Crossing Over: Collaborative and Cross-Cultural Teaching of Indigenous Education in a Higher Education Context

Shirley Morgan; Barry Golding

doi:10.1375/S1326011100001083

Authors

Shirley Morgan University of Ballarat
Barry Golding University of Ballarat

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1375/S1326011100001083

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics and outcomes from a collaborative, cross-cultural approach to teaching an Indigenous education elective unit in a Bachelor of Education (Primary) undergraduate degree at University of Ballarat in 2009. The three facilitators, one non-Aboriginal and two Aboriginal were a lecturer, an Aboriginal Centre Manager and Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group member from the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative respectively. The paper explores the open-ended and collaborative approach used to facilitate the learning, including pedagogies, activities and assessment. The paper, and the collaborative cross-cultural teaching approach it arguably embodies, is presented as a model of desirable practice with undergraduate education students, in particular for pre-service teachers undertaking a P-10 Bachelor of Education degree. As we describe later in the paper, these pre-service teachers, with some exceptions, in general had very limited and often stereotyped knowledge and experience of Aboriginal education, Aboriginal students or Aboriginal perspectives in other areas of the school curriculum. The teaching process we adopted and that we articulate in this paper attempted to address this previous lack of engagement with the subject matter of Indigenous education by actively modelling the processes of local Aboriginal consultation and collaboration that we were trying to teach.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Australian Bureau Statistics (ABS). ( 2010). National regional profile: Ballarat (C) (Local Government Area). Retrieved 26 March, 2010, from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/LGA20570Population/People12002-2006?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=LGA20570&issue=2002-2006&num=&view.

Australian Education Union (AEU). ( 2006). National being teachers survey results. Retrieved 26 March, 2010, from http://www.aeufederal.org.au/Publications/Btsurvey06.html.

Ballarat Children's Homes (BCH). ( 2010) Ballarat orphanage 1909-1968. Retrieved 26 March, 2010, from http://www.pathwaysvictoria.info/biogs/E000031b.htm.

Beresford Q., & Partington G. ( 2003) Reform and resistance in Aboriginal education. Crawley WA: University of Western Australia Press.

Bruffee K. ( 2002). Taking the common ground: Beyond cultural identity. Change Magazine. American Association for Higher Education, 31( 1), 10– 17.

Butler K. ( 2007). Overcoming terra nullius: Aboriginal perspectives in schools as a site of philosophical struggle. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 32( 1), 93– 101.

Craven R., Halse C., Marsh H., Mooney J., & Wilson-Miller J. ( 2005). Teaching the teachers core Aboriginal studies: Impact on teaching. Vol 2. Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Science and Technology.

Bringing Them Home. ( 2007). Bringing them home: National inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families DVD. Sydney, NSW: Ozris Productions.

Faculty of Education. ( 2007). University of Melbourne, Submission No. 62 to Top of the Class, House of Representatives Inquiry into Teacher Education. Retrieved 26 March, 2010, from http://www.aph.gov.au/House/committee/evt/teachereduc/report.htm.

Foley D. ( 2010). Aboriginality and pedagogy. In Connell R., Campbell C., Vickers M., Welch A., Foley D., Bagnall N. & Hayes D. (Eds.), Education, Change and Society(pp. 168– 204). Oxford: South Melbourne.

Giroux H. ( 1992). Border crossings: Cultural workers and the politics of education. New York, NY: Routledge.

Harrison N. ( 2008). Teaching and learning in Indigenous education. South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)( 2008). Face the Facts. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Retrieved 26 March, 2010, http://www.hreoc.gov.au/education/face_facts/index.html, and http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/moo05315.pdf.

Mooney J. ( 2004). Teaching Pre-service teacher's Aboriginal studies: What really works?AARE Paper MOO053515. Retrieved 19 March, 2010, from http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/moo05315.pdf.

Mooney J., & Craven R. ( 2005). Teaching Aboriginal studies: Producing inclusive Australian citizens. AARE Paper MOO053515. Retrieved 19 March, 2010, from http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/moo05315.pdf.

Morgan S. ( 2006). It isn't our job to deal with the natives. That's your job. Experiences of the outsider worker in higher education. Honours Thesis, University of Western Sydney.

Phillips J., & Whatman S. ( 2007). Decolonising preservice teacher education reform at many cultural interfaces. Proceedings: The world of educational quality: 2007 AERA Annual Meeting(pp. 184– 194). Chicago, IL: American Educational Research Association.

Power K. ( 2004). Yarning: A responsive research methodology. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 2( 2), 37– 46.

Price K. ( 2005). Aboriginal studies and Torres Strait Islander studies. In Marsh C. (Ed.), Teaching studies of society and environment(pp. 276–98). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.

Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training (SCEVT). ( 2007). Top of the class. Retrieved 26 March, 2010, from http://www.aph.gov.au/House/committee/evt/teachereduc/report.htm.