EDUC 2420 Final Essay

As beginning teachers, how will you teach for social justice? Choose one theoretical framework:
 Teaching for Resistance Model
 Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS)
 Reconciliation Pedagogy

Outline how you would apply this theoretical framework in the classroom to meet Australian Institute
for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standards 1.4 and 2.4.

Before commencing this paper I would like to first acknowledge the traditional lands
of the Kaurna people in which is the land that we meet on today and that we respect
their spiritual relationship with their country. I also acknowledge the Kaurna people
as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural heritage
beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today. First and foremost, the
notion of teaching for social justice is becoming an important method of teaching for
educators working towards bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians. Educators must develop teaching methods in ways that challenge the
negative attitudes that students carry towards differentiation in a way that addresses
encouragement to understanding and appreciating diversity. This essay aims to
discuss the importance of teaching for social justice by examining and incorporating
Reconciliation Pedagogy, while focusing on how this pedagogy can be applied into
the classroom. Additionally AITSL standards will be discussed with careful
considerations of how these ideas can aid in the teaching for social justice. Effective
teachers have the potential to change the way young people see the world. They can
be a foundation of encouragement and provide a reliable and consistent influence on
young people as they make choices about further education, work and life,
accordingly this essay will provide researched evidence and personal experiences to
support what our commitment is as Australian teachers, to achieve social justice.

To begin this essay it is important to firstly have a depth of understanding about what
Reconciliation is. Reconciliation is not exclusive to Australia; it is a global
movement. It is just as important to note that reconciling is not limited to Indigenous
Australians but in fact ranges across all minority groups, incorporating ethnic origins
and religious beliefs (O’Donoghue, L, 2016, pp 64-65). Reconciliation is the course
of reconciling differentiations; these may be historical falsifications of cultural
identity or any other site of conflict. Furthermore, Reconciliation Pedagogy intends to
teach a more all-inclusive, shared Australian Cultural Heritage. According to MacGill

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& Wyeld, the key issues are Nationalism, Racialisation and Reconciliation (2017, p.
555).
As discussed by Worby, Reconciliation pedagogy is a useful idea to describe an
approach to understanding the sharing of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
in space and place (2010, p. 201). Worby discusses the main goal of a Reconciliation
Pedagogy as one in which brings people and their different and common histories,
interests and ambitions together, in a way that is fair and open-minded. This can be
seen through two different lenses one of those being the consideration of privilege and
‘progress’ and the other lens being redress, rights and needs (2010, p. 201). The
founding of the council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1991 focused on three main
components, which resulted in an ideal to work towards. These included:
Acknowledgement, Unity and Commitment. Kennedy describes Acknowledgement as
the recognition of our shared history, more specifically one that confronts events of
the past ‘as painful as they might be’. Unite is about celebrating our differences, not
forgetting what makes us different. This will be further discussed when examining
applications of Reconciliation in the classroom. Finally, Commitment is the
commitment to take action, whether this is in the neighbourhood, work place or
classroom (2017, slide 12-14).
Education signifies the value of widely recognised and supported ‘space’ (although in
risk) in which to think adequately about shared social, cultural and scientific practices
in ways that challenge the already ‘spoken for’. (Worby et al 2010 p. 203). It is
important to note that Indigenous Australians educational participation and
achievement is severely lower than that of the rest of the population (O’Donoghue, L,
2016, p.68). Furthermore, adopting Reconciliation Pedagogy in the classroom is one
step towards teaching for understanding about the reasons why there is inequality and
division between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Reconciliation is
concerned with social justice and formations of cultural identity, thus as a future
educator, it is important to educate all Australians about Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander history, rights and culture and fundamentally break down the stereotypes and
discrimination that remain prevalent throughout our society (AIATSIS, 2017). In this
sense a Reconciliation Pedagogy would see the curriculum content of Australian
history as a challenged place of many knowledge’s, including Indigenous and non-
Indigenous. Reconciliation Pedagogy also has the potential to provide students with
the prompts that engross students in a greater understanding of their country’s

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integrated history. Additionally it is our job as educators to teach students to shift

consciousness and transfer from the stereotypes in which are created by racialization,
with the goal to guide students to see through a different lens.
There are many methods of teaching in which adopt the three main points discussed
earlier: Acknowledge, Unite, Commit. For instance, an ideal way to teach about
Indigenous culture is to use Dreamtime stories and more specifically the Aboriginal
names for certain Native animals. This idea works for not only primary students but
also perfect for secondary students also, as Dreamtime stories can educate students
about Indigenous Australian culture through an alternative lens that can be taught in a
variety of subjects including English, Humanities, Art and especially Drama. An
Indigenous Dreamtime story that could be used in a primary school English setting is
The Be (ABC, 2017). This story comes from Dalabon country in the Northern
Territory. This is a story about two brothers who inspect a mysterious visitor to their
home. A Dreamtime story such as this is fitting for primary school children as it
teaches students about the connections to place and family, while they learn about
how Aboriginal Australians tell stories- an ideal foundation of teaching awareness of
Indigenous Culture in Australia. Moving on to a secondary school English lesson,
students can also focus on Dreamtime stories in a way that creates deeper thinking of
Symbolism and the procedure of language, form and social context. Another
demonstration of how teachers could apply a Reconciliation Pedagogy to the
classroom is by providing maps of Australia designed by Indigenous Australian’s in a
Humanities lesson, and educate the students about how Aboriginals have unique
names for places all around the Country. An example of teaching for Reconciliation
in an Art classroom, as the educator, provide students with authentic dot paintings and
stories and meanings for different symbols and then get the students to reconstruct
their own dot paintings to symbolise a story in their life. Role play is a common and
essential part of a child’s early development, in which can lead to experienced
knowledge, and can fundamentally be used In subject Drama. MacGill & Wyeld
suggest this role-play idea could ultimately facilitate research into the complexities of
Reconciliation and allow questioning of their own role in society (2017, p. 555).
These examples have the potential to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians while allowing feelings of safety, support and consciousness
to non-Indigenous students and also educators.

