We are very pleased to bring you Volume 47, issue 2 of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. The theme of this year's NAIDOC week was ‘Because of her we can’ so it is appropriate that the first article in this volume focuses on the gendered stories of pathways through university by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Using Ahmed's work on ‘wilfulness’, Rennie explores the resilience, resistance and persistence of seven female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education students and considers the ways they negotiate pathways and success through university. Bright and Mackinlay also draw on the concept of ‘wilfulness’ to report on the successes and failures of a research project exploring mentoring programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander preservice teachers. They suggest that tensions are always present between the need to comply with the expectations of a Western academic institution while engaging in a wilful pursuit of the kinds of resistance that may be necessary in attempts at decoloniality. Also drawing on a decolonial lens, McDowall explore how preservice teachers position themselves and how they consider their relationships and ethical responsibilities in the field of Indigenous education. Pre-service teachers in different context are the focus of Torepe and Manning who examine the lived experiences and various challenges confronting this group of experienced Māori language teachers working in English-medium, state-funded schools.
The next suite of articles in this volume focuses on high school and primary school contexts beginning with an article by Manning reviewing the status of Māori histories in New Zealand schools and a critique of the New Zealand government's response to a petition developed by students of Otorohanga College, New Zealand calling for the New Zealand Land Wars to become a prescribed course of study. Returning to the Australian context, the papers by Griffin et al., Clague et al., and Auld, take us in to high schools. Griffin et al. explores how films used in the Australian National Curriculum such as Samson and Delilah, Bran Nue Dae, The Sapphires and Rabbit-Proof Fence can deconstruct the predominant stereotypical perceptions of Indigenous cultures and reframe the Australian story. Clauge et al. examine the impacts of School Based Gardens from an Aboriginal philosophical perspective. Focusing on a case study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff, racism and antiracism practices in Australian schools are explored by Auld. He contemplates the benefits and risks of introducing mandatory reporting of racism by teachers in Australia. Rioux et al. and Shortland and Locke explore teaching and learning biology and Indigenous students. Rioux et al. examines the integration of Aboriginal and Western knowledge into science learning in an Aboriginal independent high school in Queensland to strengthen students’ personal identities and their identities as science learners. In the New Zealand context, Shortland and Locke examine what occurred when a Rumaki pūtaiao kaiako (Science) teacher at a New Zealand high school trialled the use of creative narratives with her Year-10 Māori immersion unit students as a way of developing their understanding of the human digestive system.
The papers by Fogarty et al. and Trimmer and Dixon focus on Indigenous policy, with Forgarty et al. examining how literacy policy is framed for Indigenous Australians through narratives of failure and crisis, while Trimmer and Dixon reviews the impact of international changes in policy and associated funding models and considers the impacts and research implications of Australia's initial experience of implementation of support services for Indigenous families with children with special education needs.
The final papers in the volume, by Olsen and Trimmer et al., return to a higher education context, exploring the role and challenges of being a non-Indigenous person in the study of Indigenous issues, and potential strategies for improving the access to, participation in and graduation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from higher education Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses respectively. We hope you enjoy reading the many and varied papers in this volume.
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome incoming co-editor of AJIE Professor Bronwyn Fredericks. Bronwyn has over 30 years of experience working in education within the tertiary sector, state and federal governments, and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations. She is a leader in strategic vision, direction and achievement in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the higher education sector and we look forward to working closely with her to continue the high standard of AJIE. We would also like to express our deepest thanks and gratitude to outgoing co-editor Associate Professor Elizabeth Mackinlay. Liz has worked as co-editor of AJIE since 2003 and in this time has had a vital role in growing the quality and international focus of the journal. We would like to recognise Liz for the immense contribution she has made to AJIE over many years.
