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RESEARCH TEACHING &

LEARNING
Essay

BRETT ROLLO
18041213
18041213 Essay Brett Rollo

Australia has a dark history, a history of oppression and murder, a history of breaching the
human rights of human beings based on beliefs of what a society should look like. This history in
Australia for the longest time has only been briefly taught in schools and when it is taught does
not describe the full extent of what took place in Australia from 1788 onwards. It was this history
that is never truly taught in schools that has had such a huge effect in making and keeping this
gap between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous learners. This is made evident in the research
conducted by Lewthwaite et al (2015) as the parents of students based what their child’s
education would be like from their own experience with schools and teachers. Furthermore, from
Lewthwaite et als (2015) research that students enjoyed being in a school environment more if
they felt like they belonged, if they felt like there was no difference between them and their Non-
Indigenous peers. This essay aims to critically analyse the article by Lewthwaite et al (2015) to
help in understanding what it is that makes Indigenous Learners want to learn as well as
contextualizing why Indigenous Students are at a disadvantage and by doing so a lesson plan
based in a history setting will be modified to show how to keep Indigenous students interactive
in meaningful learning.

Lewthwaite et als (2015, pp.139) aim for their research was to “identify what participants
identified as influences upon their learning and characteristics of effective teachers” as well as to
get teachers to be more understanding of Indigenous culture. By doing so the research would
help to provide an understanding as too why there is this “low equity-high quality education”
(OECD, 2006, 2010 cited in Lewthwaite et al, 2015, pp.132) in Australia. The methods of
research were to not just compile research from what other scholars had said but instead to
interview Indigenous pupils and parents to gain a deeper and more insightful understanding as
too why Indigenous students are struggling educationally. The research is based around similar
research that took place in Canada although Lewthwaite et als research is solely focused on
Indigenous pupils and parents so that they are retrieving research from the schools and
community. The results of this research were that through the Indigenous people (students and
parents) that took part in the research, the research team could understand through informal and
formal experiences what the pedagogy for teaching Indigenous students should be. The type of
research conducted in Lewthwaite et als work is action research, this means that “after carrying
out an action research project, educators can report their findings to colleagues in some form and
decide on a new course of action for both improving practice and continuing their research”

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18041213 Essay Brett Rollo

(Ullman, 2015, pp. 221). By commencing this research project and finding results Lewthwaite
will further be able to understand the gap between Indigenous and Non- Indigenous learners and
therefore can create an action plan based on the results to fix this gap. Even though Lewthwaite
et als study is for a North Queensland catholic school the educational disadvantage for
Indigenous people is national and all schools will benefit from this kind of research.

There is a huge gap between Indigenous and Non- Indigenous students when it comes to an
education setting with only 41.5% of Indigenous males completing year 12 compared to 72.1%
of Non- Indigenous males and 49.5% of Indigenous females compared to 82.7% of Non-
Indigenous females (Lamb et al, 2011, pp.3). Based on Lewthwaite et als (2015) research we
gain an idea of what it is that makes Indigenous learner not want to be part of an educational
environment, parents of the students say about the student’s teachers that “I think sometimes
they say, just another [Aboriginal child] that will act up or have learning problems or be bad in
the classroom” (Lewthwaite et al, 2015, pp.141). One reason for the students not wanting to
attend school or be engaged in the class work is that they do not feel like they are welcome, that
there are these racial stereotypes of the way an Aboriginal student is meant to act and teachers
base their initial belief of an Indigenous student’s capability off this stereotype. However, this
lack of interactivity in the classroom further stems from a lack of Indigenous Content being
taught in the classroom “Educational theorists have long cited the difficulties and challenges that
teachers face when teaching Indigenous Australian perspectives and History in the context of the
Australian curriculum” (Harwood, Carosi, 2016, pp. 24). If Indigenous content were to be
Incorporated into the school curriculum in a history classroom for example, Indigenous students
may be more likely to be interactive with the lesson that is planned. If they were to hear about
what truly happened and learn some of their own culturally history rather than the glorified
British version of events that is taught in schools, they would pay more attention as the would
feel connected on a more personal level. However, there are 3 main reasons of why it is difficult
to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into a class room these reasons are that teachers have
insufficient knowledge, they must be cautious of how portray the perspective and must be
cautious with sources depicted to avoid any harsh stereotypes or racism (Harwood et al, 2016,
pp.24). “The teaching profession allows for independence and creative freedom” (Ullman, 2015,
pp.5) as Ullman states teaching allows creative freedom it is up to the teacher on what way they
should teach the Indigenous Australian perspective in their lesson. The issue is that the history

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cannot be taught without showing the stereotypes and racism as that is where the stereotypes that
these Indigenous learners face originated from and therefore they face the disadvantage they do.

In the Lewthwaite research project, it is the parents that have that first impact on how an
Indigenous student thinks school will be based on their own personal experience. As they were
mistreated, disrespected, neglected and stereotyped they believe their students will receive the
same treatment that they did. However, this gap in mistreatment and dis respect for Indigenous
people is slowly closing as people become more informed about the harsh history of the
Indigenous Australian peoples. So how do teachers get students involved in the class and make
them want to learn? Based off the Lewthwaite research one of the students interviewed states
that “We would learn difficult things but they related to our country here. I could relate to what
he was saying” (Lewthwaite et al, 2015, pp.148). The student claims that he enjoyed the class
because the class related to him, because they spoke about the country and areas in a geography
classroom setting that related to his Indigenous Culture. It was the teacher in this setting that
made the student more interactive with the content and the subject because he made the subject
feel relevant to the student. This links back to Ullman (2015, pp. 5) saying that “the teaching
profession allows or independence and creative freedom” the teacher ability to take historical
content and contextualize it to make the Indigenous student feel more connected with it is what
that creative freedom is referring to. In a history setting the teaching of the Indigenous past was
taught in a very miniscule manner along with the relationship between in Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians in the past (Craven, 2011, pp. 110). This resulted in the ‘real’ history of
Australia being depicted to start in 1788 on the day of invasion and neglects the 40,000 years of
prior Indigenous History that stood before Britain arrived (Craven, 2011).

