Aboriginal education

This study examines some of the ways institutional policies and practices can support or hinder the successful transition to post-secondary education for Indigenous people. Tracing the path from Indigenous high school student to post-secondary education applicant and utilizing knowledge gained from interviews, focus groups, and online surveys as part of an institutional ethnography approach, we offer recommendations for institutions and applicants to help increase enrollment and enhance the success of Indigenous post-secondary students. We share implications for institutions and post-secondary education applicants utilizing self-identification or cultural identity tracking.

"This project involved several components: a review of the national and international literature in regard to the transition to school; an analysis of quantitative data, and consultations with a range of key stakeholders including a series of case study visits to different kinds of prior-to-school education settings. The objective of these research elements was to ensure the reports and guidelines developed through the project are well grounded in practice".
The project also involved visits to a range of settings where Aboriginal children were transitioning into school that were recommended as best practice by the state and territory based education departments. These are written up as case studies within the report.

Over the past 10 years, great improvements have been observed in the Year 12 attainment rate of Indigenous Australians. This has been due, in part, to government funding of programmes aimed at improving education opportunity for Indigenous Australian students, including funding of scholarships for students from remote areas to attend boarding schools. The current qualitative study investigated the perspectives of school leaders and Indigenous secondary students across the Australian state of Western Australia, on the utility and impact of this boarding provision. Students identified that boarding education allowed them to achieve a dual goal of meaningful career pathways and improved health outcomes, although they faced challenges unique to the Indigenous boarding school experience in terms of student self-concept, racism, homesickness and post-school transitions.

In an Australian context, all engineering projects are built on Aboriginal lands that have their own diverse stories, peoples and designs; yet in many cases, fostering meaningful relationships between these Aboriginal communities and projects' potential outcomes (social, economic and the like) is a challenge that seems to sit outside the projects themselves. This paper will briefly discuss the challenges presented by i) project scopes or timeframes that often do not align with Aboriginal community needs, such that ii) an engagement's authenticity can be affected, restricted or put in the 'too hard' basket and not done.

The paper will then present an inclusive Aboriginal-led co-design methodology that involves the following Aboriginal Design Principles: a) any Indigenous content will be led by Indigenous people, b) community should be involved in the designing where possible, and c) ensuring authentic outcomes for Aboriginal people, project deliverers and clients.

The paper will present a case study that successfully included cultural design in project solutions, the Southern Program Alliance (Melbourne). The case studies will demonstrate how engaging authentically with local Aboriginal Design Knowledge leads to culturally and economically empowering Aboriginal communities while also providing strong built environment outcomes that incorporate the area's diverse viewpoints

Aboriginal cultural knowledge in science classrooms can be used to engage Aboriginal students and inform all students about Aboriginal Australia. The worldview of Aboriginal people can
inform all students about their understandings and knowledge systems that Aboriginal people use and value. These knowledge systems highlight aspects of Aboriginal culture, a unique culture of difference in Australian society to inform all students of aspects of the oldest living culture globally. These understandings
will also present the richness of their local environment and landscapes from an Aboriginal perspective. This paper will highlight the use of Aboriginal narration and its use of storytelling to inform and teach from a different viewpoint of western society. Many Aboriginal Dreaming stories present natural phenomena and landscapes from a point of difference and can allow students to make some critical comparisons and understandings from various cultural understandings about landscapes and
their importance. The paper will also examine the scientific observations that are intimately linked to Aboriginal cultural practices and Aboriginal societies maintenance of their environments and long term survival.

In this article we introduce a “head and heart” approach to community-engaged scholarship. Through the literatures of Aboriginal scholarship and engaged scholarship we reflect on a community-university research and program development project undertaken in response to health and education concerns of Aboriginal people in Canada. We suggest that the head and heart approach was crucial to the program’s success and provides access to an ethical space where multiple worldviews are recognized and where the importance of relational accountability becomes evident. We then examine the implications of this approach for engaged scholarship and higher education practices.

A Story to Tell: 'A School Made Just for Us' (2017) is an updated and translated version of Storytellers (2016), which was selected as one og the 25 winners of the eponymous contest of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). It was published in Les Cahiers du Ciéra in December 2017 and translated to English by Mikayla Cartwright and Kristopher Scott for presentation at the annual conference of the Oral History Association (OHA) in September 2018.

This ongoing chapter is part of Emanuelle Dufour's current doctoral research-creation project. It taps into the multiple potentialities of oral history and visual methodologies to promote a dialogue about educational issues involving Quebec and First Nations.

