EDC2200: First Nations Education - Policy and Framework Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of educational policies related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in New South Wales. It begins with a timeline of key policies, including the National Educational Policy of 1980 and the Closing the Gap policy of 2007, and reflects on their impact on Aboriginal communities. The report examines the historical context of these policies, considering factors such as colonization, assimilation, and the Stolen Generations. It also interprets policies and frameworks that guide teachers in incorporating Indigenous histories and cultures into the curriculum. The report highlights the importance of acknowledging cultural identities, linguistic backgrounds, and the need for equality to improve educational engagement and outcomes. It concludes with a summary of the impact of colonization and the importance of engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in educational decision-making.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the Student
University Name
Author Note

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Introduction
The history of the polices related to the education of the Aboriginal children in New
South Wales covers a wide range of the policy shifts which saw the sufferings of the aboriginal
children under the varied systems of the discrimination. This section will highlight the reflection
over the current national policies and the related frameworks in the regards to the aboriginal and
Torres Strait islander people.
Part A Reflection
Timeline of educational policies
Timeline
1814 – The Colonial Period
1901- The Federation
1937 – The Assimilation
1967 - The Referendum
1980 – The National Educational Policy
1988 - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy
2007 – Closing the Gap policy
2010-2014 – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan

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This section will majorly highlight two of the educational policies after the year 1975 that
informs the approaches to the enhancement of the knowledge and teaching of the aboriginal and
Torres Strait islander in NSW. These two policies are as follows.
1980- The National Educational Policy
2007- Closing the Gap
Summary – 1980 Aboriginal educational policy was the first policy that released and focuses
over the advancement of the aboriginal communities and the appreciation of the cultures and the
societies by the other Aboriginals.
The 2007 closing the gap policy in Aboriginal and Torres strait islander has majorly three of the
main focus. These were aboriginal students, aboriginal communities and all the staffs , schools
and students (Abawi & Brady, 2017). The aim of this educational policy has been to improve the
responsiveness, the availability and the effectiveness that is related to the educational services as
the major means towards the equity of access and towards participation in the field of education,
equitable and the effective educational outcomes.
Consideration - Both of these policies related to the aboriginal education as developed and
formed for ensuring that there lies no sort of discrimination among the aboriginal population and
the children belonging to the aboriginal population towards their access and success in their
career.
Contextual factors of the policy – The historical factors that lies in the context with the policy
includes the effects of the colonization over the aboriginal and the Torres strait islander people.
Through the decades, the aboriginal groups of people are the victims of discrimination in the
terms of political, social and cultural factors (ACARA 2013). The 1980 aboriginal educational

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policy included the key perception of changing the recognition and the rights of the aboriginal
towards connecting or sharing with heritage and culture with their people, building and more.
The closing the gap policy of the year 2007 aimed to equalize the rights among the aboriginal
and the non-aboriginal people residing in the country.
Consideration – During the time of the development of the policy in the year 1980, the country
of Australia was suffering from tremendous death rates and high disease rates among the
aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people (Price & Rogers, 2019). This death rate was mostly
due to chronic physical and mental diseases. Depression being one of the major factors due to
unemployment and discrimination due to colonisation.
In the context of 2007; Closing the gap policy, the country witnessed a wide range of gap among
health and educational areas within the country. Widening of the gap among the aboriginal and
the non aboriginal together with conflicts has been one of the major issues. Irrespective of the
development and the formation of several of the educational policies beforehand, the
discrimination and the challenges were still persistent.
Part B
This section will interpret several of the policies and the frameworks that informs and
guides the teacher towards teaching of the aboriginal and Torres strait islander people together
with the implementation of the indigenous histories and the cultures within the curriculum
(Patrick & Moodie, 2016).
The three essential and specific references to the aboriginal and Torres strait islander people,
their cultures, their histories and their languages includes the following. These factors or
examples contribute to enhancing the knowledge and the understanding of the aboriginal