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There are many different yet similar approaches to these reconciliation pedagogies as
seen in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Australian Institute for
Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). More specifically standard 2.4 fits into this
category as it intends to display broad knowledge of, understanding of and respect for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Very similarly to the maps ideas in the
Humanities example mentioned previously, AITSL suggests students in grade 7
History add information and multi-media to place markers on Google Earth. This is so
connections can be made between markers to create maps of journeys, or links
between different locations. Additionally students will create files on aspects of
historic and contemporary Indigenous Australia. Students are encouraged to explore
a topic that can be mapped easily to show variations or movement through time and
space of Australia’s Indigenous people and culture.
AITSL standard 2.4 also supports the idea of Dreamtime stories and or books in
which the setting plays an important part. An example of this is The Rabbits: A
symbol of colonisation. Respect, Relationships and Reconciliation (RRR) provide
modules with concepts of connection to Country, our history, our story and our future.
These modules and the examples discussed previously provide concepts, learning
activities and possible assessment tasks to support the focus area 1.4 and 2.4 in the
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

‘Racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and language diversity is increasing in schools

throughout the Western world’ (Hawkins 2014 p. 725). Therefore as educators it is
essential to teach for social justice, be agents for change and additionally challenge
the cycles of oppression of race and class for example (Hawkins 2014 p. 726). Ideally,
the examples discussed previously will enable the teaching for social justice by
recognising oppression in its different forms and moreover taking action in the
classroom to overcome the cycles. The overall aim is to open the student’s minds and
allow for a conscience raising in which promotes the exploration of social justice
concerns. This can be presented in the classroom when the teacher and students
reflect and act, ‘reflection and action’ (Hawkins 2104, p. 727), which can be done
through open –ended and higher order questioning techniques.

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In conclusion, this essay has emphasised the importance for teaching for social justice
together with Reconciliation Pedagogy. Consequently, these concepts have the ability
to not only help bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
but also help shape a better Australia. Reconciliation begins in the classroom, thus by
adopting a Reconciliation Pedagogy in the classroom, teachers are one step closer to
teaching for understanding about the reasons why there is inequality and division
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It is crucial to note that
educating for equity and reconciliation is not solely about providing for Indigenous
students and their communities, but more so about the re-education of all Australians
to dismiss the ongoing racial mythologies and work together towards a greater equity
and social cohesion. By adopting some of the teaching methods presented in this
essay students will be able to explore the issues raised in a risk-free, fun environment
at their own pace. Carefully considering the AITSL standards, becoming
knowledgeable about Indigenous Australian culture and thinking positively about
Aboriginals and Indigenous Students, Reconciliation is possible.

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REFERENCES

AITSL, Australian professional standards for

teachers (2017). Aitsleduau. Retrieved 15 October, 2017, from
https://www.aitsl.edu.au/tools-resources/resource/sharing-our-indigenous-nation-
illustration-of-practice

Brougham, Barbara L 1994, 'Structure of the draft model', in Brougham, Barbara L

(ed.), Teaching for resistance: report of the Education for Social Justice Research
Project, Texts in Humanities and the Centre for Studies in Educational Leadership,
Adelaide, S. Aust., pp. 34-43.

AIATSIS (2017) Reconciliation Action Plan 2014-2016. Retrieved 18 October,

2017, from http://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/about-us/reconciliation-action-
plan-2014-16.pdf

ABC (2017) Splash ABC, An Indigenous Story: 'The Be'. Retrieved 18 October,
2017, from http://splash.abc.net.au

Australian Government. (2015). Reconciliation. Retrieved 20 September, 2017, from

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/reconciliation

Hawkins, K. (2014). Teaching for social justice, social responsibility and social
inclusion: a respectful pedagogy for twenty-first century early childhood
education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 22(5), 723-738.

Kennedy, T, 2017, ‘Reconciliation Pedagogy and Inclusive Practices’, lecture slides

distributed in the topics EDUC2420/9400 Teaching Indigenous Australian
Students/Critical Indigenous Pedagogies, Flinders University, Bedford Park, 28
August.

MacGill, B, Wyeld, T, 2009, ‘The need for a reconciliation pedagogy: educating for a
more holistic, shared Australian Cultural Heritage’, 555-560.

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O’Donoghue, L, 2016, ‘Reconciling the Nation in the 21st Century: Hopes, fears, and
dilemmas’ in G Worby, T Kennedy & S Tur (eds), The Long Campaign: The Duguid
Lectures, 1994-2014, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, pp. 62-74.

Woods, D. (1998). Racism, reconciliation, rights—The 3 Rs of indigenous education

in Australia today. The Australian Educational Researcher, 25(1), 53-70.

Worby, G R, Rigney, L H & Tur, S U 2006, ‘Where salt and fresh waters meet:
Reconciliation and change in education’, in G Worby, L-I Rigney (eds), Sharing
spaces: Indigenous and non-indigenous responses to story, country and rights, API
Network, Perth, WA, pp. 418-447.

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