The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cross-curriculum priority in Australia’s school curriculum: Learning from First Nations educators

• Main Author: Nyholm, Melissa
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: UNSW, Sydney 2022
• Subjects: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cross-curriculum Priority; Uluru Statement from the Heart; Australian Curriculum; Curriculum development; Public policy; Indigenous Studies; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interviews; anzsrc-for: 390201 Education policy; anzsrc-for: 450201 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curriculum and pedagogy; anzsrc-for: 450519 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/100572; https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/50f5d43c-e6a4-40e7-9f28-d286f5aaf3a0/download; https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/24279

The Uluru Statement from the Heart was unanimously endorsed by 250 First Nations delegates in May 2017, culminating a year’s consultation with First Nations people around Australia (Referendum Council 2017a). The Statement calls for a First Nations Voice to Parliament, a Makarrata Commission to supervise agreement-making between governments and First Nations people and truth-telling about First Nations history. These calls for Voice, Treaty and Truth were not only made to the Australian government; the statement also seeks a response from the Australian people (Referendum Council 2017b). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content was mandated in Australia’s inaugural national curriculum, announced in 2008. The national curriculum resulted from increasing global economic pressures and growing federal education influence. This thesis assesses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curriculum content in the context of more recent developments in Indigenous-settler relations through the Uluru Statement: how can school curriculum contribute to self-determination, sovereignty and truth-telling? The research involved two complementary parts: analysis of selected Australian curriculum policies and conversations with First Nations educators. Poststructural analysis of the Australian goals of schooling and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cross-curriculum framework considered how curriculum policies reflect and construct Indigenous-settler relations. The second component privileged the voices of six senior First Nations educators at the forefront of integrating Indigenous knowledge and culture in school and/or tertiary curriculum and research in Indigenous Studies and other disciplines. Thematic analysis synthesises the experience and advice of these First Nations educators to provide guidance for truth-telling, self-determination and sovereignty within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curriculum. The research clearly points to a need for change in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curriculum ...