Vision led = vision fed

Karen L Martin

doi:10.5204/ijcis.v9i2.137

Abstract

As the National Indigenous Knowledges and Research Network (NIRAKN) reaches its completion as an entity in 2016, this paper takes up the invitation to its members to write about the key learnings, benefits and challenges experienced as a member of NIRAKN’s Indigenous Sociology, Indigenous Knowledge and Technology node. The author discusses the role of NIRAKN in progressing the scholarship of Aboriginal early childhood education through its collaborative research program, raising the bar regarding Aboriginal knowledges in higher education through its network connections and aspects for holding ground in Aboriginal research capacity building, particularly in the area of qualitative research methodologies. These discussions serve to highlight that, as the NIRAKN model has been led by a strong vision, it has fed change and achieved its visions.

Highlights

In 2008, 78 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child participants in the ‘Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children – Footprints in Time’ were asked what they wanted to be or do when they got older
The stories come from the knowledge and experiences of the author, who is a Noonuccal, Quandamoopah woman with some 15 years’ experience in early childhood education and with some 20 years’ experience as an academic and who researches the disciplines of education and Indigenous Australian Studies in higher education
She was a member of the National Indigenous Knowledges and Research Network (NIRAKN) and the Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Sociology and Technology node. These stories are epistemic devices that “give voice” (Ladson-Billings 1998, 2009; Lazos Vargas 2003) to elucidate the nature of the inequities that occur in these two sectors of education for Indigenous Australians

Summary

Introduction

In 2008, 78 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child participants in the ‘Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children – Footprints in Time’ were asked what they wanted to be or do when they got older. Both journals published papers in categories such as early childhood services (operations), curriculum (literacy, numeracy, embedding Indigenous perspectives, Indigenous knowledge), children’s readiness (for preschool and school) and disadvantage (health, access, equity, inclusion). Each is opened with a short story to both illustrate and elucidate the roles, relationships and implications for Indigenous Australian and nonIndigenous early childhood educators It covers the period from the 1970s to the present, but timeframes are not fixed and, whilst the constructions evolve, aspects are retained in others

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