Emma-Jaye Gavin

I am a Professor of Indigenous Studies, and I have taught Indigenous Studies and Indigenous health at universities for many years. I have noticed that the kindergarten, primary and secondary schools are doing a better job at teaching Indigenous cultures and histories than the universities are. Tertiary education systems in Australia need to hire more Indigenous academics, they need to grow their own Indigenous academics from undergrads, to PhDs, to academic staff. They need to invest in cultural awareness training for all staff, and reframe the way Indigenous knowledges are taught. Indigenous knowledges need to be integrated in units that are completely redesigned to remove the eurowestern biases present, and instead design units that give equal respect and place to western, eastern, Indigenous and otherwise knowledge systems and traditions across all subject and disciplinary areas. This can only be done by unlearning; unlearning by academic staff, students, institutions and all involved. This can only be done by investing time, money and resources. This needs to be actual reconciliation, not performative.

At all levels of school, Aboriginal kids can be better supported by the hiring of Indigenous teachers, support staff and academics. They can be better supported through the decolonisation of unit material, to ensure that Aboriginal knowledges are given the place and respect they deserve. They can be supported by every single person at a school better understanding the ways that Indigenous children and students learn. Aboriginal knowledge systems and traditions, and methods of sharing and understanding knowledge needs to be integrated into schools. The schools also need to better understand Aboriginal family dynamics – the community raises the child, so the community should be fully integrated and supported in the school system. The school should make effort and time to work with the wider Aboriginal community, to create safe places in the school for Elders, family and community to be involved in the education of their kids.

The Victorian education system needs a complete rebuilding, from the ground up. All teaching in Victoria takes place on First Nations lands, lands where First Nation peoples and communities have shared knowledges over tens of thousands of years. The Victorian education system should rebuild each teaching module in each discipline through an Indigenous lens, working with Indigenous teachers, academics and community, to remove the hierarchy typically placed on western knowledge as being the only (or most superior) knowledge system, and build units with respect to Indigenous, eastern and other knowledge systems. We are a multicultural society in Victoria, built on the disposal of First Nation peoples and lands. At the very least, we should have an education system that is reflective of the diversity of the Victorian state.