A qualitative and quantitative study of Indigenous content in curriculum. The Indigenous curriculum content in the Australian Curriculum, is tasked as the latest attempt to improve outcomes for Indigenous students. This project aims to investigate how teachers approach this cross-curriculum mandate, consider teachers’ attitudes regarding the teaching of Indigenous content, and identify the complex factors that act as barriers to the success of teaching this content. Employing an innovative desig ....A qualitative and quantitative study of Indigenous content in curriculum. The Indigenous curriculum content in the Australian Curriculum, is tasked as the latest attempt to improve outcomes for Indigenous students. This project aims to investigate how teachers approach this cross-curriculum mandate, consider teachers’ attitudes regarding the teaching of Indigenous content, and identify the complex factors that act as barriers to the success of teaching this content. Employing an innovative design that combines policy analysis, survey research and qualitative research to consider the structural, epistemic and curriculum factors impacting on the success of this policy mandate. This will illuminate the affordances and constraints of new ways of understanding the inclusion of Indigenous content into the curriculum.Read moreRead less
Shielding our futures: storytelling with ancestral and living knowledge. This project aims to overcome persistent narratives of loss and despair with regards to Aboriginal cultures within urban and metropolitan communities today. Storytelling is an essential means of knowledge transmission that ensures the survival of diverse Indigenous knowledge, however colonial storytelling has removed the Stories from Country, their peoples, and the important lessons within them. The project will reciprocall ....Shielding our futures: storytelling with ancestral and living knowledge. This project aims to overcome persistent narratives of loss and despair with regards to Aboriginal cultures within urban and metropolitan communities today. Storytelling is an essential means of knowledge transmission that ensures the survival of diverse Indigenous knowledge, however colonial storytelling has removed the Stories from Country, their peoples, and the important lessons within them. The project will reciprocally engage with the oral histories of D’harawal Elders that engage with Garuwanga Waduguda (Ancestral Laws) and Narinya Wadugua (Living Laws) to emancipate representations of D’harawal’s knowledge from dominant colonial-storytelling narratives that largely speak of assimilation, cultural loss and extinction. The project will assist in revitalisation and respect of Aboriginal identities and knowledge within urban communities.Read moreRead less
Indigenous persistence in formal learning. This project will improve knowledge of the learning experiences of Indigenous students transiting from TAFE to university studies. The results will have significant implications for the ways Indigenous students can be supported in their studies in order to achieve better quality learning experiences as well as learning outcomes.
Co-designing Indigenous education policy in Queensland. The aim of this study is to provide an evidence base and framework for the new co-design approach being implemented across State and Commonwealth Indigenous policy domains. This project investigates co-design within the context of Indigenous education policy within QLD to create a large data set on how co-design is conceptualised and enacted. As the concept of co-design is new in Indigenous policy development, this project is expected to ge ....Co-designing Indigenous education policy in Queensland. The aim of this study is to provide an evidence base and framework for the new co-design approach being implemented across State and Commonwealth Indigenous policy domains. This project investigates co-design within the context of Indigenous education policy within QLD to create a large data set on how co-design is conceptualised and enacted. As the concept of co-design is new in Indigenous policy development, this project is expected to generate new knowledges that will directly benefit Indigenous people, schools, policy makers, and governments. The project addresses the critical social justice issue of Indigenous education inequalities through investigating best practices in education policy development and enactment.Read moreRead less
Walan Mayiny: Indigenous leadership in higher education. This project aims to explore the way universities currently ‘do business’ with Indigenous Australians through focusing on Indigenous leadership in higher education. It will identify the essential components of Indigenous leadership and will establish a model of best practice for the inclusivity of Indigenous leadership within higher education governance structures. Particular focus will be placed on the roles and values of senior Indigen ....Walan Mayiny: Indigenous leadership in higher education. This project aims to explore the way universities currently ‘do business’ with Indigenous Australians through focusing on Indigenous leadership in higher education. It will identify the essential components of Indigenous leadership and will establish a model of best practice for the inclusivity of Indigenous leadership within higher education governance structures. Particular focus will be placed on the roles and values of senior Indigenous appointments as well as factors effecting institutional fit and contribution to Indigenous outcomes. In addition the project will develop new tools and methods to explore this under-theorised area.Read moreRead less
Inspiring Indigenous youth to build resilience and sustain participation with education and employment: the role of targeted mentoring support . This project will develop a model illustrating the attributes and effectiveness of a mentoring program to enhance resilience, and education and employment prospects for Indigenous youth will be developed. The model will inform practice and contribute policy-relevant knowledge toward Government targets of improving Year 12 attainment rates and employment ....Inspiring Indigenous youth to build resilience and sustain participation with education and employment: the role of targeted mentoring support . This project will develop a model illustrating the attributes and effectiveness of a mentoring program to enhance resilience, and education and employment prospects for Indigenous youth will be developed. The model will inform practice and contribute policy-relevant knowledge toward Government targets of improving Year 12 attainment rates and employment outcomes.Read moreRead less
Babera dariadya yewing (Echoes of a flawed truth): investigating theory and practice on the interplay between bullying and racism. The negative impact of bullying and racism is being increasingly documented for Aboriginal youth, yet little attempt has been made to understand the differential impact of these stressors on the wellbeing and identity of Aboriginal Australian youth. This project will seek to address this issue, to guide future action-based research.
