Running head: Conditions Impacting Indigenous Student’s Education: A Critical Analysis

Conditions impacting on Indigenous Students’ Education:

A Critical Analysis of the
Contemporary Australian Educational System

Stephen Butler
Flinders University
EDUC2420
Simone Tur and Josh Spier
August 27, 2018

A1. S. Butler. EDUC2420. 2184262

Running head: Conditions Impacting Indigenous Student’s Education: A Critical Analysis

As the first mast crested the horizon of Australian waters, it foreshadowed the
winds of change that would impact Australia’s Indigenous populations forever. The
impact of this change still echoes on the breeze today. This paper will critically
review the conditions that specifically impact the current education of Indigenous
Australians through the ideology of critical race theory, critical whiteness theory, and
policy. This paper will also discuss key concepts impacting Indigenous Australians,
such as, colonialism, race, racism, and ‘whiteness’, all of which contribute to the
disadvantaged outcomes significant for Indigenous Australians.

The Indigenous disadvantage started with the early settlers of Australia.

Colonists feared the Indigenous populations and wanted their land which led to
dispossession and segregation (Beresford, 2012). White missionaries tried to instil
Christian values, viewed as hallmarks of a civilised society, on the ‘natives’ to
assimilate them into white society (Beresford, 2012). The rampant and quick moving
‘threat’ to colonisation brought rise to a swift action against Indigenous Australians,
which separated the newcomers and the lands’ original custodians. White Australian
policies placed the Indigenous and many of their future generations to come in a
state of perpetual disadvantage that is visibly apparent today (Tur, 2018). This
process of aggressive colonialism which continues today in, what some call,
Hansonism, (after the politician Pauline Hanson), claims that too much emphasis
and funding has been spent on the Indigenous ‘problem’ (Bunda, 2008).

To understand the impact of disadvantage on Indigenous Australian’s

education, the past must be examined to understand the present. A long history of
separation, segregation, and dispossession is obvious and well documented.
However, what is not obvious is how or why there is still such a significant impact on
Indigenous Australians today. Namely, how race, racism, and whiteness produce
such disadvantaging outcomes. First, it should be noted that when colonists’
numbers increased, they became a dominant ‘white’ group. They expressed the
ideology of whiteness where they practiced specific beliefs, and that the sum of
these values and beliefs were forced upon Australia’s Indigenous populations (Shulz,
2018). However, recently, Nicoll (2007) argued that literature about ‘whiteness’ could
assist both white and coloured people view each other in a way not viewed before.

A dominant culture, such as a white European culture, would undoubtably

shape the landscape of an emerging nation. This sense of dominance created a
racial bias in all Australian policies. This bias can be witnessed today in the
Australian Educational System and is highlighted through NAPLAN policies and
continues through its archaic form of critical race pedagogy (Vass, 2012). This
concept surrounding education favour white students over Indigenous Students,
known as ‘white privilege’ (Tannoch-Blend, 1998). This racially dominant advantage
creates a disadvantage for the Indigenous Australian students (Tur, 2018).

A1. S. Butler. EDUC2420. 2184262

Running head: Conditions Impacting Indigenous Student’s Education: A Critical Analysis

Over the years there have been many government enacted policies
concerning Australia’s populations. Some that directly disadvantage the Indigenous
population, and some that, even though well intended, are harmful to people of
racial, ethnic, and Indigenous minorities. An example of this is the ‘White Australia
Policy’ and segregation to missions and reserves of Indigenous children, in what is
now known as the ‘stolen generation’ (Patrick & Moodie, 2016 & Spier, 2018). Spier
(2018) continues to argue that policy in education has progressed in multiple stages
throughout the years and most policies were attempts to “fix problems”. Spier (2018)
suggests that the problem with policy is not contained to only matters specifically
addressed, but more importantly what is omitted from the policy. In other words, the
problem is often what, or who is not addressed in policy.

As time has passed, government and educational policies have matured and
developed, transforming current issues or redeveloping old ideas into new. It is rare
that new policy is created and not simply a revision of an old policy (Hogarth, 2017 &
Spier, 2018). The current policies that teachers must follow regarding Indigenous
students is no exception. The governing body of teachers, the Australian Institute for
Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) unpacks policies concerning Aboriginal
and Torrens Strait Islanders in sections 1.4 and 2.4 of the Teaching Standards
document (2014). The understandings that pre-service teachers and teachers must
learn from these policies is a broad conceptualisation and demonstrated knowledge
of all Indigenous Australians histories, cultures, cultural identities and language
groups. Pre-service and fully-qualified teachers are expected to use that knowledge
to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
(AITSL, 2014). As policies have evolved over time to be more inclusive, they get
better, or do they? The issue with many policies that are enacted regarding
Indigenous peoples of Australia, is that most of these policies do not include the
people that they affect in consultation when developing or extending policies and, as
a result, are insufficient for the goal they are trying to achieve.

