Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T04:58:21.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Relevance of the ‘Learning Styles Debate’ for Australian Indigenous Students in Mainstream Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Jan Stewart
Jan Stewart*
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Get access

Extract

While there has been much debate (Christie et al., 1987; Eckermann, 1988; Kleinfield and Nelson, 1991; Gibson, 1993; Ulstrup, 1994; Guild, 1994; Nicholls et al., 1995) on the in-appropriateness of applying culturally descriptive ‘learning styles’ in meeting the educational needs of Indigenous students, the reality of the existence of individual life experiences of Indigenous Australians has often been overlooked. That omission diminishes the dominant role which socio-cultural considerations have taken in past colonising practices with the effects of those practices often having become transgenerational among individuals today. This paper attempts to move on from that debate, questioning the validity of a canon that could be accused of merely perpetuating colonial paradigms and failing to acknowledge the integrity of the individual. The importance of determining and establishing effective communication is the key in understanding, and catering for, differing educational approaches, in the past labelled teaching and learning ‘styles’. Consequently, cultural awareness which is inclusive of the diversity of Indigenous Australians is still necessary in opening and maintaining that communication between educational stakeholders in the school community.

Type
Teaching and Education
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , 2002 , pp. 13 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bain, M. (1992). The Aboriginal-White Encounter: Towards Better Communication. Berrimah, NT: SIL-AAIB.Google Scholar
Christie, M. (1985). Aboriginal Perspectives on Experience and Learning: the Role of Language in Aboriginal Education. Victoria: Deakin University.Google Scholar
Christie, M., Harris, S., and McClay, D. (1987). Teaching Aboriginal Children: Milingimbi and Beyond. Mt. Lawley, WA: Western Australian College of Advanced Education.Google Scholar
Coombs, H., Brandl, M. and Snowdon, W. (1983). A Certain Heritage. Canbena: Australian National University.Google Scholar
Eckermann, A. (1977). Group organisation and identity within an Aboriginal community. In Berndt, R. (Ed.), Aborigines and Change: Australia in the 70s. Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
Eckermann, A. (1988). Learning styles, classroom management, teacher characteristics and rural-urban Aboriginal people: some thoughts. Aboriginal Child at School 1:3–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckermann, A. (1994). One Classroom, Many Cultures. Teaching Strategies for Culturally Different Children. St. Leonards, N.S.W: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Dunn, R. (1990). Rita Dunn answers questions on learning styles. Educational Leadership. October 15-19.Google Scholar
Fanshawe, J. (1999). Warmth, demandedness, and what else? A reassessment of what it takes to be an effective teacher of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islandchildren. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 27(2):41–46.Google Scholar
Gardiner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gibson, S. (1993). Culture and learning: a divisive link. The Aboriginal Child at School 21 (3): 43–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, B. (1990). Natural language learning in Aboriginal classrooms: reflections on teaching and learning style for empowerment in English. In Walton, C. and Eggington, W. (Eds), Language: Maintenance, Power and Education in Australian Aboriginal Contexts. Darwin, NT: Northern Territory University Press.Google Scholar
Guild, P. (1994). The culture/learning style connection. Educational Leadership 51 (8):16–22.Google Scholar
Harris, S. (1994). Reasons for optimism in teaching Aboriginal children in urban classes. In Harris, S. and Malin, M. (Eds), Aboriginal Kids in Urban Classrooms. Wentworth Falls, NSW: Social Science Press.Google Scholar
Kleinfeld, J. and Nelson, P. (1991). Adapting instruction to native American's learning styles. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology 22(2):273–281.Google Scholar
Linard, M. (1994). From learner's style to learner's activity: lessons from various learner-centred research. In Lewis, R. and Mendelson, P. (Eds), Lessons from Learning. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Lipscombe, R. and Burnes, D. (Eds) (1982). Aboriginal Literacy: Bridging the Gap. Adelaide: Australian Reading Association.Google Scholar
Malin, M., Campbell, K. and Agius, L. (1996). Raising children in the Nunga Aboriginal way. Family Matters 43:43–47.Google Scholar
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2000). Talkin' Up To The White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism. St. Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar
Munns, G. (1998). ‘They just can't hackthat’. Aboriginal students, theirteachersand responses to schools and classrooms. In Partington, G. (Ed.), Perspectives on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education. Katoomba, NSW: Social Science Press.Google Scholar
Nicholls, C., Crowley, V. and Watt, R. (1995). Black and white educational theorising: an evaluation of the impact of ‘Aboriginal Learning Styles’ theory on Australian Aboriginal education. Australian Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
Stairs, A. (1994). Indigenous ways to go to school: exploring many visions. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 5(1):63–74.Google Scholar
Stewart, J. A. (1999). The Empowerment of Indigenous Australians in Mainstream Education. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 27(2):27–40.Google Scholar
Stewart, J. A. (2001). The Exploration of Philosophical and Pedagogical Links Between the Multiage and Indigenous Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Australian Education. Unpublished Bachelor of Education Honours thesis, University of Queensland.Google Scholar
Ulstrup, M. (1994). Perspectives on Classroom Environments among Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Students. Unpublished thesis, University of New England, NSW.Google Scholar
West, B. (1994). I've dreamed of being in here: the Mean Machine, an insider's viewpoint. In Harris, S. and Malin, M (Eds), Aboriginal Kids in Urban Classrooms. Wentworth Falls, NSW: Social Science Press.Google Scholar