Walanbaa warramildanha: standing their ground: honouring Aboriginal standpoint to effect teachers’ professional knowledge

Aboriginal Student education achievement in New South Wales languishes at the same levels it has for decades and is seen as one of the greatest challenges for educational policy and practice. One element of this problem relates to the significant social and cultural disconnect between Aboriginal students, their communities and teachers. Teachers have too often been appointed to schools without the requisite professional knowledge that would allow them to make authentic learning and cultural connections to these students. The purpose of the research is to gain an understanding of the nature and dynamics of community and school engagement in four sites with high proportions of Aboriginal students. It investigates the potential for positive interactions between Aboriginal people and schools and teachers’ capacity to develop authentic pedagogic practices that is responsive to their Aboriginal students’ needs and aspirations. It further investigates how these Aboriginal communities articulate their interactions with schools and teachers and how they in turn they are presented within school and teacher discourse. The thesis unpacks Aboriginal community standpoint and the initiation of purposeful collaboration at the cultural interface. The research questions the nature of these relationships and in particular how Aboriginal stakeholders have supported teachers to build their knowledge about Aboriginal students and their community. This research uses a critical Indigenous ethnographic methodology through interviews with Aboriginal community members, teachers and principals in four regional, rural and remote locations in NSW. Furthermore, it was seen that in each school site, there was varying evidence of deep and authentic engagement between Aboriginal people and a number of teachers. It was seen that in these instances, there was a shift in some teachers’ professional knowledge, and teacher engagement. Finally, the research identified that Aboriginal parents and community members have a strong commitment to being party to the development of authentic collaborations with schools. This research argues that teachers need to honour, understand and actively reflect on community history, contexts and aspirations to develop the skills and knowledge to address the particular socio-cultural and educational needs of Aboriginal students.