Raising Awareness to Transcend Disciplines: Developing Teachers' Critical Awareness Across Disciplines to Increase Indigenous Learner Engagement

Abstract

The issue of low graduation rates among Indigenous learners transcends borders. Some argue that racism and discrimination in schools and in wider society impede the success of Indigenous learners. Although teachers may not intend to make discriminatory decisions based on a learner's ascribed characteristics, research has demonstrated that teachers are capable of making biased decisions that deny opportunities to Indigenous learners. After reflecting upon current debates regarding effective educational strategies for diversity and Indigenous learners, the author contends that courses directed towards best practices for Indigenous learners in the classroom may be less beneficial than developing teachers' overall critical consciousness-raising and self-awareness abilities. The author presents what the literature reveals regarding various educational methods, practices, and epistemologies that have been successfully shared across disciplines in order to create more effective teachers and more responsive learners.

Barriers and breakthroughs: engaging in socially just ways towards issues of indigeneity, identity, and whiteness in teacher education

“…Denis (2007) claims that such, "anti-racist education explores the practices, processes, and ideologies of racialization, which includes a study of not only how racism disadvantages some but also how racism advantages others, and how whiteness gets produced and construed as superior" (1087). Teachers familiar with this framework are likely to identify inequity and be adept at responding appropriately (Riley, 2014;Turhan 2010).…”

“…Various approaches have attempted to alleviate this imbalance. The Australian Professional Standard for Teachers' Standard 1.4 dictates that teachers should have an understanding and awareness of the histories, cultures and languages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (see http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australianprofessional-standards-for-teachers) (AITSL 2011), yet non-Indigenous teachers seem reluctant to integrate Indigenous perspectives into the classroom (Riley & Pidgeon, 2018;Riley, 2014;McLaughlin and Whatman 2015). Van Issum (2012) states that there is an unspoken decree that teachers "should not talk about or teach the myriad of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues for fear of breaking taboos and thereby causing offence" (55).…”

Exceeding Expectations: Teachers’ Decision Making Regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students

“…A complementary qualitative study (Riley & Ungerleider, 2012) explored the reasoning behind teachers’ decisions, finding that some teachers attribute factors such as low ability and adverse life circumstance to Indigenous learners. Teacher educators have used these findings to demonstrate how unchecked biases could lead to discriminatory decisions (Riley, 2014b).…”

“…My experiences as an educator and community development worker in various countries and contexts with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities afforded multiple opportunities to see how systemic power inequalities based on race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, and (dis)ability intersect and shape educational and occupational opportunities. I recognized my privileged position in multiple contexts, as a White, English-speaking, middle-class female, and distinguished the ways inequality influenced my experiences (see Riley, 2014b). I came to academia with a desire to theorize my experiences to understand how teachers’ perceptions influence an increasingly diverse student body.…”

Humanizing Trayvon Martin: Racial Profiling, Implicit Biases, and Teacher Education

“…The narratives of Black boys get written even before they walk into the classroom and to truly understand Black and brown youth means "to acknowledge one's power and privilege, and reconcile these social constructions to the plight of one's students of color" (p. 304). In other words, opportunities are needed for teachers to engage in self-examination and self-reflection (Riley, 2014) to better serve communities of color. Without problematizing and confronting one's own inscribed dispositions, "other people's children" (Delpit, 1995) will continue to be demonized, pathologicalized, and criminalized.…”