School-based Indigenous cultural programs and their impact on Australian Indigenous students: a systematic review.

Lessons to learn, discourses to change, relationships to build: How Decolonising Race Theory can articulate the interface between school leadership and Aboriginal students’ schooling experiences

“…Principals who support and facilitate culture and language programmes in their schools are better able to gain trust and develop authentic relationships with their local Aboriginal community (Lowe et al, 2021a(Lowe et al, , 2021b. Anderson (2010) and Lane (2010) note that where co-leadership between key local language advocates, Elders and the school principal occurred, the likelihood of success is much higher.…”

“…As Dean noted this as an important element of his responsibility as leader, teachers also felt supported and comfortable about getting to know their students' backgrounds and building this into their teaching practice (Burgess & Evans, 2017). Moreover, when knowledge transmission and production shifts from the school to the community, the foundations of culturally safe learning environments are laid (Lowe et al, 2021a(Lowe et al, , 2021b. This demonstrates principals' trust in the community to educate, nurture and empower their children, as Bev noted here, They (students) did some weaving, and they learnt a traditional skill and made something nice, but the real power of that experience was that for four mornings across four weeks, they sat with a group of female Elders who told them stories about their local community.…”

“…Within this context, principals navigating this landscape are often undermined by government-imposed accountability measures focussed on comparing schools through test results and implementing standardised remediation programmes (Trimmer et al, 2019). This is aggravated by the reality that Principals and teachers often lack personal and professional experience of working with Aboriginal communities, limiting their knowledge of culturally appropriate protocols to engage in respectful and reciprocal relationships with families and communities (Lowe et al, 2021a(Lowe et al, , 2021b.…”

“…Conversely, what counts as success for Indigenous peoples often centres on participation in community life including responsibility for self, others, and Country 2 (Moodie et al, in press). The purpose of schooling therefore includes the importance of culture and language programmes that reaffirm Aboriginal identity and the importance of family, community, and Country (Lowe et al, 2021a(Lowe et al, , 2021b. This focus on collective responsibility, community aspirations and holistic leadership (Ma Rhea, 2018), transcends competition and individual achievement and is therefore at odds with western interpretations of the purposes of schooling, signposting another uneasy paradox for principals and schools to navigate.…”

Special issue editorial: systematic reviews in Indigenous education

“…The final paper by Lowe, Tennent, and Burgess (2021) explores the impact of traditional language and culture programmes on Indigenous students' wellbeing and academic outcomes. Whilst a causal relationship is difficult to identify, across the studies included in this review, families and students consistently spoke of their aspirations to revive and maintain their languages and cultural practices.…”