Jeannie Herbert

“Ceaselessly circling the centre”: Historical contextualization of indigenous education within Australia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the educational journey of indigenous Australians since the time of the 1788 invasion through into the modern Australian university. This exploration is intended to clarify the way in which education delivery in this country has been used to position the nations “first peoples” within a context of centre/periphery thinking.Design/methodology/approach – The paper established an overview of the educational service provision for indigenous Australians through a review of archival materials, historical texts and education reports. This information was then aligned with the data gathered through face‐to‐face interviews and focus group meetings conducted by the author in her own PhD research, to test the complementarity of the sources in terms of the indigenous experience.Findings – The paper provides insights into the current positioning of indigenous Australians. The process of viewing the present against the backdrop of the past identified important historic...

Indigenous Studies: Tool of Empowerment within the Academe

In this paper, I consider the importance of Indigenous studies programs, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as critical elements in enabling Indigenous Australian students to engage in the academe in ways that not only allow them to empower themselves, but, ultimately, to become effective change agents within both their own and the wider Australian community. While this paper will highlight the challenges that Indigenous Australians face in their engagement within the university learning environment, it will also reveal the increasingly successful outcomes that are being achieved. A particular focus of the paper will be to acknowledge higher education as a tool of empowerment - a process that enables people to identify and address their own issues, and to use such knowledge and understanding as the platform for personal, positive growth. Finally this paper will contextualise higher education from within an Indigenous perspective to demonstrate how Indigenous studies not only contributes to the empowerment of the individual but also has a critical role in ultimately re-positioning Indigenous Australians in the wider Australian society.

Interrogating Social Justice in Early Years Education: How Effectively Do Contemporary Policies and Practices Create Equitable Learning Environments for Indigenous Australian Children?.

This article examines some of the contemporary policies and practices in Australian early years education to provide an insight into why social justice is such a critical element in preparing Australias Indigenous children to engage in learning experiences in ways that will enable them to establish sound foundations for their future learning journeys. In order to understand why social justice and equity are central to delivering quality early years education to Indigenous children, it is vital that the modern educator has some knowledge of educational history, in particular the role of education in promoting and maintaining the status quo, thus ensuring the continuing dominance of those who occupied positions of power. Viewing the expectations of contemporary early years education against the backdrop of past realities serves to highlight the way in which education sets the scene for the cultural destruction and dispossession that has, in too many parts of the world, been the long-term outcome of education for Indigenous peoples. Examining the themes and forms of discourse that have informed the theorising and practice underpinning the development of concepts around social justice demonstrates the importance of addressing diversity in early years education contexts.