Yearning to yarn: using Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning to support clinical placement experiences of Aboriginal health professional students

Yearning to Yarn explores ways to enable rural health professional educators and professional staff to ‘teach for equity’ when engaging with Aboriginal health profession students. The project uses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘ways of knowing and learning’ as research methods in the form of ‘Aboriginal Standpoints’, including traditional language, oral narratives, lived experiences, art and artefact making. In-depth understanding and appreciation of ‘Aboriginal Standpoints’ through ‘yarning’ as a method of inquiry has been integral to adding to the educators’ understanding of teaching for equity. Yunkaporta (2009) defines yarning as a dialogue, meeting or discussion. It should be acknowledged that yarning can vary depending on the individual context and Aboriginal community involved. Through yarning, this project established a deeper appreciation of the importance Aboriginal students’ cultural, social and emotional experiences can have on teaching practice and Aboriginal student perceptions of the higher education environment. Methodological approaches of collaborative dialogical inquiry and appreciative inquiry were used in a complementary way with Aboriginal Standpoints to grapple with higher education student and educator experiences and perceptions of each other to bring about new ways of knowing and learning. Yearning to Yarn has established that integrating new ways of knowing and learning in teaching practice, such as a deeper understanding of the Aboriginal cultural notions of yarning, is not straightforward (in literature and from the conversation). However, it is integral to constructing an understanding of the Aboriginal student’s experience in higher education. Yearning to Yarn explores barriers to equity and inclusivity in higher education with the potential perception that Aboriginal Standpoints are introduced as the antithesis of Western organisational efficiency. Aboriginal Standpoints required us to consider “What makes it what it is for us?” and “How can we create space and time for it?” within broader institutional higher educational structures as an accepted practice in teaching and policy development. Yearning to Yarn enabled us to ask constructive questions of institutional thinking on inclusive and equity teaching principles embedded in policy to explore the question “what happens next?” – concerning yarning policy off the bookshelf, moving from policy to praxis and seeking the embodiment of the intentions behind institutional policy on equity and inclusivity. Moving forward, Yearning to Yarn identified scope for educators to ‘grapple’ with implications of Aboriginal standpoints for teaching for equity and explore the implications of such grappling for being: responsive to Aboriginal students’ personal situations and mindful of their cultural considerations, to transform educational practice for teaching for equity.