Teaching indigenous perspectives in the 21st century classroom: An exploration of quality pedagogy in Australian schools

Neil Harrison*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Teachers across Australia are now required to include Indigenous perspectives in their teaching for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. Most teachers know little or nothing about Indigenous people and so they present a pedagogy that fantasises about the lives of Indigenous people before the British invasion rather than confronting the historical and political controversies of the present. Non-Indigenous children learn to think about Indigenous people in the past tense, while many teachers overlook the myriad resources available that narrate and explicate the contemporary lives of Indigenous people for children. I suggest in this chapter that teachers in Australia have a powerful role to play in how the future relationship develops between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and this future will depend on whether teachers are prepared to reassess their own place in history. The impetus for this was created recently through the Australian Prime Minister's apology to the Stolen Generations.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationDelving into Diversity
    Subtitle of host publicationAn International Exploration of Issues of Diversity in Education
    EditorsVanessa Green, Sue Cherrington
    Place of PublicationNew York
    PublisherNova Science Publishers
    Pages99-107
    Number of pages9
    Edition1
    ISBN (Print)9781608763610, 1608763617
    Publication statusPublished - Jan 2010

    Publication series

    NameEducation in a Competitive and Globalizing World
    PublisherNova Science Publishers, Inc.

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Teaching indigenous perspectives in the 21st century classroom: An exploration of quality pedagogy in Australian schools'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this