Conference Papers
Session EDE.2.2 Multiple pathways: Education and employment for remote Indigenous youth
1. William Fogarty: Policy, Pedagogy and Place
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In this paper, I track what I see as a symbiotic, yet sometimes nefarious relationship between policy and pedagogy as it pertains to remote Indigenous education. In so doing, I show that remote Indigenous education sits at the forefront of a larger political landscape that has long been characterized by ideological polarisation, political expedience and complex policy function. I go on to suggest that the ‘policy contestation’ that abounds in Indigenous affairs has too often penetrated the classroom and compromised pedagogic approaches for students in remote areas. I finish by casting a critical eye over the current policy agenda and its tendency towards an increasingly reductionist effect upon pedagogy; instead I argue for a reinvigoration and proliferation of education that begins in a ‘pedagogy of place’.
Author bio: Dr William Fogarty has a long history as an educator and researcher working in remote communities in Northern Australia. His research focuses on the nexus between Indigenous and western knowledge in education and remote development. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at CAEPR (ANU).
2. Inge Kral: Engagement, Enterprise and Employment: A social literacies approach
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Remote Indigenous youth are encountering a complex of competing and conflicting learning and identity formation pathways. Media and public policy discourse offers only one pathway to successful futures: regular school attendance leading to English language, literacy and numeracy competence and mainstream employment outcomes. For many young people from remote regions this narrow trajectory may also result in a break in the transmission of local language and culture resulting in a loss of the knowledge and skills required for employment or enterprise generation activities in land management, the arts, and the new digital economy. In this presentation learning in the remote context is addressed longitudinally using a situated learning and social literacies approach. If the aim of education is to produce mature competent community members who engage as contributing citizens, strong parents and caregivers, as well as skilled employees and creative enterprise generators, it is argued that education must be broadened beyond the simplistic back to basics approach commonly recommended for the remote context. It is suggested that a broader definition of learning and literacy is needed that addresses the complex challenges of contemporary life and embraces changing communication needs in the globalised digital world.
Author bio: Inge Kral is a Research Fellow at Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (ANU). Inge has worked in Aboriginal education for some 20 years as a teacher, teacher linguist, curriculum developer and trainer in bilingual schools and adult education, and as a consultant on education policy. She has an MA in applied linguistics (University of Melbourne) for her study of the development of literacy in Arrernte, and a PhD in anthropology through CAEPR (ANU) for her ethnographic study of social literacy practices in the Western Desert. Inge’s research interests include community-based out of school learning and literacy; youth learning and adolescent language socialisation, digital media and multimodal literacies; family literacy; and Indigenous languages and literacy.
3. Josie Douglas: Indigenous Ecological Knowledge: engaging families in formal and informal learning environments
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Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) has contributed to environmental management and enterprise development outcomes in Central Australia. However, the connection between Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and improved community engagement with formal and informal learning environments is rarely made explicit. This paper presents findings from research with two remote schools in Central Australia. The study found that fundamental to Indigenous Language and Culture Programs at both schools was a focus on Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and country visits. Significantly, the inclusion of local knowledge systems and country-specific learning is currently the main entry point for science education and provides opportunities for the involvement of elders and the intergenerational transmission of IEK. Furthermore, school-based country visits engages young adults in learning environments that they otherwise would be disengaged from and provides the impetus for cross-sector and cross-scale collaborations. While largely regarded and resourced as an optional add-on (to appease local aspirations for education), the benefits of Indigenous Language and Culture Programs to engagement with education and emergent enterprise development are worthy of greater research and policy consideration in the future.
Authro bio: Josie Douglas is based at CSIRO in Alice Springs and is at the beginning of her PhD candidature at Charles Darwin University. She is of Wardaman descent from the south-west Katherine region and has lived in Alice Springs for many years.
4. Cate Massola: Connecting on with Gelengu du Gelenguwurru
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This paper outlines one activity in the Warmun Aboriginal community where intergenerational knowledge transfer and self determination are demonstrated through art and creative practice. It analyses the new media, intergenerational project Gelengu du Gelenguwurru and describes how it encouraged and supported identity development (individual and communal), the acquisition of new or modification of existing knowledge, new media skill acquisition and creative expression. The project is based on the idea that sites of cultural production, transmission and acquisition in everyday life can encourage development, agency, cultural continuity and political representation. Ultimately, it connects social practice with cultural production and intergenerational transmission with positive identity formation. Gelengu du Gelenguwurru shows us that that for effective transference of values, skills and information in the overlapping realm of creativity, agency and learning, activities need to come from the ‘ground up’ and be controlled and determined by local Aboriginal people themselves. This paper will do three things. Firstly it will situate the topic within the broad historical and recent context of the Warmun community, highlighting the history of dislocation of Aboriginal people in the region. Secondly, it will examine the community project Gelengu du Gelenguwurru as a case study and examine its key features and activities, as well as what worked effectively and what didn’t. Finally, the paper will position the project as just one pathway for community members to strengthen cultural knowledge alongside skills required for employment and enterprise generation, in the arts and the digital environment. The discussion will end with a question that the author’s future research seeks to investigate: how will intergenerational transmission and self-determination occur in the future?
Author bio: Cate Massola holds a BFA (Photography), Graduate Certificate in Art History and an MA in Art Curatorship. Her previous research has focused on the analysis and examination of contemporary Aboriginal art, post-colonialism, the relationship between aesthetics and politics and cultural agency. For over ten years Cate has worked in the commercial, community and Aboriginal art sector, most recently managing the gallery at Warmun Art Centre. Her current research continues to investigate the relationship between art and education in remote Aboriginal communities.