Conference Papers
Session E3.4 Community & Education
1. Fiona Bobongie, Renee Crilly and Erin McDonald: EATSIPS – Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in schools – Reconciliation in ActionH
EATSIPS is a core initiative of the Closing the Gap Education Strategy and a major responsibility of the Department of Education as stated in the Queensland Government Reconciliation Action Plan. EATSIPS as a process is actioned in three ways: 1. through the EATSIPS Document - guide for School Communiti; 2. EATSIPS implementation - Officers based state-wide; 3. EATSIPS on-line - professional learning through ‘the learning place’ as well as online access materials.This presentation will share how EATSIPS is being implemented in schools, working with local communities and how implementation officers are working to support, develop and challenge the school communities they are based in. EATSIPS as a process is actioned across all state school communities in Queensland. The implementation process, which the officers work on, focuses on school reflection and planning around four key action areas for change: 1. Organisational Environmt; 2. Community Engent; 3. Personal and Professionaountabilities; 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy.This planning is taken place through state-wide regional professional development delivered by EATSIPS Principal Project Officers. Officers are tasked with embedding their work within the regional cluster structures and delivering implementation of EATSIPS across the four action areas. What we are achieving in practice is an enriching and enlightening experience of professional development; professional learning and personal and professional commitment to Indigenous education in Indigenous communities by a vast majority of non–Indigenous educators (represented by the cluster groups across the state) and connecting Indigenous workers and communities to the process – who are already highly committed. EATSIPS is Reconciliation in action. What we are developing (and have developed) are powerful stories of shift and change – transformations in relation to Indigenous educational outcomes within individual school settings. These are recorded in our EATSIPS Guides as Case Studies – Third Cultural Spaces in action – see http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/indigenous/services/eatsips.html.
Author bio: Fiona Bobongie is an Indigenous teacher (with Dharumbal connections) based in the Mackay region. She has been teaching for a number of years and has successfully implemented Indigenous education programs in her school settings. Fiona currently holds the role of Principal Project Officer for EATSIPS in Mackay – the Central Region of Queensland.
Renee Crilly is based in Urangan SHS – the North Coast region. In her school site she has operationalised EATSIPS for Indigenous students through the practical application of Murri support networks and programs. She has taken on the EATSIPS officer role in the North Coast region sharing her skills as an Indigenous teacher with strong connections to Eidsvold – Wakka Wakka people.
Erin McDonald is the most senior EATSIPS officer. She has worked for many years as an Indigenous teaching expert and support for local communities in and around the Metropolitan region, linked to her local communities of Inala and Acacia Ridge. Erin has used EATSIPS to both develop and support her local school clusters and regions and has had significant impacts in her local community.
2. Nellie Green: “’Wominjeka’ – Recognition, Respect, Rights – Indigenous Cultural Protocols in Higher Education
Indigenous Australian people are the original custodians of the land. Indigenous cultural protocols including the processes of “welcome to country’ and "acknowledgement of country” recognise the unique position of Indigenous Australian people in Australian culture and history. It is important this position is recognised and incorporated as part of official protocol at all major events and gatherings held at tertiary institutions. “Welcome to country” acknowledges the significant Indigenous nations and recognises the ancestral spirits who created the boundaries and lands, which allows safe passage to visitors. It enables the wider community to share in Indigenous Australian culture and heritage, facilitating better relationships between Indigenous people and other Australians. It also empowers Indigenous Australians who are part of workplaces like universities by making such practices part of their everyday operations. It is not about being politically correct. It is about showing due respect that for centuries has been ignored.
By incorporating Indigenous cultural protocols into University practice, we can move towards Reconciliation and reaffirm Indigenous identity within mainstream learning institutions. This topic reaffirms the conference theme of 'Young and Old: connecting generations' by arguing for cultural inclusive practices to be promoted, thereby allowing younger generations of Indigenous people to be exposed to cultural protocols that they may not ordinarily have the chance to experience. It will highlight the importance of incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing in mainstream learning institutions, acting as a conduit between Indigenous Elders and younger generations of Indigenous peoples, as well as between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Author bio: Jonelle (Nellie) GREEN is a Badimaya woman (Yamatji mob) from the Central Wheatbelt area of Western Australia. Nellie has worked in Indigenous Higher Education for over 17 years in Perth and in Melbourne. She is currently Manager of Indigenous Student Services at La Trobe University, Melbourne and is a graduate of Curtin University, Perth. Nellie completed her Honours year in 2010, with the topic of “’Wominjeka” - The Politics of Welcome. An investigation into the protocols, processes and privileges related to the practices of ‘Welcome to, and Acknowledgement of, Country’”. It focused on the concept of ‘Welcome to Country’ and ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ protocols, with particular reference to the tertiary education sector. Nellie has represented Australia at various international conferences including the United Nations Working Group of Indigenous People (Geneva, Switzerland), the World Indigenous People’s Conference on Education (Calgary, Canada; Hamilton, New Zealand), as well at numerous national and statewide conferences, seminars and workshops. Nellie is an artist whose work has appeared in a number of joint exhibitions, logos, corporate design, and on covers of published books (most recently “Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice” (Kulunga Research Network). Nellie is also a published author and her writing has been published in "Etchings - Indigenous" (Ilura Press), "Message Stick—Aboriginal Contemporary Writing" and "The Strength of us as Women—Black Women Speak", both by Ginninderra Press.