Without consulting Australia’s Indigenous populations when creating policy,

there is an increased likelihood of further disadvantaging students, separating, and
further suppressing Indigenous culture, thus creating a larger division among
Australians (Hogarth, 2017). Many current standards are still in need of reform.
Buckskin (2012) points out that Australian Curriculum Assessment and reporting
Authority (ACARA), AITSL national standards, development of teaching practices,
and the lack of Indigenous teachers in schools, are all in need of review, change,
and widespread implementation.

Over the course of this critically review the conditions that currently impact the
education of Indigenous Australians through the ideology of critical race theory,
critical whiteness theory, and policy have been challenged by examining the
impacting Indigenous Australians. Colonialism, race, racism, and ‘whiteness’, all of
which contribute to disadvantaged outcomes for Indigenous Australians have been

A1. S. Butler. EDUC2420. 2184262

Running head: Conditions Impacting Indigenous Student’s Education: A Critical Analysis

considered. Much progress has been made in bridging the gap between Indigenous
and non-Indigenous Australians in recent years, but it is obvious that much more
needs to be done to reduce the disadvantage experienced by Indigenous
Australians. Though there are no quick and fast answers, the only way to reconcile
the past is through combined, open discussions, that cooperate with Indigenous
leaders, to create policy that creates equity among all Australian students.

A1. S. Butler. EDUC2420. 2184262

Running head: Conditions Impacting Indigenous Student’s Education: A Critical Analysis

References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, (2014). Australian

professional standards for teachers, Melbourne/Canberra, retrieved from:
< http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professionalstandards-for-teachers>.

Beresford, Q., (2012). ‘Separate and unequal: An outline of Aboriginal Education

1900 -1996’, in Q Beresford, G Partington & G Gower (eds), Reform and
Resistance in Aboriginal Education, UWA Publishing, Western Australia, pp.
85-119.

Buckskin, P. (2012). ‘Engaging Indigenous students: The important relationship

between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their teachers’, in
K Price (ed), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education: An introduction
for the teaching profession, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, pp.
164-180.

Bunda, T. (2008). ‘Indigenous Australians and the legacy of European conquest: the
ten years since 1997' in M Hinton, D Rigney & E Johnston (eds), Indigenous
Australians and the Law, 2nd edn, Routledge-Cavendish, New York, pp. 1-8.

Hogarth, M. (2017). ‘The power of words: Bias and assumptions in the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan’, Australian Journal of
Indigenous Education, voluntourism. 46, no. 1, pp. 44-53.

Nicoll, F. (2007). ‘‘Are you calling me a racist?’, Teaching critical whiteness studies in
Indigenous sovereignty’ in DW Riggs (ed), Taking up the challenge: critical
race and whiteness studies in a postcolonising nation, 1st edn, Crawford
House Publishing, Belair, SA, pp. 17-33.
Patrick, R, & Moodie, N. (2016). ‘Indigenous education policy discourses in
Australia’, in T. Barkatsas & A. Bertram (eds), Global learning in the 21st
Century, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam.
Shulz S. (2018). EDUC2420: Critical race theory and critical whiteness studies, week
4 notes [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
https://flo.flinders.edu.au/pluginfile.php/3163122/mod_resource/content/1/E
DUC2420_9400%20Race%20Whiteness%20Lecture%202018.pdf
Spier, J. (2018). EDUC2420: Critical Indigenous Education Policy, week 5 notes
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from:
https://flo.flinders.edu.au/pluginfile.php/3167914/mod_resource/content/3/Le
cture%20slides%20wk5_JoshSpier_%20EDUC2420%202018.pdf
Tannoch-Bland, J. (1998). ‘Identifying white race privilege’ in Bringing Australia
together: the structure and experience of racism in Australia, Foundation for
Aboriginal and Islander Research Action, Woollongabba, Qld., pp. 33-38.

A1. S. Butler. EDUC2420. 2184262

Running head: Conditions Impacting Indigenous Student’s Education: A Critical Analysis

Vass, G. (2014). The racialized educational landscape in Australia: Listening to the

whispering elephant, Race, Ethnicity and Education, 17:2, 176-201.

Tur, S. U., (2018). EDUC2420 Race and the nation, week 3 notes
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
https://flo.flinders.edu.au/pluginfile.php/3158104/mod_resource/content/1/Ra
ce_Education_2018ppt.pdf

A1. S. Butler. EDUC2420. 2184262