"They throw Spears" was written as part of the research for my PhD at the University of Sydney. The study was conducted in two primary schools: one in a remote area in the Northern Territory (NT) and one in an urban setting in Tasmania. It was conducted in 2009 and investigated Indigenous and non-Indigenous student, non-Indigenous…

This paper explores the use of guided narrative reflection as a strategy used with high-achieving non-Indigenous pre-service teachers in Australia on teaching practicum. We suggest that reflections (and subsequent dialogue) can provide opportunities for non-Indigenous pre-service teachers to re-think their beliefs and actions in ways that may…

This paper studies a community-based Indigenous teacher education program in Northwestern Ontario in Canada. This program, the result of a partnership between the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council and Brock University, was designed to prepare Nishnawbe Aski to teach through a Two Worlds Orientation: unique Indigenous understandings combined…

This paper examines the nexus between Indigenous rights, the modern university, and graduate attributes and theorises the potential of the university in postcolonial democracies to address Indigenous rights in its professional education programs. It posits the postcolonial professional as one who has been educated about internationally recognised…

This paper argues that all learners need teachers who are not only professionally qualified but also culturally competent. This is particularly so with teachers of indigenous students, who face the conflicting expectations of schools and those of their home cultures. References to Pacific students will be used to illustrate some of the conflicts…

This paper explores the reception of Indigenous perspectives and knowledges in university curricula and educators' social responsibility to demonstrate cultural competency through their teaching and learning practices. Drawing on tenets of critical race theory, Indigenous standpoint theory and critical pedagogies, this paper argues that the…

Effective social work practice with Aboriginal peoples and communities requires knowledge of operational communication skills and practice methods. In addition, there is also a need for practitioners to be aware of the history surrounding white engagement with Aboriginal communities and their cultures. Indeed, the Australian Association of Social…

Robyn Heckenberg and Andrew Gunstone team taught a first-year subject in Indigenous Australian Studies at Monash University for eight years. The significant majority of students undertaking this subject are non-Indigenous students who are studying the subject as an elective rather than as part of an Indigenous Studies course. In this paper, we…

This article will discuss the ways in which community service learning programs in music can foster meaningful collaborations between universities and Indigenous communities. Drawing on recent pedagogical literature on service learning and insights from a four-year partnership between Australian Indigenous musicians at the Winanjjikari Music…

This paper examines how collaboration amongst university, indigenous community and private sector companies can promote Ainu participation in higher education, drawing on a case study of the Urespa Project in Sapporo University, Japan. In this project, the university offers scholarships to Ainu students, requiring them to take a special course in…

Peter J. Anderson and Bernadette Atkinson teach Indigenous and Traditionally Education in a Global World as a fourth year unit in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Clayton. This paper is a self reflective piece of work where they discuss the use of graduate attributes relating to Indigenous Education, put forward by the Australian…

The Review of Australian Higher Education (Bradley Review, 2008) and the Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (Behrendt Review, 2012) identified the need for tertiary institutions to incorporate Indigenous knowledges into curriculum to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous…

In the Australian higher education environment, often preoccupied with internationalisation of education and associated issues around intercultural competencies, there is an uncomfortable awareness of the commensurate lack of attention on 'Indigenisation of the curriculum" and the interconnected 'Indigenous cultural…

The paper reports on an initiative undertaken by a group of Pacific educators --"insiders" who have undertaken various activities and work of embedding Indigenous graduate attributes into teacher education courses, in leadership training of young and emerging young Pacific leaders and in communities, research that takes into account…