Another Country: Non-Aboriginal Tertiary Students' Perceptions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S1326011100002568Abstract
Even though Aboriginal people are from Australia it does not mean they speak the English language (non-Aboriginal tertiary student).
Jo Lampert's (1996) research discussed in her article Indigenous Australian perspectives in teaching at the University of Queenslandspeaks volumes about the challenges of attempting to make university curricula inclusive of Indigenous Australian perspectives. She documents the often ambivalent attitudes of academics towards opening up the curriculum to Indigenous Australians. The research discussed here seeks to add to our understanding of this process, focussing this time on the response of students to the introduction of Australian Indigenous perspectives into a single unit within a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching program. The impetus to reflect on the process came with the shock of reading student papers, written at the end of the unit, and finding that effective communication about the educational needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples did not seem to have taken place, making a closer analysis of the teaching/learning process imperative. This investigation will address questions abouthowuniversities can communicate effectively about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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References
Crowley V. ( 1993) ‘ Teaching Aboriginal studies: some problems of culturalism in an inner city school.’ The Aboriginal Child at School 21( 1): 33– 45.
Groome H. ( 1994) Teaching Aboriginal Studies Effectively. Wentworth Falls: Social Science Press.
Kale J. and Luke A. ( 1991). ‘ Doing things with words: early language socialisation.’ In Furness E. and Green P. (Eds), The Literacy Agenda. Melbourne: Eleanor Curtain.
Lampert J. ( 1996) ‘ Indigenous Australian perspectives in teaching at The University of Queensland.’ The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 24( 1): 35– 39.
Malin M. ( 1990) ‘ Why is life so hard for Aboriginal students in urban classrooms?’ The Aboriginal Child at School 18( 1): 9– 29.
Trouw N. ( 1993) ‘ Urban Aboriginal children learning to read.’ In National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia, Conference Proceedings: Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education, 17– 18 November, 1993. Canberra: National Languages and Literacy Institute Incorporated.
University of New South Wales Steering Committee( 1995) Indigenous Australian Studies for Primary Pre-service Teacher Education Framework Statement. Sydney: University of New South Wales.
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