Developing a framework for measuring Indigenous research benefit. The proposed project aims to bring together researchers and Indigenous community members to develop a collaborative framework for measuring research benefit. It aims to address two main 'Closing the Gap' priority areas, Indigenous health and education, by questioning what constitutes research benefit from an Indigenous perspective, and how can the benefits of research be measured to ensure sustainable outcomes for Indigenous comm ....Developing a framework for measuring Indigenous research benefit. The proposed project aims to bring together researchers and Indigenous community members to develop a collaborative framework for measuring research benefit. It aims to address two main 'Closing the Gap' priority areas, Indigenous health and education, by questioning what constitutes research benefit from an Indigenous perspective, and how can the benefits of research be measured to ensure sustainable outcomes for Indigenous communities. The innovation of this project lies in its methodology which endeavours to unpack the benefit construct from an Indigenous worldview to enable future research projects to be designed with outcomes in mind that are acceptable and valued by Indigenous beneficiaries and be informed by Indigenous Knowledges.Read moreRead less
Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Education. This project investigates the prevalence of ‘deficit discourse’ and its influence on Indigenous education. Deficit discourse frames Indigenous identity in a narrative of negativity and deficiency. Recent work indicates that deficit discourse is active in policy, public debate, pedagogy and practice, and its prevalence in Indigenous education influences student performance. By mapping the discursive environment and analysing education programs that reje ....Deficit Discourse and Indigenous Education. This project investigates the prevalence of ‘deficit discourse’ and its influence on Indigenous education. Deficit discourse frames Indigenous identity in a narrative of negativity and deficiency. Recent work indicates that deficit discourse is active in policy, public debate, pedagogy and practice, and its prevalence in Indigenous education influences student performance. By mapping the discursive environment and analysing education programs that reject the deficit model, this project assesses whether its removal improves outcomes for Indigenous students. This project provides an original approach to challenge entrenched perceptions, resulting in tangible benefits for the Australian education system and the communities that it serves.Read moreRead less
Identifying pedagogical factors enabling success in elite level team sport for Indigenous Australians: Lessons for Closing the Gap. Despite significant social disadvantage and alarming underachievement in educational outcomes, Indigenous Australians achieve remarkable success across a range of high profile sports. Indigenous Australians' achievement in sport is often explained as a result of inherited racial characteristics but, when seen as the result of a process of learning, it demands inquir ....Identifying pedagogical factors enabling success in elite level team sport for Indigenous Australians: Lessons for Closing the Gap. Despite significant social disadvantage and alarming underachievement in educational outcomes, Indigenous Australians achieve remarkable success across a range of high profile sports. Indigenous Australians' achievement in sport is often explained as a result of inherited racial characteristics but, when seen as the result of a process of learning, it demands inquiry into how this learning occurs and what socio-cultural factors facilitate this. This project will identify the socio-cultural and pedagogical factors that encourage and enhance achieving excellence at the highest levels of sport as a process of learning. Read moreRead less