Genre-Breaking down the 'codes' for the early career teacher. How can teachers learn more about Aboriginal texts that could be incorporated into the Primary classroom? For the classroom teacher, meeting and documenting AITSL standards can seems like an onerous task. Standard 2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (AITSL Website) is one standard where many teachers find difficulty in locating and developing useful programs for their primary classrooms. Outlined in the following tables are some useful texts which I mapped in originally in 2004 that you may want to incorporate into your schools literacy programs. Many of these texts can be easily used for all types of genre lesson starting points. Many use humour, " our Rooster Jack " is my all-time favourite but then again its part of my story and history. Many also use Aboriginal English and local Aboriginal language words. Many of you will eventually work with your local communities and find other amazing texts. Many of these texts will be found in your schools libraries. Others are still available for purchase. Community consultation is part of your professional journey but often venturing out to community for support is daunting. Perhaps some of the texts can be part of larger program development such as a starting school program. Transition to Schools Program Just ideas you could start by doing predictive texts and develop several short activities with the transition team and your future students: • Me and Pricilla Get Ready (Schreiber, Roberts and Luxton 2003) (Play based activity about Dressing Up-getting ready for school) or (Drawing and colouring the school uniform) • Raps for Little Fellas (Monkey Mark 2004) Indij Readers Series 2 Start with Getting ready for school and the use the songs in Raps for Little fellas-Breakfast and Brushing (teeth) • Ten Little Jarjum (Aboriginal Community Members from Tabulam 1996) Start numeracy and counting 1-10 One of my new favourites for counting is • Too Many Cheeky Dogs. Available at http://toomanycheekydogs.com.au/ The Elliott Mob loved this in 2014. It is a local and related text to the lives of so many Aboriginal Children who know what a town dog is like. • After School-(Students Gorokan Primary School 1996) (Speaking Activity: What do we do 'after school' and how can we share stories).

Like Chief Joseph Brant, Chief Dan George has left a remarkable legacy across Canada. He himself was a chief’s son. In the 1990 North Vancouver Centennial book, Chuck Davis describes Chief Dan George as one of North Vancouver’s most famous citizens. Born on July 24th 1899, Chief Dan George died at age 82 on September 12th 1981.  His birth name was Gwesanouth/Teswahno Slahoot, meaning ‘thunder coming up over the land from the water.’  His name was changed to Dan George when he entered the Native residential school at age 5.  He memorably said that “A man who cannot be moved by a child’s sorrow will only be remembered with scorn.” Sadly, the use of his indigenous language was forbidden.  “My culture”, said Chief George, “is like a wounded stag that has crawled away into the forest to bleed and die alone. The only thing that can truly help us is genuine love.”

Academic Reference:

Zuckermann, Ghil'ad & Monaghan, Paul (2012). "Revival linguistics and the new media: Talknology in the service of the Barngarla language reclamation", pp. 119-126 of Foundation for Endangered Languages XVI Conference: Language Endangerment in the 21st Century:Globalisation, Technology & New Media. Auckland, New Zealand.

------------------------------


Revival Linguistics and the New Media:
Talknology in the service of the Barngarla Language Reclamation


Ghil‘ad Zuckermann

Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages
School of Humanities, University of Adelaide, SA Adelaide 5005, Australia
[ghilad.zuckermann@adelaide.edu.au]


Paul Monaghan

Mobile Language Team
School of Humanities, University of Adelaide, SA Adelaide 5005, Australia
[paul.monaghan@adelaide.edu.au]


Abstract

Revival Linguistics is a new branch of linguistics, currently being established at Adelaide. It analyses comparatively and systematically the universal constraints and global mechanisms on the one hand (see Zuckermann 2009), and local peculiarities on the other hand, apparent in revival attempts across various sociological backgrounds, all over the world (see Zuckermann & Walsh 2011). A branch of both linguistics and applied linguistics, it combines scientific studies of native language acquisition and foreign language learning (language reclamation is the most extreme case of Second Language Learning).

The study: The Barngarla language (spelled Parnkalla by Schürmann 1844) is a no-longer spoken Thura-Yura Pama-Nyungan Aboriginal language of the Lakes Cultural Region of South Australia. Most recently Zuckermann, Monaghan and the Barngarla community have launched a reclamation of this sleeping beauty in three major rural/urban centres on the Eyre Peninsula, namely Port Lincoln, Whyalla, and Port Augusta. The presence of three Barngarla populations several hours drive apart presents the revival linguist with a need for a sophisticated reclamation involving ‘talknological’ innovations, such as online chatting, newsgroups, photo and resource sharing through a Barngarla wiki. This paper also examines the tensions accompanying the creation of a Barngarla ‘community of practice’ (cf. Wenger 1998) in a post-traditional Aboriginal context. In important ways, the new talknology poses a direct challenge to existing authority structures relating to the everyday management of knowledge, collaboration and participation. We predict that how the broader Barngarla community negotiates these issues will have an important bearing on the ultimate results of the reclamation project.




Revival Linguistics

Revival Linguistics is a new branch of linguistics, currently being established at Adelaide. It analyses comparatively and systematically the universal constraints and global mechanisms on the one hand (see Zuckermann 2009), and local peculiarities and idiosyncrasies on the other hand, apparent in revival attempts across various sociological backgrounds, all over the world (Zuckermann & Walsh 2011). A branch of both linguistics and applied linguistics, it combines scientific studies of native language acquisition and foreign language learning (language reclamation is the most extreme case of Second Language Learning).

