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Bala ga lili: Meeting Indigenous Learners Halfway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

Susan Zela Bissett
Susan Zela Bissett*
Affiliation:
Department of Education, Training and Employment, Gympie, Queensland, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Susan Bissett, Department of Education, Training and Employment, 3 Carrington Avenue, Gympie Queensland 4570, Australia. Email: zela@spiderweb.com.au
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Abstract

The author's experience of the day-to-day issues faced as an educator in an Aboriginal school are recounted, along with perspectives gained as part of a research project. The proposition is argued that an Education for Sustainability approach, where learning is structured around a negotiated environmental issue within local community, represents a cultural accommodation or halfway point between mainstream formal schooling and the needs of Indigenous learners. This article contends that such an educative approach meets Indigenous learners ‘halfway’, through compatibility with Indigenous values frameworks and employing culturally appropriate pedagogical methods. The argument is made that by demonstrating a willingness to negotiate worthwhile environmentally based projects that address community ecological concerns, EfS may be able to improve community support and mitigate impediments to the engagement of Indigenous learners with formal education. A critical pedagogy of place (Grunewald, 2003) is discussed as a theoretical framework that combines place-based pedagogy with empowering educational theory. Indigenous learners’ connection with place is recognised in this approach and ascribed a positive rather than negative value.

Keywords

Indigenous educationenvironmentEducation for Sustainabilityassimilationengagementnegotiated curriculuminquiry learningplace pedagogy
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , December 2012 , pp. 78 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013

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