Seeking Affirmation via Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Knowledge: Transforming Australian School Curricula

• In Event: Culture, Race, and Language for Teaching and Curriculum in the Field Experience

Abstract

Public inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in Australian curricula has often mirrored the social and political landscape in Indigenous affairs. Our research shows efforts to embed IK on teaching practicum must come from a place of deep knowledge. The “Cultural interface” (Nakata 2007) helped to theorise these sites as places of knowledge convergence and productive engagements. Phenomenology was adapted to direct attention to the nature of experiences of participants. The research design was informed by Indigenous research methodology, including ‘talkin up the research’ (Fredericks, 2007) with community before beginning, during (with) and after. Findings included that successful embedding experiences emerged from productive relationships with community knowledge sources and recognising IK brought to the school by pre-service teachers.

Authors

• Juliana Mohok McLaughlin, Queensland University of Technology

• Susan L Whatman, Griffith University