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Indigenous Education and Literacy Policy in Australia: Bringing Learning Back to the Debate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2017

William Fogarty ,
Stewart Riddle ,
Melissa Lovell  and
Ben Wilson
William Fogarty*
Affiliation:
National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Stewart Riddle
Affiliation:
School of Teacher Education and Early Childhood, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central, QLD 4300, Australia
Melissa Lovell
Affiliation:
National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Ben Wilson
Affiliation:
National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
*
address for correspondence: William Fogarty, National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University, Building 45 Sullivan's Creek Road, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia. Email: bill.fogarty@anu.edu.au.
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Abstract

In a policy landscape dominated by forces that seek to continually reshape education according to market logics, there are particular impacts on the seemingly intractable crisis of Indigenous education policy making. Entrenched discourses of deficit result in education policy continually being ‘done to’ communities, with little heed paid to the effects of such efforts on the learning opportunities available to young Indigenous learners, particularly those living in remote communities. This paper examines the contemporary network of policy levers that come to shape how literacy policy is framed for Indigenous Australians through narratives of failure and crisis. In doing so, we ask what learning is made (im)possible and what are some of the ‘flattening’ effects on literacy curriculum and pedagogy as a result? Further, this paper seeks to open up the conversation around what learning is possible when the policy landscape is unflattened, when policy is ‘done with’ communities, and when pedagogical practices are opened up, rather than closed down.

Keywords

LiteracyIndigenous educationDirect Instructioneducation policy
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , December 2018 , pp. 185 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017 

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