Abstract

The strategy of courageous conversations is offered as a means of addressing racial inequity experienced by Australian Aboriginal peoples evident in society’s institutions like education. Despite teacher preparation programs efforts to prepare pre-service teachers for diversity in the classroom, the issue of racism remains problematic. The denial of racism existing in contemporary times is commonplace. Alternatively, rather than being understood as a collective and active colonial and cultural inheritance, racism has been thoroughly reconstructed as an individual moral aberration. Dialogues about racism are often difficult and may create discomfort, raise feelings of indifference, guilt, resistance, shame, and mistrust that lead to avoidance or denial allowing ‘white’ people to remain ignorant that racial issues are endemic. Such denial and avoidance is a privilege not afforded to Aboriginal peoples who have been racially constructed and measured since the onset of dispossessing colonisation in the late 18th century. To not speak of racism and how it intersects with structural inequity for Australian Aboriginal students, serves only to perpetuate dominant racialised narratives that produce and reproduce ‘white’ privilege. This paper draws on and repurposes quantitative data gathered through a two-year critical ethnographic investigation that sought to identify and document what does successful teaching of Aboriginal high school students look like and what challenges do successful teachers encounter? The research quickly revealed the many guises of racism being encountered by teachers and students, personally and professionally, overtly and covertly, within and beyond the school gates. In this paper, narratives of encounters with racism shared by participants are provided to demonstrate the need for intentional and explicit courageous conversations in our schools that start in the Initial Teacher Education classroom.

Highlights

  • Education is commonly cited as one of the most critical factors in influencing a variety of quality of life standards across most Western countries, and is widely recognised as essential for righting the inequities experienced by people from traditionally disadvantaged and underserved backgrounds (Beresford, 2012; Bodkins-Andrews & Carlson, 2013; Foley, 2013)

  • The purpose of this paper is to establish the need for courageous conversations in pre-service teacher classrooms about the many guises of racism and how it intersects with inequity for Aboriginal peoples

  • It was not intended to be definitive, but rather a starting point for pre-service teachers to engage in courageous conversations about racial inequity experienced by Aboriginal students

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Summary

Introduction

Education is commonly cited as one of the most critical factors in influencing a variety of quality of life standards across most Western countries, and is widely recognised as essential for righting the inequities experienced by people from traditionally disadvantaged and underserved backgrounds (Beresford, 2012; Bodkins-Andrews & Carlson, 2013; Foley, 2013). It is indisputable that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples ( Aboriginal peoples) have experienced a long history of educational inequities when compared to our non-Aboriginal counterparts (Beresford, 2012; Foley, 2013). For generations the purpose and quality of education has differed markedly for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students (Foley, 2013). This history of racist-inspired policies has left a tragic legacy of intergenerational poor educational outcomes and life opportunities for Aboriginal people that continue into the present day. The strategy of courageous conversations is offered as a method of addressing racial inequity experienced by Aboriginal peoples evident in Australian social institutions like education

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