Revival Linguistics complements the established field of documentary linguistics, which records endangered languages before they fall asleep. Revival Linguistics ought to revise the fields of grammaticography (writing grammars) and lexicography (writing dictionaries): Grammars and dictionaries ought to be written for language reclamation, i.e. in a user-friendly way, for communities, not only for linguists. For example, juxtapose Lutheran missionary Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann’s 1844 spelling of the Barngarla word nunyara ‘recovery’, which ignores the English environment, thus resulting in the pronunciation nanYAra rather than NOONyara.

Closely related to contact linguistics, Revival Linguistics changes the field of historical linguistics, e.g. by weakening the Family Tree model, which implies that a language ought to have only one parent. Assisting Aboriginal communities in a realistic, non-purisitic way, without selling them myths, Revival Linguistics promotes efficiency and efficacy in language reclamation.

Certainly Australia has been made the ‘Unlucky Country’ through the historical processes of linguicide (language killing) and glottophagy (language eating). These twin forces were in operation from the early colonial period. In her detailed study of the role missionary language practices in the early years of the South Australian colony, Scrimgeour quotes the following colonial language ideology: ‘Mr Forster afterwards adverted to the present mode of teaching the children in their own language. He, with all respect to the Missionaries, would say, on several grounds, that this was wrong. The natives would be sooner civilized if their language was extinct. The children taught would afterwards mix only with whites, where their own language would be of no use – the use of their language would preserve their prejudices and debasement, and their language was not sufficient to express the ideas of civilized life.  He gave the Missionaries full credit for their talents and zeal, but he thought it would be better to teach the children in English’ (from Report on a public meeting of the South Australian Missionary Society in aid of the German Mission to the Aborigines, Southern Australian, 8 September 1843; Scrimgeour, 2007: 116, italics added).

In the case of glottophagy, Governor George Grey noted: ‘The merchant in London who lays on a vessel for a certain port, regards the affair as a mere mercantile speculation, but could he trace out the results he effects in their remotest ramifications, he would stand astonished at the changes he produces.  With the wizard wand of commerce, he touches a lone and trackless forest, and at his bidding, cities arise, and the hum and dust of trade collect – away are swept ancient races; antique laws and customs moulder into oblivion.  The strong-holds of murder and superstition are cleansed, and the Gospel is preached amongst ignorant and savage men. The ruder languages disappear successively, and the tongue of England alone is heard around’ (Grey 1841: 200-201, italics added). Grey was a strong supporter of Aboriginal languages, encouraging Schürmann’s work documenting the Adelaide language (Kaurna) and Barngarla at Port Lincoln (see below).

With globalization, homogenization and Coca-colonization there will be more and more groups all over the world added to the forlorn club of the lost-heritage peoples. Language reclamation will become increasingly relevant as people seek to recover their cultural autonomy, empower their spiritual and intellectual sovereignty, and improve their wellbeing. There are various ethical, aesthetic and utilitarian benefits of language revival: for example, social justice, diversity and employability, respectively.

Zuckermann (2012) has enthusiastically called for Native Tongue Title and linguistic human rights, suggesting that the Australian government ought to compensate Indigenous people not only for the loss of land but equally importantly for the loss of language. Zuckermann has suggested to the Australian government to define Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vernaculars as official languages.

Furthermore, it is predicted that in the future the very insights offered by Revival Linguistics will themselves become part of Indigenous Intellectual Property, when Slovenes and Estonians come to Australia and New Zealand to ask Aboriginal Australians and Maori to assist them in their own European language resurrection.

There is an urgent need to produce perspicacious LINGUISTIC and socio-linguistic insights relevant to language reclamation. Otherwise, linguists or language workers would not be able to offer, if asked by Indigenous people, efficient and efficacious advice. There are linguistic constraints applicable to all revival attempts. Mastering them would help revivalists and First Nations leaders to work more efficiently; for example, to focus more on basic vocabulary and verbal conjugations than on sounds and word order – see Zuckermann (2009: http://www.zuckermann.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf.

Revival linguistics would assist revivalists to be more realistic and to abandon discouraging slogans such as "Give us authenticity or give us death!" The following are among the basic principles that the revival linguist encourages in Aboriginal communities:

i. If your language falls asleep: stop, revive, survive!
ii. If you revive a language, embrace the hybridity of the emerging tongue; and
iii. If your language is healthy, assist others in linguistic need.

One day we may invent devices to “inject” a language into our brains. But until then, any attempt to reclaim a hibernating language will result in a hybrid that combines components from the revivalists' and documenters' mother tongues and, of course, the target language. In the immortal words of Jerry Seinfeld: "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

The Study


Figure 1: Map of Traditional Aboriginal Country after Norman Tindale (adapted from Hercus 1999)

The Barngarla language reclamation project has arisen through partnerships between the University of Adelaide (Linguistics and the Mobile Language Team) and the Barngarla people. Although still in its infancy, consultations began in September 2011, a number of very significant steps have been made towards reclaiming this ‘sleeping beauty’. Without doubt, the key challenge has been to develop a strategy for the reclamation of the language simultaneously and without favour in three major regional centres. In ways that will be elaborated below, this multi-sited, regional or peripheral reclamation makes demands that are very different to those often found in metropolitan reclamation contexts (e.g. Kaurna, cf. Amery...

