
counsellors lie in the stories of Indigenous
adults, who as children, left their home
communities to attend school?
Saarbrucken: Scholar’s Press
References
• Milroy & Milroy (2006) ‘Introduction’, in
The Western Australian Aboriginal Child
Health Survey: Improving the Educational
Experiences of Aboriginal Children and
Young People, Perth: Curtin University of
Technology and Telethon Institute for
Child Health Research.
References
• Muller, L. (2007) ‘De-colonisation:
reflections & implications for social work
practice, Communities, Children & Families
Australia – Journal of the Australian
College of Child & Family Protection
Practitioners, vol. 3, no. 1, December
2007)
References
• Teyber, E. & McClure, F.H. (2011)
Interpersonal Process in Therapy: An
Integrative Model (6th edition) Belmont,
CA: Brooks/Cole
• Watson, I. (2007) ‘Settled and unsettled
spaces: Are we free to roam?’, in MoretonRobinson, A. (ed.) Sovereign Subjects,
Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.
References
• Zembylas, M. (2008) ‘The politics of
shame in intercultural education’,
Education, Citizenship & Social Justice, 3,
263-280.