Students from various cultures, religions and races have impacting factors

that influence their education. This critical review will focus on Indigenous
Australian students, arguing that Indigenous students’ education is being
affected by race, racism and whiteness. Drawing from the Australian
Institute for Teaching School Leadership I will aim to highlight how these
factors improve education for Indigenous Australian students.

The word ‘race’ according to the Oxford English Dictionary derives race
meaning ‘of obscure origin’. This word developed over centuries and was
broadened to ‘varieties’, ‘kinds’ and ‘species’ (Bronwen, Douglas, 2006, pp2).
In the eighteenth century French naturalist, Buffon defined race in a
zoological context, again a philosopher Kant created the theory that race is a
systematic biological terminology to classify human diversity based on
appearance, language and cultures (Bronwen, Douglas, 2006, pp2). These
theories that were conceptualised centuries ago are the founders of a word
that creates a divide in the human race and will always exclude and include
between the superior culture and the inferior (Schulz, 2016). The concepts
of monogenesis and polygenesis and the Social Darwinist and Evolutionary
Theory have been developed based on the utilisation of the word ‘race’ and
were seen as reasons for colonisation. These concepts are in the past,
however the influence is not. Race has and still is significantly affecting the
education of Indigenous students. Indigenous students are disadvantaged in
the ‘white’ schooling systems throughout Australia due to race, resulting in
generations of uneducated or partially uneducated students (Beresford, 2012,
pp3). Race is a social construct and has no biological basis however it has
caused a divide in schools today as Indigenous students are the minority and
have been stigmatised. This is reinforced by Tur (2010, pp27) who recalled,
“I was teased mercilessly by the non-Aboriginal children… they called me ‘dirty
nigger’... and wouldn’t sit next to me because they said I smelt and that remains a
stigma with me to this day.” Focus Area 1.4 of AITSL implements strategies for
teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and will aim to
eliminate the ‘race’ and prevent events such as Tur’s (AITSL, 2014). Through
demonstrating knowledge about Indigenous culture, linguistics, cultural
identify and implementing this into classroom tasks this focus area will allow
all students to be involved and feel equal. Australian society has a lesser
focus on race however racism is a factor that has become the social norm in
society and schooling (Schulz, 2016).

Racism in Australia is not a departure from the norm, it is the norm, it exists
in society today and has since the British arrived in 1770 (Schulz, 2016).
Australian society contains individuals that voice ‘overt racism’, intentionally
behaving or speaking in a racist way and ‘covert racism’, which occurs more
often where racism is not intentional or invisible but yet exists (Schulz,
2016). Racism operates within the boundaries of a society and education,

1
wherever there is racism there is a racial structure in the society as we
classify people based on class, gender and race (Bonilla-Silva, 1994, pp3).
Racism is ingrained into society, it is part of the world we live in however
‘white’ Australians struggle to identify covert racism due to white race
privilege. We associate racism with disadvantaging Indigenous people, but
by identifying this we are advantaging ourselves, it is bidirectional, one
cannot exist without the other (Tannoch-Bland, 1998, pp33). This is
reinforced by Faye Blanch’s recount (2016) “We were called British subjects,
and we needed different laws as we were flora and fauna, we were not people.”
This highlights how white privilege is unearned and invisible but continues
to affect Indigenous peoples, especially in schooling. Due to internalised,
institutional and structural racism, racism is evident in all areas of education
and has accumulated over centuries (Schulz, 2016). Critical Race Theory
summarises that race is socially constructed, is normal and helps us ‘see’
covert racism (Delagado & Stefancic, 2006, pp2). Indigenous students across
Australia are affected which impacts motivation, attendance at school and
ability to learn. Therefore educators need to utilise skills and tools to create
an equal educational environment. This links into AITSL 2.4, as educators
should understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples and promote reconciliation between the Indigenous and non-
Indigenous students (AITSL, 2014). According to Schulz (2016), through
critical self-reflection, standpoint of the least advantaged and storytelling,
Indigenous students should not be as affect by racism in the classroom.
Every student is individual and through developing an equal classroom
covert and overt racism will be non-existent.

White people are taught to not recognise white privilege and therefore the
theory of ‘whiteness’ does not really exist in the minds of white people
(McIntosh, 1990, pp31). With advantage comes disadvantage, the ‘white’
Australian is advantaged in education as students are taught in English, in a
cultural environment which is familiar to them and is surrounded by others
that are majority ‘white’ too. These features are taken for granted and are
not recognised as being a disadvantage to those that are not part of the
‘majority’. These factors are the elements that make education for
Indigenous students, harder, less rewarding and less enjoyable. Whiteness
is a physical descriptor as the Anglo-Saxon physicality, whiteness can also
be linked to the same beliefs, policies and practices that enables white
people to generally control society (McMahon, 2007, pp687). Whiteness is a
racial identity, which excludes Indigenous students. Educators who are
white have the challenge to create equality despite the preconceived white
advantage. By asking personal questions such as, ‘Can I learn to listen
respectfully to counter stories? Can I seek out new information to create an
equal classroom? Can I see the world from other another point of view?’,
will enable teachers to create an open-minded classroom where ‘whiteness’
does not advantage or disadvantage any student (Schulz, 2016).

2
Australian schools naturally privilege the ‘white’ population, in turn
disadvantaging others, such as Indigenous students. Through the
segregations in society created by ‘race’, challenges have arisen in schools to
maintain equality. Fortunately racism in society is not as publicised as it has
once been in Australian society however racism has been ingrained into
everyday life and education. Whiteness exists in schools and in society and
continues to advantage ‘white’ students in Australian schools. The content
covered highlights the issues in todays society that affect Indigenous
students’ education, however through teaching strategies and AITSL these
issues can be overcome. After in-depth research I have been able to improve
my understanding of these concepts and I believe I now have the ability to
put these practices into place in the classroom.

3
References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 2014, Australian

professional standards for teachers, Melbourne/Canberra, viewed 25 August
2016, < http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional- standards-for-
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Beresford, Q 2012, ‘Separate and unequal: An outline of Aboriginal

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Blanch, F 2016, ‘Citizenship, Identity and Schooling’, lecture slides

distributed in the topics EDUC2420/9400 Teaching Indigenous Australian
Students/Critical Indigenous Pedagogies, Flinders University, Bedford Park.

Bonilla-Silva, E 1994, ‘Rethinking Racism: Towards a structural

interpretation’, University of Michigan, Unites States.

Delgado, R & Stefancic, J 2006, ‘Critical Race Theory’, An Introduction,

NYU Press, New York.

Douglas, B 2006, ‘Slippery Word, Ambiguous Praxis: ‘Race’ and Late-18th-

century voyagers in Oceania’, The Journal of Pacific History, Vol. 41, No. 1.

McIntosh, P 1990, ‘White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack’,

Independent School, Winter.

McMahon, B 2007, ‘Educational administrators' conceptions of whiteness,

anti-racism and social justice’, Journal of Educational Administration, Vol.
45 Iss 6.

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Tannoch-Bland, J 1998, 'Identifying white race privilege ' in Bringing
Australia together: the structure and experience of racism in Australia,
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Tur, NN 2010, 'Fringe to town dwellers - Oodnadatta: 1943-1950', in NN Tur,

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Schulz, S 2016, ‘Critical race theory and whiteness’, lecture slides

distributed in the topics EDUC2420/9400 Teaching Indigenous Australian
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