Transcript Indigenous Secondary Education

How can counselling &
psychotherapy educators develop
credible pathways towards
de-colonization & genuine
reconciliation in Australia?
Suzanne Jenkins
University of Notre Dame, Australia
Psychology was born in
positivism.
Historically
• Psychological theory & practice focussed
on promoting & maintaining Western
privilege thro’ Western knowledge &
Western ways of knowing that deny the
validity of Indigenous knowledge &
culture.
Psychotherapeutic 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.
• This process resulted in particularly severe
repercussions for Indigenous peoples & their
way of life so rooted in literal story.
• The 1st. therapies of psychotherapy &
counselling were seen as accurate portrayals of
human psychological functioning.
• Reality was not contingent upon human
experience or knowing but independent &
separate from it.
• Counselling emerged, not from any
perceived need within human
development but in response to economic
& political demands.
• 20th Century adopted image of the ‘Expert’
• Practice of ‘Experts’ – to sustain values,
political arrangements, realities &
hierarchies of privilege.
In an Australian context
• Psychology has been complicit in the
colonising process and, as a dominant
discourse, has a documented past that
has been ethnocentric & has objectified,
dehumanised & devalued those from
culturally different groups. It has acted as
an agent for assimilation & oppression.
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 were less likely to get a
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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
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the eyes & subjective understandings of
participants who pursued an educational
pathway by leaving home communities to attend
school.
A naturalistic, qualitative approach was adopted
to allow themes to emerge and build up detailed
descriptions of events & behaviour which were
setting & person specific, & culturally &
contextually relevant.
‘The Lived Experience’
• 8 Indigenous participants shared their stories
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that spanned 5 decades – 1950s – 1990s.
Data was gathered through the use of in-depth,
semi-structured, one-on-one audio recorded
interviews.
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
was used to identify themes, metaphors & key
words.
Thematic Analysis
• Emerging from the 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.
How can gains be expanded &
losses reduced & repaired?
• Themes may have predictive qualities to
assess vulnerability to loss.
• They could contribute rigour to the
selection process & ongoing support.
• This would need a holistic, culturally
competent approach to the emotional,
spiritual & physical needs of the individual
and the collective, within an optimal
cultural context.
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.
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.
Today
• Curriculum development
• Theoretical orientation &
• Rationale
continue to underpin educational
programmes designed to promote
Western style learning & evaluation.
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.
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.
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 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’ (Egan, 2010).
• Developing therapeutic alliances through
openness, congruence, transparency,
genuineness & respect (Teyber &
McClure,2011).
Action – Interpersonal Processes
• The role of counselling & psychotherapy
educators as change-agents & cultural
brokers helping to determine cultural
markers & how they can be utilised.
References
• Corey, G. (2005) Theory & Practice of
Counselling & Psychotherapy (7th ed.)
United States: Thomson-Brooks/Cole.
• Egan, G. (2010) The Skilled Helper: A
Problem-Management & Opportunity
Development Approach to Helping,
Australia: Thomson-Brooks/Cole.
References
• Freire, P. (1996) The Pedagogy of the
Oppressed, London: Penguin Books
• Glosoff, H.L.(2009) ‘The Counselling
Profession: Historical Perspectives &
Current Issues & Trends’ in Capuzzi &
Gross (eds) Introduction to the
Counselling Profession New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc.
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
• McLeod, J. (1997) Narrative &
Psychotherapy, Thousand Oaks,
California:Sage
• 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
• Nystul, M.S. (2011) Introduction to
Counselling: An Art & Science Perspective
(4th edition) New Jersey:Pearson
Education
• Teyber, E. & McClure, F.H. (2011)
Interpersonal Process in Therapy: An
Integrative Model (6th edition) Belmont,
CA: Brooks/Cole
References
• Zembylas, M. (2008) ‘The politics of
shame in intercultural education’,
Education, Citizenship & Social Justice, 3,
263-280.