Indigenous Perspectives and Standpoints in Education

This unit connects with the unit learning outcomes of articulating and embodying the ideologies, epistemologies and cosmologies of socially-just education through critically reflective and reflexive teaching. It will expand pre-service teacher knowledge of Indigenous perspectives and standpoints and how this impacts learning, equity and access for Indigenous students at school. This involves critically applying knowledge educational issues to improve classroom practice that strengthen school relations with their local community. The overall goal of this unit is to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoints and lived experiences of place and spaces, and to critically evaluate teacher positionalities alongside compulsory school curriculum content and pedagogy, AITSL and other policy frameworks.
This unit aims to

• Acknowledge the past and present traumas and future aspirations of Indigenous peoples, particularly the First Nations people of Australia and other communities of belonging;

• Value Indigenous cultural diversity, recognise Indigenous sovereignty, and educate for a reconciled future;

• Explore theoretical constructs including Deficit Theory and decolonising theories and culturally responsive teaching and learning theories;

• Challenge students to address systematic white privilege in Australian curriculum, and develop strategies that value and highlight positive education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders students.