Provocations

On this page you will find a variety of information chosen to both inform and provoke your thinking about the education of Indigenous peoples in mainstream schooling.

The first thing you need to understand is that Indigenous peoples have rights which are recognised under international agreements, treaties, and conventions.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People provides a framework for understanding these rights.
The Arctic Statement (pdf 45Kb) gives an example of how these ideas are being developed.
Indigenous Education and the Ladder to Prosperity (pdf 540Kb) by Marcia Langton and Zane Ma Rhea

Education is always very high on the agenda when discussing the provision of mainstream services to Indigenous and other traditionally-oriented communities. The articles by Langton and Pearson explain the seriousness of the issues involved and raise many important issues for teachers and the education system to address here in Australia.

Accelerated Education: Addressing education gaps and the 'whole of life' crisis facing Australian Indigenous youth (pdf 173Kb), by Marcia Langton
We need real reform in indigenous public schooling (pdf 19Kb), by Noel Pearson

Learn about education of Aboriginal children through the eyes of Dr Raymattja Marika, from the speech she gave at the Wentworth Lecture in 1998.

Raymattja Marika-Mununggiritj's speech at the 1998 Wentworth Lecture (pdf 95Kb)
Chronicler of a disaster foretold (The Australian) - Marcia Langton argues that W.E.H. Stanner understood early the cultural schism at the heart of the crisis in remote communities.

Have a look at the questions posed by McIntosh and Leonardo in their papers

The Color of Supremacy: Beyond the discourse of ‘white privilege’ (pdf 108Kb), by Zeus Leonardo
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (pdf 94Kb), by Peggy McIntosh

and follow this up with doing the activity Thinking about your Biography (pdf 23Kb).

Have a look at Education is the key (pdf 1.4Mb) for a discussion about Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory.

Read Professor Marcia Langton's award-winning article Trapped in the Aboriginal reality show (pdf 278Kb) published in the Griffith Review. This paper won the 2008 Victorian Premier's Literary Award - The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate.

Dr. Chris Sarra discusses the idea of mutual responsibility in the context of schools in the Mutual responsibilities: Policy partnerships not people punishment (pdf 22Kb).

What Works (pdf 128Kb) has developed a very important set of resources for teachers. Setting up for success is the first of the Core Issues papers.