Decolonisation is the action of a state removing itself from the colonised former colony to bring humankind into the future to avoid past mistakes and history (Holloway-Clarke, 2024). Decolonisation is a subject that can and should be taught in schools as a way for First Nations students to learn and teach about their histories, cultures and ways of life. As a teacher I need to be culturally responsive and open to new cultures, ways of life, ideas, beliefs and values (NSW Government, 2024). Being culturally responsive means to value diversity, seek cultural knowledge and to create a space where diversity is acknowledged and valued (ASHA, 2024)
As a teacher, it is vital that I design a learning environment that allows students who are culturally diverse to express, teach and discuss their own learning from their own culture. I would engage with First Nations students and their country to gain cultural knowledge that I can also teach non-indigenous students. I can implement strategies like a yarning circle into my classroom to create a notion of togetherness and engage with students in a social-emotional sense to create positive teacher-student relationships.
As a student, I experienced teachers implementing decolonisation and cultural responsiveness into classes inconsistently. Decolonisation and cultural responsiveness were implemented during acknowledgments to country at school gatherings and NAIDOC Week celebrations. It was inconsistent as teachers would not focus on culturally diverse perspectives within subject content on a regular basis. It was expressed that the school wanted to implement these teachings but due to a lack of professional development and cultural knowledge, they were unable to create a consistent culturally responsive environment.
To improve cultural knowledge and cultural responsiveness, I should follow the Australian Curriculum cross-curriculum priorities. I need to ensure that I implement these CCP’s into my lessons to allow for students to explore culturally diverse ways of life, Ideas, beliefs and values (ACARA, 2024).
Reference List:
Holloway-Clarke, T. (2024). What is Decolonisation?. Common Ground. Retrieved from, https://www.commonground.org.au/article/what-is-decolonisation
NSW Government. (2024). Culturally Responsive Practice. How to Support Enablement. Retrieved from, https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/projects/consumer-enablement/how-to-support-enablement/culturally-responsive-practice#:~:text=Cultural%20responsiveness%20is%20a%20new,important%20part%20of%20overall%20wellbeing.
American Speech- Language- Hearing Association (ASHA). (2024). Cultural Responsiveness. American Speech- Language- Hearing Association (ASHA). Retrieved from, https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/cultural-responsiveness/?srsltid=AfmBOorIym_Z0iiX58qlXTAgEepDj4cO013XR48WFvV77p6LrncqmBhg
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2024). Cross-Curriculum Priority. Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. Retrieved from, https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/visual-arts/year-8?view=quick&detailed-content-descriptions=0&hide-ccp=0&hide-gc=0&side-by-side=1&strands-start-index=0
