Unit rationale, description and aim
Through the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, Australian governments affirm a shared commitment to recognising, valuing, and learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, and knowledges. Further, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007) reiterates the rights of indigenous peoples to ‘an education in their own culture and provided in their own language.’ This unit responds to these commitments by supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander preservice teachers to critically examine how Aboriginal Knowings can be embedded authentically and respectfully across curriculum contexts.
The unit privileges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowings as epistemologically valid, relational, and place based, and positions these Knowings as central to teaching and learning rather than as additive content. The influence of historical approaches to curriculum within Australian education is critiqued to assess implications, particularly in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and perspectives. Preservice teachers are supported to examine the relationship between personal values, political understandings, and professional practice.
The aim of this unit is to develop confident, critically reflective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators who can embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives across curriculum in ways that are culturally safe, pedagogically rigorous, and aligned with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Contextualise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islande...
Learning Outcome 01
Apply Indigenous pedagogical models to embed Abori...
Learning Outcome 02
Reflect on personal beliefs, values, and positiona...
Learning Outcome 03
Evaluate the impact of representations of Aborigin...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Exploring and storying Indigenous worldviews: Australian and international metaphors and models
- Defining and contextualising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges/knowings and perspectives
- Connectedness and relatedness; understanding systems of relationships, responsibilities and reciprocity
- Identifying and critically reflecting on current representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures and histories
- Exploration and critical analysis of the links between personal beliefs and values, political convictions and teaching and learning practice
- Identifying ways for teachers to challenge their practice in ongoing ways
- Understanding that embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives engages process rather than content
- Identifying and exploring the use of different models of pedagogy and traditional methods of transferring knowledges, including 8 Ways and Yarning
Overview of assessments
The assessment tasks in this unit are designed to enable preservice teachers to demonstrate achievement of the unit learning outcomes through authentic, practice-based tasks aligned with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Both tasks reflect core professional practices undertaken by teachers when planning curriculum, selecting resources, and critically engaging with tasks aligned with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
Assessment Task 1 focuses on Australia’s adherence to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and allows preservice teachers to explore how they would better embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the classroom. Assessment Task 2 extends this learning to curriculum analysis and pedagogical decision making by requiring students to critique a sequence of lessons and evaluate how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives are embedded.
Together, the tasks support the development of critical, culturally responsive educators who can embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in ways that are ethical, informed, and pedagogically sound.
To pass the unit, preservice teachers must submit all assessment tasks and achieve an overall mark of at least 50%.
Assessment Task 1: Yarning Circle UNDRIP (2007, ...
Assessment Task 1: Yarning Circle
UNDRIP (2007, Article 14.3) states, ‘States shall, in conjunction with indigenous peoples, take effective measures, in order for indigenous individuals, particularly children, including those living outside their communities, to have access, when possible, to an education in their own culture and provided in their own language.’
Present a 20 minute yarning circle that answers the question, ‘To what extent does Australia fulfil UNDRIP (Article 14.3) within primary education?’
Your yarning circle should consider your own experiences and relevant Indigenous pedagogies and research. Using two lesson plans from any chosen KLA/Stage/Unit you should demonstrate how to embed of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and engage the group by posing relevant ideas and questions which generate discussion.
50%
Assessment Task 2: Curriculum Analysis and Pedag...
Assessment Task 2:
Curriculum Analysis and Pedagogical Critique
Select a unit of work in a nominated curriculum learning area and year level. Analyse how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives are embedded within the sequence, or not, and evaluate the effectiveness of pedagogical approaches used, including the application of Indigenous pedagogical models (e.g., 8 Ways). Propose improvements to the unit of work in relation to (1) embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, and (2) integrating Indigenous pedagogies and traditional ways of transferring knowledges. Consider how you can engage with issues of cultural safety, representation, and authenticity in the unit of work. Prepare a brief reflexive statement that examines how your positionality, values, and beliefs have shaped your analysis and pedagogical decision-making.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit is delivered in a multi-mode format that combines on campus residential block learning with online and community-based engagement. Teaching and learning activities include lectures, workshops, Yarning Circles, collaborative discussions, and guided critical reflection. These approaches are intentionally aligned with Aboriginal pedagogies that privilege relationality, storytelling, and collective knowledge building.
The learning and teaching strategy is designed to support preservice teachers to engage deeply with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowings through dialogue, reflexivity, and critical inquiry. Compulsory residential block classes provide opportunities for shared learning in a culturally safe environment, as well as community building, while online activities enable sustained engagement with readings, peers, and assessment tasks within students’ local contexts.
Active participation in all learning activities supports preservice teachers to achieve the unit learning outcomes and to prepare effectively for the professional tasks represented in the assessment.
Representative texts and references
Recommended text and documents
Australian Curriculum https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) www.acara.edu.au
Recommended references
Arbon, V. (2008). Arlthirnda ngurkarnda ityirnda: Being-knowing-doing. De-colonising Indigenous tertiary education. Post Pressed.
Dianati, S., & Bolt, R. (2025). Embedding Indigenous knowledge in the curriculum: Principles and strategies across the Australian higher education sector. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 54(1). https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.v54i1.1073
Harrison, N., & Sellwood, J. (2016). Teaching and learning in Aboriginal education (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Harrison, N., & Skrebneva, I. (2020). Country as pedagogical: Enacting an Australian foundation for culturally responsive pedagogy. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 52(1), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2019.1641842
Harrison, N., Tennent, C., Vass, G., Guenther, J., Lowe, K., & Moodie, N. (2019). Curriculum and learning in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education: A systematic review. The Australian Educational Researcher, 46, 233–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00311-9
Hogarth, M. (2022). An analysis of education academics’ attitudes and preconceptions about Indigenous knowledges in initial teacher education. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 51(2). https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.v51i2.41
Hogarth, M. (2025). Ngarrngga: An approach to Indigenous education for all Australians. The Australian Educational Researcher, 53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-025-00942-1
Lowe, K., & Yunkaporta, T. (2013). The inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in the Australian National Curriculum: A cultural, cognitive and socio-political evaluation. Curriculum Perspectives, 33(1).
Martin, A. J., Bostwick, K. C. P., Durksen, T. L., Amazan, R., Lowe, K., & Weuffen, S. (2025). Teachers’ motivation to teach Aboriginal perspectives in the curriculum. The Australian Educational Researcher, 52, 1637–1662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-024-00779-0
Murray, G., & Campton, S. (2024). Reducing racism in education: Embedding Indigenous perspectives in curriculum. The Australian Educational Researcher, 51, 1771–1790. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-023-00663-3
Nakata, M. (2007). Disciplining the savages, savaging the disciplines. Australian Studies Press.
New South Wales Department of Education and Communities. (2012). 8 ways Aboriginal pedagogy. The Bangamalanha Centre.
Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2025). Supporting authentic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in curriculum planning. https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au
Shay, M., & Oliver, R. (Eds.). (2021). Indigenous education in Australia: Learning and teaching for deadly futures. Routledge.
Yip, S. Y., & Chakma, U. (2024). The teaching of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in initial teacher education: A scoping review. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 48(3), 287–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2024.2327029