In a historical context, there are many ways in which Indigenous students could feel more
involved with the lesson one example of this is by getting the students to relate to the content.
One instance could be that the lesson for the day is to teach the students about World War 1, it
could be incorporated as one task of the lesson is to understand the role that Indigenous
Australians played in World war 1 and not just focus on the Non-Indigenous Australian roles as
would have been done in the past. A lesson plan from Australiancurriculumlessons.com.au has
been taken for modification to show as an example of the ways in which the lesson plan can be
molded to incorporate ways that Indigenous students may feel more connected to the content

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being taught. The lesson plan focuses on World War 1 and the events that took place at Gallipoli.
The assessment involves profiling a soldier, analysis of a website and the creation of a story. In
the modified version of the lesson plan a lot would not have to be changed however while
introducing what the war was and the events that took place in Gallipoli, an insight to Indigenous
roles in that conflict could be given as well as providing an example of the teachers own research
to give an example of an Indigenous soldier just briefly but to set an example of what the
outcome for the tasks are to be. The assessment would then be to profile and Indigenous
Australian soldier, while finding a website that provides information of Indigenous Australians
and their effort in the war for both Indigenous men and women followed by the creation of a
story for example trying to write a short story about the war with what they have learned from
the perspective of an Indigenous Soldier. By doing so students will not only be learning about
Gallipoli and the events that unfolded but will also be learning about the role of the Indigenous
Australians involved. As made evident in Lewthwaite et al (2015) it is the teacher that gets the
Indigenous students involved by making the content feel relevant to them.

In conclusion, the Research project by Lewthwaite et al (2015) aimed to find what it was that
made Indigenous students not want to learn and what it was that made them more interactive
with school content. By having a research team that consisted not only of researchers but the
community they could find what pedagogy best suited aboriginal learners. The results of this
research showed that Indigenous learners wanted to be treated like all the other students and feel
like they belonged and someone cared about how their education turns out and not have pre-
biased perceptions of their ability based on stereotypes. The parents of these children wanted
similar things for their children and did not want them to experience and remember school the
same way they did. The second part of this essay contextualizes Indigenous disadvantage and
provides some reasons as too why Indigenous students are at a disadvantage and not being
productive or interested in their school work. Finally, a lesson plan was modified around the
research of Lewthwaite et als research (2015) as it was found that in the study it was the teacher
who kept the Indigenous students involved by making it feel relevant to them, so in the lesson
plan Indigenous history has been incorporated to make Indigenous students feel more motivated
and involved and culturally aware of their own people’s history.

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References

Australian History Lessons - Gallipoli 'The Landing' via ABC - Australian Curriculum Lessons.
(2017). Australian Curriculum Lessons. Retrieved 27 March 2017, from
http://www.australiancurriculumlessons.com.au/2013/04/18/australian-history-lessons-
gallipoli-the-landing-via-abc/
Craven, R. (2011). Teaching Aboriginal Studies (1st ed., p. 5). Sydney: Allen & Unwin
Harwood, M., & Carosi, J. (2016). Visualizing History: The Need to Incorporate Indigenous
Australian Filmic Perspectives in the History Classroom. Teaching History, 50(1), 24.
Helme, S. & Lamb, S. (2017). Closing The School Completion Gap for Indigenous Students.
Retrieved 17 March 2017, from
http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/201 1/ctgc-
rs06.pdf
Lewthwaite, B., Osborne, B., Lloyd, N., Boon, H., & Llewellyn, L. (2015). Seeking a Pedagogy
of Difference: What Aboriginal Students and Their Parents in North Queensland Say About
Teaching and Their Learning. Australian Journal Of Teacher Education, 40(5), 140-141.
Ullman, J. (2015). Applying educational research (2nd ed.). Pearson.

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18041213 Essay Brett Rollo

Summary: Lesson plan for Year 9 students


This lesson sequence is a great way to teach students about the history of WW1 and [Indigenous]
Australian’s involvement via the battle at Gallipoli. The content is interactive and allows
students to gain a real understanding as to what went on during the day of April 25, 1915 [as well
as allowing students to understand Importance and the role of Indigenous Australians.. Students
can be taught explicitly or allowed to run an inquiry into the events. A wonderful resource!
Australian Curriculum Links:

 Sequence historical people and events. (ACHHS117)


 Compare information from a range of sources. (ACHHS122)
 Identify points of view in the past and present (ACHHS123)
Lesson: Modified

-Brief introduction of the lesson and what the lesson will entail. (5 mins)
-Describe the conflict at Gallipoli and find out classes prior understanding of the events (5 mins)
-Brief example of own research into Indigenous Australian soldiers and provide examples of
websites that can be used to assist with the assessment. (5 mins)
-Video to get class involved and paying attention also to make class understand what it is they
are looking for in Assessment. (5mins)
-Assessment (20 mins)
- Group sharing of findings (10 Mins)
Assessment:

 Soldier Profile – Modified to Indigenous Soldier profile (finding information on specific


Indigenous Soldiers)
 Analysis of a Website- Modified to Finding a website on Indigenous involvement in the
war effort and research about roles of Indigenous men and women in the wars.
 Interviewing a Soldier (modified and removed)
 Creation of a story- Modified to create a short story based on the soldier profile and
research from relevant websites, to describe the war from the perspective of an Indigenous
solder

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