Abstract
The areas of concern (‘goals’, ‘domains’ and ‘priority areas’—whatever policymakers wish to call them) relating to Indigenous education have not changed since the first National Indigenous education policy in 1989. Deficit discourses, discursive trickery and the inability to report progress continues to demoralise and ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students remain at the lower rungs of educational outcome indicators maintaining societal and institutional constructs. In this paper, I argue that there is a need to dramatically reform the approach to Indigenous education transforming the hegemonic positioning assumed by the coloniser. Essentially, this would take a revolution: a revolutionary transformation of institutional and societal constructs; a cognitive awareness of how language and discourses are used to maintain power and a need to privilege Indigenous voices and knowledges to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights in education are achieved.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ACIL Allen Consulting. (2014). Report to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Advisory Group of the Education Council: Evaluation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan 2010–2014. http://www.acilallen.com.au/cms_files/ACILAllen_ATSI_Education2014.pdf.
Australian Council for Educational Research. (2017). Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education. https://teacheredtest.acer.edu.au/.
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2013). National Assessment Program—NAP. http://www.nap.edu.au/.
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2015). Australian Curriculum v 8.3. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/.
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list.
Birch, C. (2017, July). Re: Is policy on Indigenous education deliberately being stalled? [Social Media comment]. https://theconversation.com/is-policy-on-indigenous-education-deliberately-being-stalled-76855#comment_1319954. Accessed September 2, 2017.
Chapman, T. (1988). Talkin’ bout a revolution. Elektra: Tracy Chapman.
Chouliaraki, L., & Fairclough, N. (1999). Discourse in late modernity: Rethinking critical discourse analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Council of Australian Governments. (2008). National Indigenous Reform Agreement (Closing the Gap). http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/health_indigenous/indigenous-reform/national-agreement_sept_12.pdf.
De Varennes, F., & Kuzborska, E. (2016). Language, rights and opportunities: The role of language in the inclusion and exclusion of Indigenous peoples. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 23(3), 281–305.
Department of Education Employment and Training. (1989). National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy. https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/national_aboriginal_and_torres_strait_islander_education_policy.pdf.
Department of Finance. (2017). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Advisory Group. http://www.finance.gov.au/node/116741/.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2014). Closing the Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2014. http://www.naccho.org.au/download/aboriginal-health/closing_the_gap_2014.pdf.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2015). Closing the Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2015. https://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Closing_the_Gap_2015_Report.pdf.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2016). Closing the Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2016. http://www.naccho.org.au/download/aboriginal-health/PM&C%20Closing%20the%20Gap%20Report_AccPDF_01.pdf.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2017). Closing the Gap Prime Minister’s Report 2017. http://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/ctg-report-2017.pdf.
Donnelly, K. (2011, February 2). The failed education revolution, ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-02-02/a_failed_education_revolution/43506.
Donnelly, K. (2014, March 7). Social class affects school achievement less than you think, The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/social-class-affects-school-achievement-less-than-you-think-23973.
Education Council. (2015). National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Strategy 2015. http://www.scseec.edu.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/ATSI%20documents/DECD__NATSI_EducationStrategy.pdf.
Education Council. (2016). AESOC Members. http://www.scseec.edu.au/EC-AESOC/AESOC-Members.aspx.
Fairclough, N. (2001a). The dialectics of discourse. Textus, 14(2), 231–242.
Fairclough, N. (2001b). The discourse of new labour: Critical discourse analysis. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor, & S. Yates (Eds.), Discourse as data: A guide for analysis (pp. 229–266). London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge.
Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and power (3rd ed.). New York: Longman.
Hogarth, M. (2016). One step forward, two steps back: The historical and social context of Indigenous education policy. Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, 19(1–2), 147–160.
Hogarth, M. (2017a). Is policy on Indigenous education being deliberately stalled? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/is-policy-on-indigenous-education-deliberately-being-stalled-76855.
Hogarth, M. (2017b). Speaking back to the deficit discourses: A theoretical and methodological approach. The Australian Educational Researcher, 44(1), 21–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-017-0228-9.
