Aboriginal educators at the intersection: Intimations of greater nuance in both-ways education

Terry Moore; Geoffrey Jupurrula Shannon; David Scholz

doi:10.55146/ajie.v51i2.33

Authors

Terry Moore University of Tasmania
Geoffrey Jupurrula Shannon
David Scholz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.v51i2.33

Keywords:

Whole of Community Engagement initiative, interculturality, intersectionality, remote Aboriginal education, cross culturality, both-ways education

Abstract

The Whole of Community Engagement (WCE) initiative sought to identify barriers and enablers in Aboriginal students’ pathways to post-compulsory education, in six remote communities in Arnhem Land and central Australia. It identified known factors like colonial history, low English literacy, job prospects and cultural difference. Responses often focus on “both-ways” curriculum and pedagogy, and teachers’ cultural competence. Another factor found was interculturality, the fact of living and working at the intersections of Aboriginal and other socio-cultural worlds. The initiative found that students’ engagement with school and with pathways into further education were troubled by both cultural difference and intersection. The Aboriginal researchers involved in the initiative, living at the intersections in their own lives, exemplified the challenges of, and the capabilities needed to negotiate, cultural intersection. The authors propose an intercultural perspective as a refinement to the both-ways approach to remote education.

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Author Biographies

Terry Moore, University of Tasmania

Terry Moore is a sociologist. His first career was in Indigenous education in Far North Queensland, and he has been involved in tertiary teaching and research in Indigenous issues since 1998. His work focuses on the dilemmas of superdiversity that face Indigenous Australians in negotiating their increasing social, cultural and subjective complexity, and the state in its role in Indigenous education and governance. He is interested in the challenges posed by difference for social cohesion. He is an adjunct researcher at the University of Tasmania.

Geoffrey Jupurrula Shannon

Geoffrey Jupurrula Shannon is a Warumungu man, living in Tennant Creek. He is a qualified teacher, and has a long professional career as Principal in Training, Night Patrol officer, men’s liaison officer, community cultural advisor and court interpreter in Tennant Creek. He sits on the high and primary school councils, and volunteers his time to support young people and patients in the local hospital.

David Scholz

David Scholz’s background is in health science. His extensive experience in primary health care, community development, policy reform and research administration has fostered an interest in the health-education nexus and other social determinants of Indigenous health. He has worked in government and community organisations in remote communities across Central Australia and the Top End. He has a Masters of Business Administration (Change Management) and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

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