This report summarises findings from consultative research undertaken with a selection of KidsMatter pilot schools and project officers as part of the KidsMatter Indigenous adaptation project. The purpose of the consultations was to assess the suitability of the existing KidsMatter implementation resources for Indigenous students and families and to investigate ways that KidsMatter could support schools to cater more effectively for Indigenous communities.

Indigenous ways of knowing for many Indigenous communities traditionally relied on experiential learning and oral tradition, unlike a Western-modeled school system (based on a curriculum); however, Indigenous groups post-contact have adapted traditional Indigenous ways of knowing to contemporary colonial pedagogies. Most recently, the use of comics have increased as a method to disseminate Indigenous knowledge, cultures, and stories to the body populous. Many Indigenous cultures used different medians to share their culture, spiritualty, and identities. Wintercounts, petroglyphs, and carvings are just a few of the ways. This paper explores the use of comics, using examples from MOONSHOT: The Indigenous Comics Collection Volumes 1 and 2 as an innovated Indigenous pedagogy, and its contribution in combating colonialism by reaching beyond communities to educate not only Indigenous people, but non-Indigenous people as well.

The participation rate of Indigenous people in higher education is comparatively disparately low across all sectors. In this article the authors examine the pivotal role of the university sector in addressing this inequity and releasing the potential for increased Indigenous enrolment, participation and completion in higher education. Indigenous higher education, they argue, is core university business, not an equity issue, and a unique opportunity currently exists for achieving significant progress. Using examples of best practice they show how universities can take positive practical steps to overcome the commonly identified barriers to Indigenous higher education success. These examples include Indigenous centres and units to assist and support Indigenous students. The authors also propose four specific strategies for increasing Indigenous higher education success across all facets. These are: the recruitment of highly dedicated staff; to optimise the degree of comfort, cultural and academic, of beginning students; the role and centrality of Indigenous centres in Indigenous higher education needs to be recognised and strengthened; and to keep the institutions' Indigenous support mechanisms constantly under review. The authors extend their analysis to the low Indigenous representation among university staff, arguing that a greater presence and nurturing of Indigenous staff, academic and general is a vital facet of improving Indigenous higher education access and success. Finally, they argue that a longitudinal study of Indigenous higher education participation is needed to provide an evidence base to inform and increase the efficacy of policy in this area.

The movement, in Canada and the United States, to establish and maintain postsecondary institutions controlled by Indigenous peoples is part of broader Indigenous North American struggles to effect positive change on current circumstances and contribute to the creation of a truly liberating education in the face of historical and continuing colonial systems of marginalization. This article compares these processes in Canada and the United States, using an historical approach to a systems-level analysis to explore the past and present structures and purposes of these Indigenous postsecondary institutions as well as the past and present policies that shape them, with reference to the ways in which these institutions grow from and contribute to the decolonization of Indigenous communities.

In British Columbia, Canada, music curriculum documents, or Integrated Resource Packages (IRP’s), include very few references to First Nations music making despite the fact that, in many rural school districts, First Nations students form a large percentage of the student body. In 2006, the British Columbia Ministry of Education produced the revised curriculum document Shared Learnings: Integrating BC Aboriginal Content K-10. The document contains instructional strategies and resources to encourage the integration/inclusion of First Nations content and ways of knowing into all school curricula. This paper will critique Shared Learnings, examine its recommendations for planning a program that integrates First Nations musical practices into music classes transparently, and describe recent initiatives of British Columbian rural school districts, in partnership with local First Nations communities, to help teachers link local knowledge to standard school curricula.

This report aims to provide a summary of the historical, cultural, and policy context within which the Sixties Scoop developed and was addressed in Alberta. Alberta was not unique in the development of its child welfare policies with respect to Indigenous peoples. Very similar trajectories of slow institutional reform, missteps and tragedies unfolded in comparable jurisdictions such as Saskatchewan (Stevenson, 2013) and very different
contexts such as British Columbia (Smith, 2009). The report will discuss some similarities and distinctions with other jurisdictions in Canada in order to situate Alberta in the broader context. Within the Province of Alberta there are three treaty territories (Treaty 6, 7, and 8), 140 reserves, and eight Métis settlements. A number of Indigenous communities
reside in Alberta, including Blackfoot, Cree, Dene, Métis, and Nakoda (Stoney). Due to Alberta’s particular legal and political history, these groups were uniquely impacted by Alberta’s Sixties Scoop policies and practices. The issue admits of considerable urgency given that Alberta continues to have one of the highest proportions of Indigenous children and youth in various child welfare and juvenile institutions (Alberta Office of the Child
and Youth Advocate, 2016).

Four stars in the night sky have been formally recognised by their Australian Aboriginal names. The names include three from the Wardaman people of the Northern Territory and one from the Boorong people of western Victoria. The Wardaman star names are Larawag, Wurren and Ginan in the Western constellations Scorpius, Phoenix and Crux (the Southern Cross). The Boorong star name is Unurgunite in Canis Majoris (the Great Dog). They are among 86 new star names drawn from Chinese, Coptic, Hindu, Mayan, Polynesian, South African, and Aboriginal Australian cultures.

