This is an essential, practical resource for pre- and in-service educators on creating contexts for success for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Based on the latest research and practice, this book provides an in-depth understanding of the colonised context within which education in Australia is located, with an emphasis on effective strategies for the classroom. Throughout the text, the authors share their personal and professional experiences providing rich examples for readers to learn from. Taking a strengths-based approach, this book will support new and experienced teachers to drive positive educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

This book explores the impact of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Japan and Australia, where it has heralded change in the rights of Indigenous Peoples to have their histories, cultures, and lifeways taught in culturally appropriate and respectful ways in mainstream education systems. The book examines the impact of imposed education on Indigenous Peoples’ pre-existing education values and systems, considers emergent approaches towards Indigenous education in the post-imperial context of migration, and critiques certain professional development, assessment, pedagogical approaches and curriculum developments. This book will be of great interest to researchers and lecturers of education specialising in Indigenous Education, as well as postgraduate students of education and teachers specialising in Indigenous Education.

Education is an essential pathway to bridging the divide in educational attainment between Indigenous and non- Indigenous students. In the Australian policy contexts, Indigenous Education has been informed by a large number of reviews, reports and an extensive list of projects aimed at improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Central to each has been the investigation of the inequity of access to educational resources, the legacy of historical policies of exclusion and the lack of culturally responsive pedagogical practices that impact on Indigenous student achievement at school. Research on best practice models for teaching Indigenous students points to the level of teachers’ commitment being a crucial link to student engagement in the classroom, improvement of student self concept and student retention rates. Most recently, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) has recognized in the National Professional Standards for Teachers, that practising teachers must attain skills in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their communities. Clearly it is time for new pedagogical practices in Indigenous education that are implemented in partnerships with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This book reports on a three-year research based study of action learning in schools that sought to enhance engagement with local Aboriginal communities, promote quality teaching and improve students’ learning outcomes. The school studies come from different demographic regions in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state and showcase the achievements and challenges; highs and lows; affordances and obstacles in the development and delivery of innovative curriculum strategies for teaching Aboriginal histories and cultures in Australian schools. The findings illustrate that engaging teachers in a learning journey in collaboration with academic partners and members of local Aboriginal communities in an action learning process, can deliver innovative teaching programs over a sustained period of time. As a result schools demonstrated that these approaches do produce positive educational outcomes for teachers and students and enable authentic partnerships with Aboriginal communities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education: An Introduction for the Teaching Profession prepares students for the classroom and community environments they will encounter when teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in urban, rural and remote schools at early childhood, primary and secondary levels. The book addresses many issues and challenges faced by teacher education students and assists them to understand the deeper social, cultural and historical context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. This is a unique textbook written by a team of highly regarded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics. Each chapter opens with an engaging anecdote from the author, connecting learning to real-world issues. This is also the first textbook to address Torres Strait Islander education. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education is an essential resource for teacher education students.

This edited volume brings together diverse perspectives on Australian literacy education for Indigenous peoples, highlighting numerous educational approaches, ideologies and aspirations. The Australian Indigenous context presents unique challenges for educators working across the continent in settings ranging from urban to remote, and with various social and language groups. Accordingly, one of the book’s main goals is to foster dialogue between researchers and practitioners working in these contexts, and who have vastly different theoretical and ideological perspectives. It offers a valuable resource for academics and teachers of Indigenous students who are interested in literacy-focused research, and complements scholarship on literacy education in comparable Indigenous settings internationally.

This book is a state-of-the-art reference work that defines and frames the state of thinking, research and practice in indigenous education. The book provides an authoritative overview of the subject in one text. The work sits within the context of The UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that states “Indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations which shall be appropriately reflected in education” (Article 14.1). Twenty-five years ago a book of this nature would have been largely written by non-Indigenous researchers about Indigenous people and education. Today Indigenous researchers can write this work about and for themselves and others. The book is comprehensive in its coverage. Authors are drawn from various individual jurisdictions that have significant indigenous populations where the issues include language, culture and identity, and indigenous people’s participation in society. It brings together multiple streams of research by ‘new’ indigenous voices. The book also brings together a wide range of educational topics including early childhood education, educational governance, teacher education, curriculum, pedagogy, educational psychology, etc. The focus of one body of work on Indigenous education is a welcome enhancement to the pursuit of the field of Indigenous educational aspirations and development.

