Red Dirt Thinking on Education: A People-Based System

Abstract

In Australia, the ‘remote education system’ presents itself as a simple system where the right inputs, such as quality teachers and leaders will engender the outputs that have been set by the system, such as certain levels of English literacy and numeracy. The system has measures in place, including national testing, to report on its success. For the most part, this system seems to be working quite well. However, this modelling breaks down when the education system of remote Australia is presented. This remote system is presented in much of the literature and in the press, as disadvantaged, under-resourced and underperforming. Reported results indicate that current activities are not bringing the desired outcomes. The so-called mainstream system makes adjustments using its model of input to output, but without success. There is a clear need for change. Just what this change might look like is the focus of this article. Theorising in this space is considered from two positions; the first being the published work of a number of Indigenous Australian educators and leaders writing in this space; the second, a consideration of western theorising using complex adaptive systems. Throughout the article, a metaphor of ‘red dirt thinking’ is applied as a mechanism to ground the thinking in the lives and lands of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of remote Australia.

Building on ‘Red Dirt’ Perspectives: What Counts as Important for Remote Education?

“…We will consider how success is defined, how it is achieved and how it is measured from an Australian system-wide perspective. By ‘system’ in this paper, we mean the supply side of education in its various forms including departments of education, the nongovernment sectors and the various supporting instruments that govern the delivery of education in Australia (see discussion of this in Bat & Guenther, 2013). These instruments include Acts, agreements, universities which train teachers, curricula, professional standards, funding arrangements, measurement frameworks and policy-makers.…”

“…However, while we recognise the significance of those learnings at a national and international level, how these policy initiatives work at the remote community level is something we question (Bat & Guenther, 2013). Therefore, if a more nuanced system response is to be successful for remote Australia, it would be helpful to understand what stakeholders see as an appropriate system response to the challenges of remote education.…”

A Share in the Future . . . Only for Those Who Become Like ‘Us’!: Challenging the ‘Standardisation’ Reform Approach to Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory

“…This requires educators to engage in rigorous critical reflection regarding their cultural and professional selves, in particular the assumptions about educational success, pedagogy and curriculum, which they carry with them and enact. Osborne and Guenther (2013a) and others (Bat & Guenther, 2013; Brasche & Harrington, 2012; Fogarty et al, 2015; Manhood, 2012) highlight the critical importance of considering the cultural, linguistic and social complexity that manifests in locally nuanced ways in remote Indigenous schooling and life. In such contexts, ‘success’ may take a more relational and place-based flavour than is assumed in the neoliberal discourse.…”

“…It is precisely these individual and collective relational capabilities for creating trust, robust challenging conversations, and critical self-reflection that are required to co-create success in the complex contextual and relational dynamics of Indigenous education in the NT. As highlighted by Bat and Guenther (2013), such approaches recognise and honour the centrality of locally contextual relationships and dialogue, to engage local families in negotiating schooling purpose and processes in remote Indigenous education settings.…”

Barriers to inclusion: Aboriginal pre-service teachers’ perspectives on inclusive education in their remote Northern Territory schools

“…Collaborative approaches to education that value Aboriginal and Western languages, cultures and knowledges equally, have generally not been supported by Australian education systems to date (Bat & Guenther, 2013). To provide an example in the Australian education context, we might consider whether Aboriginal students are receiving an equitable education, regarding the inclusion of their languages in early education (Freeman & Staley, 2018).…”