Strength Basing, Empowering and Regenerating Indigenous Knowledge Education

Book excerpt: Strength Basing, Empowering and Regenerating Indigenous Knowledge Education demonstrates how to bring Indigenous Knowledges to the forefront of education practice and provides educators with the tools to enact culturally responsive curricula and pedagogies, ensuring positive educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and students. In this book, John Davis presents Indigenous Knowledges – ways of doing, creating, and learning – combined with contemporary education practice, to develop a culturally responsive pedagogy that builds on the strengths that Indigenous Australian students bring to the classroom. Setting Cultural Proficiency as the benchmark, the book offers educators a lens through which to review their education practice. It moves beyond the deficit model of Indigenous education by challenging non-Indigenous educators to reflect on personal biases and to raise their expectations of Indigenous students. Not ‘tacked on’ to an existing curriculum, or specific to a single school term or unit of learning, Riteway places Indigenous Knowledges at the centre of education. The approach is holistic and adaptable to any educational context, from the early years right through to tertiary education. Providing a roadmap toward transformational education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and students, this book will be essential reading for pre- and in-service educators alike.