Building positive relationships with Indigenous children, families and communities: learning at the cultural interface

Abstract

Drawing on the work of Martin Nakata, this paper brings into focus the everyday complexities involved in the cultural interfaces that educators, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, negotiate in order to promote children’s engagement with formal education processes. Analysis of emergent data from a recent evaluation of a preschool education programme operating in 35 rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, Australia, revealed that educators struggle to situate their own knowledge and experiences in relation to the knowledge and experiences of others in both the educational and cultural contexts in which they work. A series of composite vignettes reporting the experiences of early childhood educators across these communities is used to examine the pedagogical opportunities available to educators when they are able to recognise the value of the knowledge and experience of all those involved in a child’s educational success.

Keywords:

• cultural interface
• Indigenous children
• Indigenous education
• teacher experience

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the communities in which the evaluation was undertaken, especially the Elders, educators, parents and children who have contributed their wisdom while researching with the evaluators. We thank them all for the opportunities to visit their lands, to work with them in their communities and to learn from them. We trust that our work, together, will enhance the learning and life experiences of Indigenous children in the communities and beyond. We would like to thank the reviewers of the article, the Educational Transitions Continuity and Change Writing Circle at Charles Sturt University, along with Martin Nakata for a range of generous and thoughtful comments which have all contributed to the development of this paper.

Notes

1. Henry Giroux argues that ‘Whiteness’ ought to be framed as ‘both a discourse of critique and possibility’ (Giroux, 1997, p. 384). In this sense Whiteness can be understood pedagogically as having the potential to transform and reform relationships at the cultural interface.

2. Code switching is when a child is able to alternate between different languages in different contexts, including different social and formal groupings.

3. TAFE stands for ‘Technical and Further Education’. TAFE colleges offer a range of vocational education and training courses across Australia.

4. Deaths in Indigenous communities may be called ‘family business’ and/or ‘sorry business’ and are not directly referred to within Indigenous communities.

5. Indigenous education does not solely refer here to education for Indigenous learners, it refers rather to what Biermann and Townsend-Cross refer to as ‘pedagogy based on Indigenous values, philosophies and methodologies’ (2008, p. 147). Such a view positions Indigenous education as having transformative potential for all learners.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emma Kearney

Emma Kearney is a research officer in the School of Education at Charles Sturt University. She works on a range of research projects focusing on school transitions for families with complex support needs, children’s participation in research, Indigenous education and building child- and youth-friendly communities.

Leonie McIntosh

Leonie McIntosh is an Indigenous Academic Fellow in the School of Education at Charles Sturt University. She is an Indigenous person from the Wiradjuri nation. Leonie’s current research interests include Indigenous education and exploring the positive factors Indigenous children bring to education.

Bob Perry

Bob Perry is Professor of Education at Charles Sturt University, Albury-Wodonga, Australia. He has worked in teacher education in Australia and beyond for more than 40 years. His research and publications are well known internationally, particularly, with Sue Dockett, in the area of transition to school. Bob’s current research interests include powerful mathematics ideas in preschool and the first years of school, ethical tensions in researching with children, student decision making around staying on at high school, starting school within families with complex support needs, preschool education in remote Indigenous communities and transition to school for Indigenous families.

Sue Dockett

Sue Dockett is Professor of Early Childhood Education, Charles Sturt University. Much of her research agenda is focused on educational transitions, particularly transitions to school and the expectations, experiences and perceptions of all involved. With Bob Perry, Sue has published widely, both nationally and internationally in the area of transition to school. Her other substantive areas of research include working with communities and engaging children and young people in research.

Kathleen Clayton

Kathleen Clayton has worked as a classroom teacher or outdoor educator for over 20 years in a range of remote, rural and regional secondary schools, P-12 schools and outdoor education centres in Queensland and the Northern Territory. This includes 2 years at a P-12 school in a large, remote Aboriginal community, first as classroom teacher, then as deputy principal. Most recently, Kathleen has been a teacher educator at the University of Tasmania and Charles Sturt University, New South Wales. Kathleen is currently a PhD scholar at Charles Sturt University. Her PhD project examines critical praxis in higher education pedagogy.