Using 8 ways pedagogical models requires educators to understand Land based education. These often include:
Indigenous knowledge (IK)
Indigenous environmental knowledge (IEK),
traditional knowledge (TK),
traditional ecological or traditional  environmental knowledge (TEK)
These come with also a range of roughly interconnected definitions.
However, when we treat knowledge in this way, as ‘separate’ and not ‘whole’ it possibly gives us greater understanding as to why perhaps Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies in the sciences are largely avoided in the classroom. This local Western Sydney High school is working with the author to develop more authentic connections to their Aboriginal community and make examples used in classrooms link to Dharug lands, story and languages. Author: Shirley Gilbert s.gilbert@westernsydney.edu.au

This paper examines the historical impact of colonialism on the current marginalisation of Indigenous Australians in the areas of education and employment. This paper argues that the historical, and continuing, perception of the valuelessness of Indigenous people within mainstream Anglo-Saxon Australian society has directly impacted their education outcomes, socioeconomic status and overall well-being. In reviewing the past treatment of Indigenous Australians, it is clear that colonisation was just the beginning of a series of governmental policies that aimed to dispossess and disadvantage Indigenous Australians. Examining previous legal and institutional dealings between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, such as Terra Nullius, the introduction of the mass-schooling and equal pay legislation, highlights the systematic destruction of Indigenous culture and opportunities for success. Indigenous Australians have typically been employed in low income positions due to low access to education, which overall results in lower well-being. This is confirmed by the low life expectancy and high levels of unemployment of Indigenous Australians in comparison to non-Indigenous Australians. It is therefore necessary to undertake a holistic approach towards education, employment and well-being in order to produce long-lasting positive outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

We present 25 accounts of comets from 40 Australian Aboriginal communities, citing both supernatural perceptions of comets and historical accounts of bright comets. Historical and ethnographic descriptions include the Great Comets of 1843, 1861, 1901, 1910, and 1927. We describe the perceptions of comets in Aboriginal societies and show that they are typically associated with fear, death, omens, malevolent spirits, and evil magic, consistent with many cultures around the world. We also provide a list of words for comets in 16 different Aboriginal languages.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students can have their sense of belonging challenged by pursuing the education opportunity of attending a boarding school. This is exemplified in the current literature through reported experiences of loneliness, isolation, homesickness, and the feeling of being ‘between two worlds’. However, there is an absence of research that relates these issues with the established ability for architecture to influence occupant wellbeing. Few studies have focussed on the potential role of interior design in contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences of education. The aim of this doctoral thesis was to address this gap through a process of Participatory Action Research (PAR), in which data were collected by yarning and drawing with 27 current boarders (all Aboriginal people, 2 young men, 25 young women), 18 recent alumni (all Aboriginal people, 3 men, 15 women), and 7 boarding staff members (1 Aboriginal person, all women). Four major themes emerged that suggest a role for interior design in increasing student sense of belonging. These relate to the institutional characterisation of current boarding schools (Place Identity), an ‘all or nothing’ experience of social connectedness (Interior Architecture as a Social Atlas), the value of student participation in ongoing interior design actions (Spatial Voice), and the need for spaces that offer social and cultural relief (Third Space). From these themes, a new theoretical model for designing belonging is proposed - ‘the feedback model’. In this model, the built environment is conceptualised as a reciprocal storytelling tool for messages about identity and belonging. Although only a snapshot of voices is reported, it is proposed that the findings could have broader application to residential education settings.

This thesis was developed on the basis of Aboriginal educational practices that have been acknowledged in the field as best practice when engaging Aboriginal school-age students in their education. Within my history of engaging with Aboriginal school-age students and preparing pre-service teachers to work with Aboriginal students I have consistently supported many of the Aboriginal pedagogical theorists’ understandings of what stands for best practice when working with Aboriginal students.
Some of these pedagogical understandings came as standard pedagogical practices as an Aboriginal person working with younger Aboriginal students. The recognition of these standard best pedagogical practices came from my working with Aboriginal students in a primary school setting as an Aboriginal Educational Assistant (AEA) and were later refined through exposure to other educational professionals and through my own studies as a teacher which I undertook whilst working as an AEA. I entered higher education as an academic in 1996 and started teaching pre-service teachers about working with Aboriginal students in 1997; this is a role I have continued to the present date. During this time I have extended my reading and my professional networks to include many of the authors who have developed the foundational understandings of what is considered best practice when working on the engagement of Aboriginal students in their schools.

Whilst examining the existing research, I noted that many of these studies had been conducted on a small scale. The majority of them included single class or school samples, with some involving only teachers and administrative staff who were directly interviewed about which practices most effectively engage Aboriginal students in their schooling. There has been a more recent change in the approach to this process with Aboriginal parents now being interviewed about what they believe is best for their children. But, to date, there have been very limited research-based inquiries that have targeted Aboriginal students as the primary source of inquiry in gaining an understanding of what best engages Aboriginal school-age students in their schooling.

