School-based Indigenous cultural programs and their impact on Australian Indigenous students: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT

This critical systematic review of Australian research literature provides insights into the aspirations of Indigenous communities to collaborate with schools in establishing local Indigenous language and cultural programmes. This systematic review investigates the body of Australian research into the cultural, social and educational impacts on those Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students who have had opportunities to engage with these school-based Indigenous languages and/or cultural programmes. The review found that while many Indigenous families have advocated for their children’s to have access to quality language and cultural programmes, barriers of indifference, resourcing and leadership, have worked to limit students’ ability to access to these programmes. The studies highlight the effects on students sense of identity, the strengthening connectedness to community and County and the intergenerational sharing of cultural knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous languages
• Indigenous cultural knowledge
• Indigenous identity
• Indigenous education

Notes

1. Hereafter referred to “Indigenous”. This does not diminish the unique connections that Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander people to their own language nations, moieties and skin groups.

2. The Close the Gap strategy – a Labour Government initiative (2007), promised to enact policies that would close (or at least halve) the gap in seven key areas between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the following decade. By 2018, only two of the seven were on track to be achieved (Council of Australian Governments, 2018).

3. PICo – Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcomes.

4. PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. (http://www.prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/).

5. Those states along the eastern seaboard and the capital cities which experienced the violent histories of dispossession, missions, racism and policies that limited language use (Hobson et al., 2010).

6. NAPLAN – The yearly national assessment of students’ English literacy and numeracy in Yrs. 3, 5, 7 & 9.

7. Two-world identities refers to the efforts of Indigenous people to walk the fine line between being culturally connected to their Indigenous communities while having to work and engage with wider socio-economic and political world of the state. Brough et al. (2006) refers to stereotypical constructions of Indigenous identity in this liminal space of imposed in/authenticity.

8. L1, L2 and L3 language programmes refers to whether the target language is being spoken and used intergenerationally (L1), is a strong language with a variety of education programmes being used to support it (L2), or a language revival programme (L3) [see Appendix B].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kevin Lowe

Kevin Lowe is a Gubbi Gubbi man, currently working as an Indigenous Scientia Research Fellow at UNSW (Sydney), a community focused research programme to support a model of sustainable whole-school improvement in Aboriginal education. ORCID: 0000-0002-2982-6565

Christine Tennent

Christine Tennent is Academic Liaison Librarian at the University of Sydney. She is an expert in processing, and extracting value from big data, and was a key driver of the application of NVivo for this Systematic Literature Review. She works across multiple fields and disciplines to ensure rigorous collection and analysis of data. ORCD: 0000-0002-1780-4019

Nikki Moodie

Nikki Moodie is a Gamilaroi woman born in Gunnedah, NSW. She is a Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Studies in the School of Social and Political Sciences. Nikki teaches in the areas of social policy and Indigenous studies, with her main research interests in indigeneity and governance, focusing on social networks, public policy and data production. ORCID: 0000-0002-5238-8073.

John Guenther

John Guenther is the Research Leader for Education and Training with Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, based in Darwin, Northern Territory. ORCID: 0000-0002-0080-1698

Cathie Burgess

Cathie Burgess is a non-Aboriginal educator who has worked in Aboriginal education for over 35 years. As Senior Lecturer she coordinates Aboriginal Studies, Aboriginal Community Engagement. Cathie’s research involves community-led initiatives centring Aboriginal voices. ORCID: 0000 0002 0580 7191