The Non-Indigenous Educator Teaching Australian Aboriginal Content in Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

Social work in Australia requires educators to teach skills, knowledge, and Aboriginal ways of knowing, doing, and being to ensure graduates are culturally responsive and potential allies when working with Aboriginal peoples and communities. This education should include an accurate teaching of Australian Aboriginal history and sharing of Aboriginal knowledge. Currently, non-Aboriginal educators are more likely to teach Aboriginal content, which can foreclose opportunities for Aboriginal educators. On the surface this appears to be a continuation of colonialism where white privileged groups speak for, speak about, and occupy, in this instance, the educational spaces related to Australian Aboriginal peoples and other minority racial groups. This occupation of the educational space in social work is an interesting predicament when considering whether social work educators are allies to the processes of decolonisation. This article explores the experiences of non-Aboriginal educators and asks the question—how do we decolonise social work to create culturally responsive practitioners?

IMPLICATIONS

• Universities need to be aware of and address the continuation of colonising practices in teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content.

• There is the potential to create a transformative future in social work education with the sharing of two world views.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-Aboriginal Social Work Educators
• Australian Aboriginal Social Work Curriculum
• De-colonising
• Allies
• Social Work Academics

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).