Name: MINH PHUONG NGUYEN

Student ID: 19187336

ABORIGINAL AND CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY
CRITICAL REFLECTION
My time abroad as an international student has brought many different perspectives and
learning. I have learned Australia is a culturally diverse country with deep-rooted Aboriginal
culture and heritage. However, the history leading to Australia’s eventual colonisation, has
created a shift between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and to an extend the way
Aboriginal people perceive the contemporary educational system. It is through the Aboriginal
and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy unit that I understand a bit more into Australia’s
reconciliation attempts with the Aboriginal communities. More importantly, how the different
knowledges and perspectives could inform an educator specifically of culturally responsive
teaching strategies for students of Indigenous background.
Prior to this unit, pre-service teachers are expected to adhere to the Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers as outlined by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School
Leadership (AITSL, 2017). There are three standards regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait
islander students: standards 1.4 – strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students, 2.4 – understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people to promote
reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and 7.4 – engage with
professional teaching networks and broader communities.
Throughout the assessments, I have scoured various teaching pedagogies as well as broadening
my understanding of Aboriginal culture and their way of learning. As with any students,
teachers must firstly establish the learning needs of their students to facilitate proper pedagogy.
With Aboriginal students, it is also crucial for the teachers to have cultural competency and be
responsive in their teaching, adapting to particular student’s response. Specifically, teachers
need to know and understand Aboriginal history to realise the conditions for Aboriginal
students. According to Lewthwaite et al. (2015), Aboriginal students may lack sense of control
when incorporated in mainstream education systems as well as the major cultural differences
between the school and home environment. In addition, the teachers and schools’ overall
outlook on Aboriginal students and community could lead to more positive student outcomes.
In order to really push the students’ capabililities, I believe it is a standard to always have high
expectations for your students or have an outlined goal differentiate for students to strive
towards. As such, teaching practices that emphasise positive relations, appropriated
behavioural support, alongside personalised teaching and learning goals will have beneficial
impact for all students. It is noted that literacy and numeracy demands are more challenging
for Aboriginal students and thus would require compromise between individual lessons and
actual school goals. The artefact assessment helped me realise the importance and benefits of
excursions as a highly valued tool for cross-curricular teaching. For instance, the “Burramatta
Landscape Trail” is a great learning space for facilitating a cultural bridge between syllabus
content with Aboriginal knowledges and understanding. The walk itself tells the history of
what Parramatta was before colonisation, while the spacious environment allows for physical
lesson exercises that tries to enhance students’ active participation.
In terms of educational facilitation, mainstream classes emphasised orderliness requiring
students to sit, take notes, read books and listen to the teacher in the front. Whereas for
Aboriginal teaching and learning, I described it as a more akin to kinesthetic learning,
illustrated in Yunkaporta’s (2009) eight aboriginal ways of learning. This aboriginal
pedagogical framework consisted of eight interconnected pedagogy and most notably to me
are learning through narrative, hands-on method, learning through environmental practices
since these highlights the kinesthetic elements of teaching. In a broader sense, the eight
pedagogical framework extends to students of every ethnicity and thus drive towards a more
inclusive learning environment. Another takeaway for me is the similarity between this
framework with that of the quality teaching framework and how the two can be weaved into a
lesson. For instance, connecting learning to local values,needs and knowledge ties in with the
utilisation of background knowledge as both draws upon students’ prior knowledge and
understanding. Furthermore, Blair’s (2015) reading helped me realised embedding Aboriginal
perspectives in lesson content is not just to fulfill certain criteria but rather in assisting students’
to embrace their cultural identity, teachers are enriching their personal teaching philosophy and
furthering the extensiveness of their teaching practices.
The group assessment task was designed to simulate the collaboration aspect of the teaching
profession, specifically collaborations with other teachers and communities. As briefly
mentioned before, the Burramatta Landscape Trail was a central geographically-placed site that
greatly cuts down the estranged feeling due to its close proximity to Parramatta (namely
Westfield). In addition, the park is an established destination with touring guidance from the
nearby Visitor and information centre. On the trail itself, students would learn of various
historical events such as how the invading parties travelled to the place, the early connections
of the local Aboriginal communities with their land, their lifestyle and diet, the weapons they
crafted and wielded. The main attraction our group thought of is the relative ease for travelling
to the site but more importantly due to the site’s naturally spacious environment it would serve
as an excursions running across multiple key learning areas. It would also be a change of pace
from usual learning taken place within the class. As per respect to the lands the teaching will
be operated on, our group came in contact with the local visitor centre which is a massive
information custodian regarding the Parramatta area. The informants suggested the area would
serve as great excursion of learning and offered a possible tourist guide if required.
Although I know my learning and understanding on the topic is just beginning, often times it
is important to realise and compiled what is learnt and apply to contextualise the understanding.
As such, it is necessary to have these reflections to highlight the pedagogical practices that will
be used in the near future and for me to continue learning and engaging with schools and
aboriginal communities.

References

AITSL. (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from Australian
Institute for Teaching and School Leadership: http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-
professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list
Blair, N. (2015). Aboriginal education: More than adding different perspectives. Learning to
teach in the secondary school, 189-208.
Lewthwaite, B., Osborne, B., Lloyd, N., Llewellyn, L., Boon, H., Webber, T., ... & Harrison,
M. (2015). Seeking a pedagogy of difference: What Aboriginal students and their
parents in North Queensland say about teaching and their learning. Australian Journal
of Teacher Education (Online), 40(5), 132.
Yunkaporta, T. (2009). Aboriginal pedagogies at the cultural interface (Doctoral dissertation,
James Cook University).