This is where my research study fits within the current literature: it examines which form(s) of pedagogy are necessary for increasing the engagement of Aboriginal school students. I have used research practices that are grounded within Aboriginal cultural understandings that consider a culturally safe inquiry process and targeted school-age Aboriginal students from a variety of social, economic, geographical, and cultural settings and asked them what best engages them in their schooling. This study uses the Aboriginal students’ standpoint and understandings as the primary point of reference to ascertain which practices are most effective in engaging Aboriginal students.

This case study explores non-Indigenous youths' experiences of cultural immersion in Indigenous communities in Canada. This research acknowledges and situates itself in the socio-political context of Aboriginal-settler relations, drawing upon historical and recent impediments to these relations, with an emphasis on continued colonial injustices to Indigenous communities. As such, a critical post-colonial emancipatory paradigm is adopted in understanding the theoretical framework of the contact hypothesis. In this study, two groups of youth composed of undergraduate university students participated in a series of focus groups and interviews, while keeping journals about their experiences in an Indigenous community-immersion program. Participants' experiences of immersion impacted their relationship to Indigenous community through the personal connections they formed with the host community and the heightened awareness they developed related to challenges facing Indigenous communities. Findings suggest potential areas of social intervention that could ameliorate relations and foster intercultural understanding, while also highlighting critical considerations for intercontact theory. Furthermore, it is proposed that the contact hypothesis can, ironically enough, be used to decolonize Canadian youth.
Available also from the Indigenous Studies Portal at: http://iportal.usask.ca/index.php?sid=777258713&id=60789&t=details

This paper is an analysis of some of the early results of my fieldwork of observations of Aboriginal students in classes where the teachers are observing the features of the Quality Teaching framework (QT) in their teaching practices, These observations carry some of the similarities that I have drawn from my comparison of the literature of QT and Aboriginal pedagogical practices. In my early contact where I observed the elements of
QT being used in classes, there appears to be some greater focus on specific elements with only passing observations into other aspects of the framework. This paper will argue the need for greater engagement across all elements of QT. The observations relate to my PhD study on the analysis of the effectiveness of the NSW Quality Teaching framework in increasing Aboriginal
students' educational outcomes. This is through a comparison of QT and what Aboriginal pedagogical theorists have stated as best practice when working with Aboriginal students. I believe there are many comparable features across these pedagogical models, but I will focus my observations across QT because of the ability to codify elements in this model and to present some empirical evidence when arguing the benefits of these pedagogical practices.

The 1838 Myall Creek Massacre is remembered for the brutality of the crime committed by white settlers against innocent Aboriginal men, women and children, but also because eleven of the twelve assassins were arrested and brought to trial. Amid tremendous controversy, seven were hanged. Myall Creek was not the last time the colonial administration sought to apply the law equally to Aboriginal people and settlers, but it was the last time perpetrators of a massacre were convicted and hanged. Marking the 180th anniversary of the massacre, this book brings together leading writers, historians and artists to explore the significance of one of the most horrifying events of Australian colonialism. Thoughtful and fearless, it challenges us to look at our history without flinching as an act of remembrance and reconciliation.

This study evaluated a Life Skills Coach Training (LSCT) program based on the Saskatchewan NewStart model of Life Skills (NLS). The program was designed and delivered by Tia Shynkaruk and Kathie Bird on behalf of the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT). The study asked:

In the light of NLS theory, how effective was the LSCT program delivered by SIIT? What was the match between NLS theory and the SIIT LSCT program design? How effective were aspects of the training program at contributing to the desired outcome of the program? How well do the trainers and program graduates think that the graduates were prepared for work as Life Skills coaches and/or in related fields?

In the light of NLS theory, the program was very effective. It stayed close to NLS theory and extended and developed theory in useful ways, e.g., regarding learning styles and the integration of NLS with Aboriginal cultural/spiritual content. Most aspects of the program effectively contributed to the outcomes required by its design. The trainers are confident that their graduates can perform to the requirements of the levels at which they graduated, and the graduates said that they had received what they expected to receive and were happy with it.

The study recommends that the Community Lesson be made more rigorous, that more emphasis be put on ethics, that the program be lengthened, and that a longitudinal evaluative process be implemented. It also recommends that the experience of one of the training groups be examined to explain why it showed lower satisfaction in all categories than did the other three groups in the sampling frame.

The SIIT LSCT program made notable innovations based on NLS theory in the areas of learning styles, with the inclusion of Watching with the NLS-identified Feeling Thinking and Acting; the use of NLS accreditation competencies as training/evaluation points for program trainees; and extending the format of the lesson plan with a new first step called Warm-ups. Carrying out this evaluation necessitated the creation of two useful tools for NLS: the NLS Literature Review, and the Evaluation Survey that sought the opinions of program graduates about their training.

