Australia holds a complex and unpleasant history in its
relationship with the Australian Indigenous population. Although the past is
regretted and has been publically acknowledged as harmful and wrong (with the
example of ‘Sorry Day’ standing out to most young students as a time to
recognise these wrongs), there have been great advancements made in the
positive relationship between white and Indigenous Australians in the last half
century. Most notably in terms of
education, we have come to a time where there is a focus in schools on
integrating and providing services for indigenous students.
However there are many complications as to the best way to
achieve equality and equal opportunities within Australian schools for
indigenous students, without limiting the progress of other students who the
traditionally western style of schooling may be currently more suited for.
Indigenous students should not be expected to assimilate
directly into western styles of schooling; however this is often the case. This
has led towards the formation of stereotypes suggesting that Indigenous
students are less motivated, less intelligent and often more troublemaking than
white students. In a recent article on news.com by Patrick Lion,
Andrew Forrest (who has been placed in charge of running the 2013-14 review of
Federal Government Aboriginal employment programs) is quoted as saying that
Indigenous Australians ‘continue to suffer the racism of low expectations’.
This can be more damaging than just creating a stereotype – it can form a
vicious cycle in which opportunities are withheld from Indigenous students, leading
to underperformance that can continue through education into work in later
life.
To best help Indigenous students to learn effectively
in a westernized environment, different learning styles and backgrounds need to
be considered (students may be more familiar with natural learning and learning
from storytelling and passed down knowledge, rather than the high levels of
memorization and internet research often seen in schools today. This can
be achieved by the provision of tutors and mentors for Indigenous students, who
can work alongside teachers to make sure that the Indigenous students are
provided with understanding and additional help where it may be
necessary. There are specific programs or structures that schools can put
into place such as PEARL as described in Mackinlay’s article ‘Pearls not
problems: Transforming pedagogy in Indigenous Australian studies in the context
of higher education’, which
explained the acronym as ‘Political, Embodied, Active, and Reflective aspects
of this teaching and learning approach in Indigenous Australian studies’ and
looks at the shift from PBL (problem based learning) to PEARL, going on to say
that the change ‘has resulted in exciting possibilities for migrating and
extending theories of teaching and learning in Indigenous Australian studies
into critical pedagogy, critical race theory and transformative education.’
The use of mentors can also serve to help Indigenous
students through difficult decisions or times in life, and provide additional
support through their schooling. The Australian Indigenous Education Foundation
(AIEF) launched a mentor program in 2010 as part of the AIEF Post-School
Pathways Program. The founder and CEO of AIEF, Andrew Penfold, says ‘The
key to breaking the cycle of Indigenous disadvantage is quality education – it
equips students with the tools to pursue their dreams, but students also need
to know how to use these tools in order to achieve the best possible career outcomes.’
This is an example of a program that takes into account the
differences between westernized and indigenous culture, and works with the
schooling system in the long term to achieve its goals and work on achieving
equality and long-term results for the participants. The program has seen
effective results already, with nearly all of the student/mentor partnerings
continuing from 2011-2012, and the program spreading to Queensland with many
students interested in the program.
This shows the value of initiatives such as these long-term
programs for Australian education. Programs such as these are extremely
important to help Indigenous students achieve equal opportunity within a
westernized schooling system, and to help to bridge the gap that stereotyping
and insensitivity to cultural differences may bring in Australian Schooling.
References:
Lion, P ‘Indigenous
Australians suffering ‘racism of low expectations’: Andrew Forrest’ news.com.au,
2013, accessed online at
Pitzing, A. ‘Mentor
relationships a benefit for Indigenous students’, Lights Out, 2013, accessed
online at
http://aief.com.au/media/7204/120601_lights_out_-_mentor_relationships_a_benefit_for_indigenous_students.pdf
Mackinlay, E. ‘Pearls, not Problems: Exploring Transformative
Education in Indigenous Australian Studies’ The Australian Journal of
Indigenous Education, Vol 41 Special Issue 01, August 2012, pp10-17
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