RECONCILIATION IN EDUCATION: A GUIDE FOR STUDENTS

Reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians. 

The reconciliation movement formally began in 1991 when the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody presented its final report and recommendations to the Australian Parliament. The report asked for a national reconciliation process and the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR) was established. In 2001 Reconciliation Australia was established from recommendations of CAR’s final report.  
 
In 2016 Reconciliation Australia developed a shared language around reconciliation with the Five Dimensions of Reconciliation: 

• Race Relations
• Equality and Equity
• Institutional Integrity  
• Unity
• Historical Acceptance.  

 
Through these interrelated dimensions, opportunities for Truth-Telling and improved relationships between First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous Australians can drive reconciliation in Australia.  
 

LEARN ABOUT RECONCILIATION ACTION PLANS (RAPS) AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

A Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) is a formal commitment to reconciliation. It documents how schools or services will strengthen relationships, respect and opportunities in the classroom, around the school/service, and with the community. Schools and services can develop a RAP using the Narragunnawali platform to register and extend on existing initiatives, or to begin their reconciliation journeys.

Students and children can learn more about the Narragunnawali RAP development process here and in this video:

Research shows that students who attend schools that have a RAP are more likely to say that their school understands their needs and is good for them.

There are more than 10,000 schools and early learning services developing RAPs, and students and children can learn more about those with a current published RAP via the interactive Who has a RAP? map. 

If your school has a published RAP or a RAP in progress, you can request to join the RAP Working Group. This will send an email to the Chair of the RAP Working Group. Alternatively, you can reach out to a teacher or your principal to ask how students can get involved. If your school doesn’t have a RAP, talk with teachers about why you think it’s important for your school to have one.

SOME NEXT STEPS FOR STUDENTS

All First Nations and non-Indigenous students and children in schools and services can participate in reconciliation in education in many ways: 

• Ask your school or service whether it has a RAP, and if there are opportunities for you to be represented on the RAP Working Group, or contribute to RAP-related commitments.
• Engage in your own research and learn about Truth-telling and the true histories of Australia. 
• Learn how inclusive your school or service’s policies are and discuss opportunities to promote reconciliation with your school or service leaders. 
• Learn about the professional requirements around reconciliation, mentioned above, and discuss classroom or school or service opportunities with your teacher, curriculum lead teacher or school/service leaders.
• Learn about respectful and inclusive terminology and be a role model for other learners in your school or service.
• Share your learnings about reconciliation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures, histories and contributions with your family and friends and encourage them to get involved with celebrating days of national significance to the reconciliation movement.
• Act on confronting overt (obvious) and covert (subtle) racism in primary and secondary learning environments. 

You can learn more about taking action against racism in this video:

• Engage with the Narragunnawali subject guides for examples of how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures connect with your learning areas of interest.
• Don’t forget to evaluate resources you use in assignments and learning tasks to ensure that they are relevant and responsive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories.  
• Put reconciliation on the agenda of the Student Representative Council and share with SRC members opportunities for students to contribute to reconciliation projects and plans in your school community.
• Remember to think critically when engaging with news media and social media.
• Understand that developing cultural responsiveness is an ongoing learning process, and that it is okay to recognise some of our personal and collective challenges in reaching cultural responsiveness. Recognising these challenges is an important part of the overall learning and growth process. 
• Ask questions. Sometimes we need to ask more questions before we can find out more – or better – answers. We shouldn’t feel afraid to say what we don’t know or stay silent about these questions.  
• Draw on inspiration from the Narragunnawali RAP Actions and Awards films, as well as positive News pieces, about student-driven action.
• If you feel your school is demonstrating outstanding commitment to reconciliation, nominate it for a Narragunnawali Award. 
   

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

For a long time, the formal education system in Australia has served as a tool of colonisation. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, voices, and ways of being, knowing and doing have been excluded from mainstream education institutions, policies and frameworks. As a result, generations of Australians have grown up with very little or no understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and very little or no awareness of the true histories of Australia.  

First Nations children have been thriving through learning using Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teaching styles before and after European settlement. Historically, there were policies put in place that stopped Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from attending school and getting a ‘western’ education. For a brief example, check out this NSW timeline from NESA or this national perspective from AITSL. 

 
Over the past decades, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous educators, education activists and Indigenous Education Consultative Bodies have worked hard to create change in education institutions, sectors, and frameworks to be inclusive and respectful to First Nations peoples, cultures, histories and contributions. 

POSITIVE IMPACT OF RECONCILIATION IN EDUCATION 

Positive shifts in education policies and practices have important potential to address historical injustices and drive a stronger future of reconciliation both in and through education. 

According to The Importance of Reconciliation in Education literature review (2019), there are many diverse positive effects of reconciliation, including greater social interaction, reduced stress, improved productivity, and more positive views about society. Programs focused on reconciliation in education, such as Narragunnawali, can support such positive effects. 

The external Evaluation of Narragunnawali found those engaged with Narragunnawali feel that it has “increased [their] confidence in addressing reconciliation and driving meaningful change within their schools and early learning services. Engaging with Narragunnawali provides a formalised means of delivering students, staff and families with regular opportunities to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. Engagement with Narragunnawali also encouraged the forging of new relationships between schools and services, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities”.

While recognising that reconciliation in education is everyone’s business, and for everyone’s benefit, through-time evidence also helps to highlight the particular positive impacts of Reconciliation Action Planning on the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth. Findings from the Longitudinal Survey of Indigenous Children (LSIC), indicate that students who attend schools that their parents know have a RAP:

•    Reduced likelihood of being reported as not wanting to go to school

•    Increased likelihood of being reported to think that their school understands their needs and is good for them.

While there is still much to be done to continue to strengthen reconciliation in education and across Australia, such findings point to the important impacts that can be fostered within and across generations, where a focus on reconciliation is prioritised.
 

All Australian teachers and educators who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous young children in early years to primary and secondary students have professional requirements they must include in their roles.

These include:

•    Mparntwe Education Declaration 
•    National Quality Standard (NQS) 
•    Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) 
•    My Time, Our Place Framework
•    Australian Professional Standards for Teachers with support from the Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Toolkit and Report
•    Australian Curriculum’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority

The standards and frameworks align with national and international policies and agreements, such as the Closing the Gap targets relating to education and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

The Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education supports all people who work in education to engage with reconciliation in schools and services across Australia. 

To learn more about the role of teachers and educators in reconciliation in schools/services visit the Reconciliation Teacher Toolkit.