"My Father Was Told to Talk to the Environment First Before Anything Else" Arctic Environmental Education in the Language of the Land, Chapter 16 (pp 285-298)
in
Fields of Green: Restorying Culture, Environment, and Education”
by Marcia McKenzie, Paul Hart, Heesoon Bai, and Bob Jickling (Eds.).
Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

Traditional decision-making is based on a respectful process that attempts to find balance and process.
Whatever the decision may be, the process always has to be consistent so that the people feel that there is balance and constancy in their life.
Consensus is a process where a final, unanimous decision is made organically, rather than by some kind of structure or organisational process lead or set out by a leader.
All voices are valuable, valid, respected and necessary (from child to Elder). A common voice or opinion comes out from the process of talking around the circle. This can take a very long time for complicated issues, but is a necessary process. As people speak they watch each other and see through eye contact and body language where people stand on issues. Gradually a consensus emerges through compromise and understanding of all levels of the issue from each person’s perspective.

This study employs action research principles to determine the extent to which Nipisihkopahk Education Authority, a First Nation school authority in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada, has made positive impacts on teacher practice and student achievement for writing in English language arts. This study uses teacher email surveys and student assessment information as data sets to make these determinations. Data indicates positive impacts on teacher practice and student achievement as well as a direct correlation between both data sets. Recommendations are made for further investigation on large scale writing assessments, the extent to which they impact teacher practice and student achievement, as well as future research studies of First Nations education in Canada.

Descriptions of natural events, such as fireballs, and meteorite impacts, are found within Indigenous Australian oral traditions. Studies of oral traditions demonstrate that they extend beyond the realm of myth and legend; they contain structured knowledge about the natural world (science) as well as historic accounts of natural events and geo-hazards. These traditions could lead to the discovery of meteorites and impact sites previously unknown to Western science. In addition to benefiting the scientific study of meteoritics, this study can help social scientists better understand the nature and longevity of oral traditions and further support the growing body of evidence that oral traditions contain historical accounts of natural events. In a previous study led by the author in 2009, no meteorite-related oral traditions were identified that led to the discovery of meteorites and/or impact craters. This article challenges those initial findings.

The teaching of mathematics to Aboriginal children poses many difficulties for teachers. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers agree that many Aboriginal children are not making adequate progress in their development of mathematical understanding. The teaching of mathematics in Aboriginal communities is discussed in the Northern Territory Infants Curriculum (1974 : 119-123). After reviewing the outcomes of a desirable mathematics course the curriculum writers conclude that 'many Aboriginal children do not manifest many of these outcomes at a level comparable with that obtained by European children'.

When Aboriginal students are spoken of, or heard of, it is frequently within a narrative of deficit, disadvantage and failure. It is rarely recognised that such a destructive and normalised story is borne out of two centuries of colonisation that sought variously to civilise and Christianise; integrate, segregate protect and assimilate; and ultimately to dispossess. My thesis sought instead to reveal and develop a counterstory of Aboriginal education success through an investigation of what successful teaching of Aboriginal high school students in metropolitan Adelaide looks like.
The study was framed by insights and approaches drawn from two interconnected theoretical frameworks. Firstly, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) that emphasises the privileging of student distinct cultural ways of knowing, being and doing in the learning space; the significance and meaning of student education success; and critical cultural awareness. Secondly, the theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT) was utilised, with its tenets being modified and infused into the former to problematise racism in the investigation.
My modified version of CRT, referred to as Colonial Critical Race Theory (ColonialCrit), responded to the distinct Australian story of dispossessing colonisation and racism that were revealed in the investigation as ongoing concerns. Additionally, while the investigation primarily focused on identifying the complex pedagogical practices of successful teachers of Aboriginal high school students, it also revealed what institutional and teacher characteristics contribute to improving Aboriginal educational outcomes and, in turn, what hindered such success.
Australia’s problematic history of colonisation, justified through a diversity of raceologies, is shared by settler or colonised nations like Canada, the United States and New Zealand. Like Australia, Indigenous peoples of these three nations continue to be the most disadvantaged in terms of educational outcomes (Cotterell 2010). However, recognising this bleak situation, all three nations have made concerted efforts to redress this injustice. Recent national, state and provincial-level initiatives have repeatedly been informed by the expanding scholarship on cultural responsiveness and then modified to the local, geographical and cultural context.
So, to reveal the Australian counterstory of Aboriginal student success, the
methodological frameworks of critical ethnography, culturally responsive research and Critical Race Theory methodology are adopted. The use of these three research frameworks enabled me to undertake research ‘proper ways’ (borrowed from Aunty Nangala). This involved, for example, the ‘Aboriginalising’ of established data gathering and data analysis methods utilised in the research project. Additionally, the CRT method of counterstorytelling was instrumental in revealing a counterpedagogy of Aboriginal educational success. Overall, these research strategies disrupt terra nullius styled research and oppose the perpetuation of dispossessing colonisation. Through my analysis a number of arguments were developed. First, that there are three overarching and interacting dimensions to cultural responsive pedagogies of success—the institutional, personal and pedagogical. These three dimensions are referred to in the research as culturally responsive schooling, culturally responsive teachers and, culturally responsive pedagogy. Furthermore, the research supported existing international scholarship which argues that successful teachers of marginalised or minoritised students possess the characteristics and pedagogical practice of being caring-demanders. That is, teachers can make higher demands of Aboriginal students due to their established caring relationships. It is an approach to teaching that privileges an Aboriginal ethic of care and argues that participating teachers have earned the role and responsibility of being ‘classified kin’ within the Aboriginal kinship network (Pattel 2007, p. 3)
My research argues that improving Aboriginal education outcomes will involve framing the current situation of Aboriginal education stress as a wicked problem. This is not ‘wicked’ as in evil, but rather wicked in the sense of being complex, difficult to understand and resistant to resolution (Ritter & Webb 1973). Furthermore, the research revealed that normalised narratives of ‘intervention’ and ‘closing achievement gaps’ secretly transmit (Harrison 2007) a racially based destructive narrative that needs to be critiqued and transformed. As a societal and community problem, the research revealed that improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal students will involve the re-culturing of schools, teachers and pedagogy as well as policy approaches. In this way, my research argues that Aboriginal students will then be able to get their education, stay as an Aboriginal person, and represent the Aboriginal peoples of Australia (borrowed from Uncle Pedro).

