Christine Turner

doi:10.1017/S1326011100002544

Authors

Christine Turner

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1326011100002544

Abstract

Teaching in and of itself is a difficult task fraught with obstacles to classroom success. For those who teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students these obstacles are compounded by a political atmosphere that colours every decision made within the school and indeed within education departments.

As classroom teachers it is easy to say that politics has nothing to do with teaching and pretend that it is not an issue. As convenient as this attitude may be, it is denying the facts. Indeed all teachers involved in Indigenous education must accept that their role is political. They must see that part of their task is to overcome years of institutional policy and attitude that have contributed significantly to poor educational performances for Indigenous students in Australia.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Australian Ministry of Education( 1991) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

Bamaga Primary School( 1994a) Bamaga State Primary School, ELA Policy. Bamaga State School.

Bamaga Primary School( 1994b) NPA School, School Development Plan 1995-1998: Education Our Way. Bamaga State School.

Christie M.J. ( 1985) ‘ Perspectives on experience and learning: the role of language in Aboriginal education.’ In Social Aspects of Language and Education. Geelong: Deakin University.

Coombs H.C., Brandl M. and Snowden W. ( 1983) A Certain Heritage. Canberra: Australian National University Press.

Department of Employment, Education and Training( 1994a) Langwij Comes to School: Promoting Literacy Among Speakers of Aboriginal English and Australian Creoles.. Canberra: Social Change Media and the Curriculum Corporation.

Department of Employment, Education and Training( 1994b) National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: A Discussion Paper. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Foucault M. ( 1977) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. London: Penguin Books.

Gallagher N. (Ed.) ( 1993) In Our Days: Injinoo Before Time. Injinoo: Injinoo Community Council.

Harris S. ( 1984) ‘ Aboriginal learning styles and formal schooling.’ The Aboriginal Child at School 12( 4): 3-23, 30.

Harris J. and Sandefur J. ( 1994) ‘ The Creole language debate and the use of Creoles in Australian schools.“ The Aboriginal Child at School 22( 2): 7– 21.

Heath S.B. ( 1983) Ways with Words: Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

King D.A and McHoul A.W. ( 1986) ‘ The discursive production of the Queensland Aborigine as subject.’ Social Analysis12(August).

Luke A. ( 1992) The Social Construction of Literacy in the Primary School. Melbourne: McMillan.

Nakata M. ( 1993) ‘ Culturein education: apolitical strategy for us and them.’ In Loos N. and Osani T. (Eds), The Struggle for Human Rights: Readings in the History, Education and Future Torres Strait Islanders of Australia. Tokyo: San-You-Sha.

Peninsula Regional Office of Education( 1992) Teaching in the Gulf and Cape. Cairns: Queensland Department of Education.

Pettman Jan ( 1992) Living in the Margins: Racism, Sexism and Feminism in Australia. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Queensland Department of Education( 1992) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Early Childhood Education Policy. Brisbane: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Branch, Department of Education.

Shnukal Anna ( 1988) Broken: An Introduction to the Creole Language of Torres Strait. Pacific Linguistics. C– 101.

Torres Strait Islander Regional Education Consultative Committee( 1992) Ngampula Yawadhan Ziawali: Education Policy for Torres Strait, 1992. QATSIECC.

Tucker Marcia ( 1990) ‘ Director's forward.’ In Ferguson R., Gever M., Minh-ha T.T. and West C. (Eds), Out There: Marginalisation and Contemporary Cultures. New York: The Museum of Contemporary Art and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Turner C. ( 1995) The Injinoo Home Language Program: Community Beliefs and Theoretical Basis. Unpublished manuscript.

West C. ( 1990) ‘ The new cultural politics of difference.’ In Ferguson R., Gever M., Minh-ha T.T. and West C. (Eds), Out There: Marginalisation and Contemporary Cultures. New York: The Museum of Contemporary Art and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.