3. Juanita Sherwood: Learning and communication across the generations: Two-way Learning
Elders have always been central to our educational learning journeys since time immemorial and it was under their urgings and guidance that I took on a PhD journey. I am indebted to their wisdom and comprehension of the difficult steps that lay ahead of me on this journey; their; knowledge and ability to articulate our epistemologies, ontologies and ethical praxis; strategic and successful approaches to my teaching and learning; utilisation; and their growling, love, and sharing. Most importantly it was the Elders ways of knowing and teaching that really equipped me with the skills I required for this learning journey. My Elders taught me the importance of story-telling, as a relevant and informative method for sharing knowledge. This method has been used for well over millennia and continues to be a principal strategy for life learning journeys in our current and different world, for us all, young and old. A vital skill for capturing the meanings and messages from storytelling is being able to listen. Sounds easy, but its not, it requires lots of practice to be a competent and respectful listener, just like driving, but if you master it, then you are able to safely comprehend life’s lessons in this ever changing world.
Knowledge sharing is and has been of the essence of our survival, My paper will explore the experiences required to be an ethical and respectful listener. These ways of knowing, being and doing are essential for our youth, to remain resilient and well within their complex worlds of today. This is an intergenerational exchange that has always been important, but perhaps today even more so.
Author bio: Juanita Sherwood is a Wiradjuri woman, daughter, mother, sister, and Aunty and is currently employed at Nura Gili Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Student Programs at UNSW. She has worked and lived in Aboriginal health and education for over 25 years, in rural, remote and urban communities throughout Australia. These experiences, responsibilities and varied environments have shaped her worldview and ways of knowing, being and doing. Her worldview informs her approach to research, with rich insights into why research has not improved social justice for Indigenous Australians. Her life journey in Aboriginal health and education has been enriched by peers, communities, Elders, academic supervisors and rich Indigenous and non-Indigenous textual dialogues.
Author bio: Juanita has completed her Doctoral thesis: Do No Harm: decolonising Aboriginal health research in 2010. It is specifically related to research and strategies to improve Indigenous health outcomes, with a diverse group of informants who are Indigenous and non-Indigenous. The research journey was directed in part and supervised by a number of female Elders. Their direction, teachings and support have enabled her to delve deeper into Aboriginal worldviews, knowledge systems, Indigenous protocols and ethics, in order that her thesis became a competent and meaningful document for Indigenous peoples.
4. Sachiko Kubota: What is ‘education’ for Aboriginal people ? – examination through Yolngu initiated projects
Aboriginal education and its difficulties is one of the classical topics in Aboriginal studies and had been a social issue in Australia for a long time. Over the years, there have been many trials initiated by Yolngu teachers or white initiatives in north-eastern Arnhem Land to overcome the difficulties. One of such project is reported by Tamisari & Milmilany (2003). It is so called bicultural program initiated by Yolngu teachers in 1980s. It is said that they originated the educational way which is more suitable to the traditional Yolngu knowledge and Yolngu teaching and learning way. And there were several other teaching projects held in my field when I was conveying research in 1990s. One of the common features of all of them is their application of traditional ritual scheme and application of traditional knowledge into educational system in school and other occasion. For them, it looks like the ritual procedure is the basic scheme for education. By examining these projects, we can see that the concept of learning for Aboriginal people is quite different from the non-Aborignal image of education. For non-Indigenous people, education at school is the way to give children the fundamental knowledge to bring them up to be a desirable member of the society, which is our way of ‘connecting generations’, but what is ‘education’ for Yolngu people? In this presentation, I will try to analyse the Yolngu initiated projects to discuss the possible educational scheme for Yolngu way of ‘connecting generations’.
Author bio: Sachiko Kubota is a professor in Cultural Anthropology at the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Japan, and has been a member of AIATSIS. Since 1986, she has been conveying research among Yolngu people in northeast Arnhem Land on social change, gender, social organization, arts and crafts production. Her recent interest includes the relationship between state policy and Indigenous people, and she has taken up a comparative research project on indigenous reaction to and negotiation with national and international policy. Her publication includes, ‘Anthropology and art in the post-modern ear’(2008 “People and Culture in Oceania”), ‘From Applied Anthropology to an Anthropology of Engagement’(2011 Musharbash&Barber eds. “Ethnography & the Production of anthropological Knowledge” ANU E Press).