Theories of crime applied to explain the over-representation of Indigenous people in the penal system are re-examined by three approaches to Indigenous–governmental relations in post-colonial Australia: Aboriginalism, Welfare Colonialism, and Institutionalism. The colonisation of ‘wild’ country, especially in ‘frontier’ states, and relentless ‘civilising’ has continued to imperil and restructure the Indigenous domain. Modernisation disrupts Indigenous society, nurtures cultural resistance, provokes pathologies in the survivors and conflict at cross-borders. High levels of culture-conflict and stress are reflected in the extremes found in the penal system’s response. Indigenous people’s encounter with post-colonial governments is shaped by the problematic deployment of police and penal institutions in managing ‘self-determination’ and has inspired both new (restorative) and old ‘recovered’ (preventive detention) forms of penal sanction – punishments that exemplify the ambivalence of Indigenous citizenship and the problems of regulating social order in post-colonial settler states.

The purpose of this study was to understand how the unique social, historical, cultural, and Indigenous knowledge contexts of Aboriginal communities in British Columbia shaped high school to university transitions for Aboriginal youth. To this end, the Northwest Coast bentwood box acted as a metaphor that framed the theoretical inquiry and methodology for this study, which examined four Aboriginal Early University Promotion Initiatives (AEUPI) and three Aboriginal University Transition Programs (AUTP) in British Columbia. In addition, I utilized Archibald’s (2008) storywork and Kirkness and Barnhardt’s (1991) 4Rs of Indigenous methodologies, with an additional 5th R (relationships). The study also drew upon Martin Nakata’s (2007) concept of the cultural interface, to analyze 32 interviews conducted with Aboriginal youth, and faculty and staff from the AEUPIs and AUTPs.
Key findings from the Aboriginal youth in this study suggest that learning about university through real-life experience offered by the initiatives/programs was meaningful. Second, both the AEUPIs and AUTPs provided youth with concrete opportunities to explore future academic and career pathways. Third, ensuring that the youth were provided with opportunities to develop relationships with positive Aboriginal role models in the university was seen as a success factor. Fourth, the AEUPI youth shared stories about the important leadership skills they developed as role models and mentors to younger youth in the initiatives, which in turn assisted them with their visioning process for university. Fifth, the students’ sense of belonging at university was fostered by relationships with AEUPI and AUTP staff, Indigenous student support staff, Elders, and faculty. Sixth, the AEUPI youth overwhelmingly agreed that the experiences they had in these initiatives led them to feel wholistically successful. However, the AUTP youth had a conflicting experience. Ultimately, insights from the youths’ stories suggest that the future of AEUPIs and AUTPs is a promising one if universities take heed. To this end, all participants in the study critically detailed how Canadian universities can apply a wholistic conception of the 5 Rs to Indigenous high school to university transition programs.

Song and dance are a traditional means of strengthening culture and passing knowledge to successive generations in the Torres Strait of northeastern Australia. Dances incorporate a range of apparatuses to enhance the performance, such as dance machines (Zamiyakal) and headdresses (Dhari). The dances, songs, headdresses and dance machines work together to transfer important knowledge about subsistence survival, social structure, and cultural continuity. This paper explores how celestial phenomena inspire and inform music and dance.

In this paper we discuss the ways in which successive governments have addressed Indigenous affairs, and we argue that the Australian approach is still firmly rooted in colonial attitudes and discourses. Although self-determination is a core concept of neoliberalism, the dominant political ideology for both Labor and Liberal parties in Australia since the 1980s, it does not extend to Indigenous affairs, which is firmly couched in colonial frameworks. In this paper specific examples of education and cultural sustainability (including language development and sustainability) are used as case studies to explore what genuine self-determination would mean in an Australian context. Overall, it is argued that an honest and real neoliberal approach takes political courage and vision, but would place the power to control Indigenous affairs in the hands of the people whose affairs we’re actually talking about.