This book focuses on Indigenous participation in postgraduate education. The collaborating editors, from the contexts of Australian, Canadian and Nordic postgraduate education, have brought together voices of Indigenous postgraduate students and researchers about strategies to support postgraduate education for Indigenous students globally and to promote sustainable solution-focused and change-focused strategies to support Indigenous postgraduate students. The role of higher education institutions in meeting the needs of Indigenous students is considered by contributing scholars, including issues related to postgraduate education pedagogies, flexible learning and technologies. On a more fundamental level the book provides a valuable resource by giving voice to Indigenous postgraduate students themselves who share directly the stories of their experience, their inspirations and difficulties in undertaking postgraduate study. This component of the book gives precedence to the issues most relevant and important to students themselves for consideration by universities and researchers. Bringing the topic and the voices of Indigenous students clearly into the public domain provides a catalyst for discussion of the issues and potential strategies to assist future Indigenous postgraduate students. This book will assist higher education providers to develop understanding of how Indigenous postgraduate students and researchers negotiate research cultures and agendas that permeate higher education from the past to ensure the experience of postgraduate students is both rich in regard to data to be collected and culturally safe in approach; what connections, gaps and contradictions occur at the intersections between past models of postgraduate study and emerging theories around intercultural perspectives, including the impact of cultural and linguistic differences on Indigenous students' learning experiences; how Indigenous students’ and researchers’ personal and professional understandings, beliefs and experiences about what typifies knowledge and research or adds value to postgraduate studies are constructed, shared or challenged; and how higher education institutions manage the potential challenges and risks of developing pedagogies to ensure that they give voice and power to Indigenous postgraduate students.

By the late 1960s, Indigenous education in Australia was in crisis. When Whitlam swept to power in 1972, his Labor government reached out to Indigenous people to guide change at a national level. The National Aboriginal Education Committee was the result. This comprehensive history by Leanne Holt traces the journey of the committee and its members from its inception in the mid 1970s to its completion in 1989. In Talking Strong, Holt introduces us to the radical men and women, from all walks of life, who served on the committee. Women like May O'Brien, one of the Stolen Generation, who fought the odds to become the first Aboriginal teacher in Western Australia. Men like charismatic Stephen Bamba, a musician, diesel mechanic and teacher from Broome, who at just 27 became the committee's chair. The committee travelled all over Australia and listening to teachers and communities tell their stories, they met with and challenged politicians. They believed that an education in harmony with their own cultural values and identity was the best means for Indigenous people to achieve self-determination, and they forever influenced the participation, retention and success of Indigenous people at all levels of education in Australia.

Indigenous children, like all children, deserve a future they choose for themselves. This book aims to empower teachers to help halt the cycle of disadvantage for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and make a real difference to their relationships, learning outcomes and opportunities in the short and long term. Based on their many years of experience in teaching and research, the authors provide approaches that have been proven to be effective. There are strategies for developing sensitivity to a student's cultural background, creating a tone in the classroom conducive to learning, building strong teacher-student relationships and effectively managing student behaviour. The authors show how to bridge the demands of the curriculum with the learning Indigenous students bring with them to the classroom and how to work with the learning styles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. There is a focus on the best approaches for assessment and an exploration of the particular challenges for teachers of students in remote locations. Both practical and inspiring, this is an essential reference for all teachers working with Indigenous students, whether they be in the city or rural areas, in a class of twenty-five or just one student. 'Teaching Indigenous Students should be essential reading for all educators. This book will challenge the mind and stir the spirit of the practitioner and will help forge a new future for the teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. A seminal piece of work.' - Professor Mark Rose, Executive Director of Indigenous Strategy and Education, La Trobe University 'Hayward and Perso provide the knowledge, wisdom and insights that guarantee success to any teacher who is prepared to embrace their messages, and work hard to make Indigenous students stronger and smarter.' - Dr Chris Sarra, Chairman, Stronger Smarter Institute 'This is a quality piece of work that will contribute to a more informed Australian teaching workforce and more happier and successful Indigenous learners.' - Professor Peter Buckskin PSM FACE, Dean, Indigenous Scholarship, Engagement and Research, University of South Australia Teaching Indigenous Students has been shortlisted for the 2016 Educational Publishing Awards in the category Tertiary (Wholly Australian) Student Resource.

In this 21st century, technological and social changes have never been as rapid as before, and educative practices must evolve and innovate to keep up. What is being done by educators today to prepare future global citizens? What are the skills and competencies that will be required by our students? What changes in how we approach education might need to be made? This book presents a modern focus on some significant issues in teaching, learning, and research that are valuable in preparing students for the 21st century. The book discusses these issues in four sections. The first section presents contemporary, innovative curriculum and pedagogical practices that are relevant for the 21st century. This also includes how social networking has an integrated role within current educative practice. The next section then explores issues and current research around motivation and engagement, and how these are changing in this era of technological and social change. The third section presents debates around inclusion and social contexts, both global and local. Finally, the fourth section explores current discourses in regard to internationalisation and globalisation and how these are being considered in educational research. The book is an important representation of some of the work currently being done for these rapidly changing times. It will appeal to academics, researchers, teacher educators, educational administrators, teachers and anyone interested in preparing students for a modern and globally interconnected world.