Hogarth, M. (2018). Addressing the rights of Indigenous peoples in education: A critical analysis of Indigenous education policy (PhD Thesis). Queensland University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Horn, J., Rosenband, L. N., & Smith, M. R. (2010). Reconceptualizing the industrial revolution. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Independent Schools Council of Australia. (2016). ISCA Board of Management. http://isca.edu.au/about-isca/isca-board-of-management/.
Institute of Public Administration Australia—South Australian Division Inc. (2016). On the couch: Chief executive series with Tony Harrison, chief executive, Department for Education and Child Development. http://sa.ipaa.org.au/Events/20160429OTCTonyHarrison.asp.
Krakouer, J. (2016). Literature review relating to the current context and discourse surrounding Indigenous Early Childhood Education, school readiness and transition programs to primary school. http://research.acer.edu.au/indigenous_education/43/.
Lingard, B., Thompson, G., & Sellar, S. (2016). National testing from an Australian perspective. In B. Lingard, G. Thompson, & S. Sellar (Eds.), National testing in schools: An Australian assessment. New York: Routledge.
McConville, G. (2002). Regional agreements, higher education and representations of Indigenous Australian reality: Why wasn’t I taught that in school? Australian Universities’ Review, 45(1), 15–24.
MCEETYA. (2006). Australian Directions in Indigenous Education 2005–2008.
MCEETYA Taskforce on Indigenous Education. (2000). Achieving Educational Equality for Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/reporta_file.pdf.
McPhee, P. (2013). A companion to the French Revolution. Malden: Wiley.
Ministerial Council for Education Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs. (2011). National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan 2010–2014. http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/A10-0945_IEAP_web_version_final2.pdf.
Ministerial Council on Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs. (2006). Australian Directions in Indigenous Education 2005–2008. http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/Australian_Directions_in_Indigenous_Education_2005-2008.pdf.
Morgan, B., West, E. G., Nakata, M., Hall, K., Swisher, K., Ahenakew, F., et al. (1999). The Coolangatta statement on Indigenous rights in education. Journal of American Indian Education, 39(1), 52–64.
Morgan, B., West, E. G., Nakata, M., Hall, K., Swisher, K., Ahenakew, F., et al. (2006). The Coolangatta statement on Indigenous peoples’ rights in education. In P. Read, G. Meyers, & B. Reece (Eds.), What good condition? : Reflections on an Australian aboriginal treaty 1986–2006 (pp. 229–236). Canberra: ANU E Press.
Nakata, M. (2007). Disciplining the savages: Savaging the disciplines. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
National Catholic Education Commission. (2016). Commissioners. http://www.ncec.catholic.edu.au/about-ncec/commissioners.
National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples. (2016). Redfern Statement—An urgent call for a more just approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. http://nationalcongress.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/The-Redfern-Statement-9-June-_Final.pdf.
Novak, L. (2016). Families SA to be separated from Education Department on recommendation of Nyland Royal Commission, The Advertiser. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/families-sa-to-be-separated-from-education-department-on-recommendation-of-nyland-royal-commission/news-story/39e8ce869d71046e02fd1dfec9fef24d.
Reconciliation Australia. (2015). Submission to the Department of the Treasury: 2015–16 Commonwealth Budget. https://www.reconciliation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-16-Pre-budget-submission-Reconciliation-Australia.pdf.
Referendum Council. (2017). Uluru statement from the heart. https://www.referendumcouncil.org.au/sites/default/files/2017-05/Uluru_Statement_From_The_Heart_0.PDF.
Reid, A. (2009). Is this a revolution?: A critical analysis of the Rudd government’s national education agenda. Curriculum Perspectives, 29(3), 1–13.
Rigney, L. (1999). Internationalization of an Indigenous anticolonial cultural critique of research methodologies: A guide to indigenist research methodology and its principles. Wicazo sa Review, 14, 109–121.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Dunedin: University of Otago Press.
United Nations General Assembly. (2008). The United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hogarth, M. Talkin’ bout a revolution: the call for transformation and reform in Indigenous education. Aust. Educ. Res. 45, 663–674 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0277-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0277-8