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population regarding cultural identities, influence of the linguistic backgrounds and more. These
factors or the exams furthermore will illustrate the educational engagement, participation and
outcomes of the aboriginal and Torres strait islanders.
Colonisation
According to AITSL (2014) the policies related to colonisation has resulted in inequality, racism
and the invention of major disruption among the Indigenous Australian cultures. It has been one
of the major detrimental factors in the context of the discrimination that contributes to the
educational and health outcomes of the aboriginal and the Torres Strait islander people
significantly. In the country, colonisation had a devastation effect over the live and the lands of
the aboriginals for more than thousands of years. The colonisation including the context of
language, identity and culture showed negative effect over the indigenous Australians. As per the
Milne (2017), the lingering injustice related to context of colonisation included exploitation,
dispossession, displacement, segregation and assimilation.
Assimilation Policy of 1937
The year 1937 witnessed the common wealth government holding a national conference over the
aboriginal affairs that agreed over the aboriginal absorption or assimilation within the wider
population. The aim or the target of the assimilation policy has been to make the ‘aboriginal’
gradually disappear so that the individuals from the aboriginal community gradually loses their
identity within the wider community (Holden & Kitchen, 2016).
Both the protection and assimilation policies were impacted harshly over the indigenous people.
This included separate education for the aboriginal children, ban in alcohol, lack of minimal

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social security, low rate of wages and segregation laws for the aboriginal people to separate
themselves from towns in remote areas.
Stolen Generations
The history of stolen generation ranges back to the time where aboriginal and Torres Strait
islander children were lawfully taken away without the consent of their parents and without any
sort of order from the court. The aboriginal and Torres Strait islander children were being
forcible removed from their communities and their families under the care of the non-aboriginal
people with the target of assimilating them within the broader society (COAG 2008). The
aboriginal children were often trained for becoming domestic servants and labourers. In the
scenario after the year of 1940, the aboriginal children were fostered and adopted within the non
aboriginal ones. The 1997 report named as “ Bringing them home” by the Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity Commission, more than one tenth of the children were forcible removed by
the laws of the country.
Teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - the aboriginal people has long been
under the era of colonisation and has been the victims of the effect of colonisation. The 1980
national educational policy has been one of the first step to recognise the rights of the aboriginal
towards their education. This policy has been the stepping stone by the National Aboriginal
Education Committee with the aim to change some of the management prosecutions that has
been practised through out the centuries (Forrest, Lean & Dunn, 2017). The policy was to
recognise the cultural heritages, the aboriginal race and the native language of the aboriginals in
the school where till decade, aboriginal cultures were never discussed and the language were
looked don upon.

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Consideration The above stated two policies informs the practise of the propagation of equality
and thus encouraging the inclusion of aboriginal culture and language within the teaching n
classroom.
Achievement and participation - The closing the gap policy of the year 2007 aims to trigger the
inequality and the wider gap among the aboriginal and the non aboriginal which has been
prevalent throughout the decade.
Consideration - As per the policy, it is important for embedding or addressing the culture, the
cultural identity and the linguistic background of the teaching practise by including the
curriculum that has aboriginal recognition. It is important to recognise their culture and their
languages in the classroom to make them feel inclusive (Freeman & Staley, 2018). It is also
important for the teachers of the classroom to practise equality among the aboriginal and non
aboriginal children so that the aboriginal children does not feel discriminated and looked down
upon. These will help them to come to school and engage in educational activities that will
benefit them in long run.
Engagement of Aboriginals –It is important to engage the aboriginal and the Torres Strait
islander people in the educational decision making by appointing them as leader (White et al.,
2015). It is essential to engage them in the community for taking decision regarding their
educational wellbeing.
Consideration - Some of the insights that the policies provide for engagement to the aboriginal
community includes the following.
1. Building relationship with the aboriginals
2. Showing respect to the aboriginals and their rights

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3. Rising awareness in culture of Aboriginal population.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded from above that from the very year 1788, the colonisation in
Australia resulted in a drastic decline within the aboriginal population. History of the polices
related to the education of the Aboriginal children in New South Wales covers a wide range of
the policy shifts which saw the sufferings of the aboriginal children under the varied systems of
the discrimination.

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References
Abawi, Z., & Brady, J. (2017). Decolonizing indigenous educational policies. Emerging
Perspectives: Interdisciplinary Graduate Research in Education and Psychology, 1(1),
20-30.
ACARA. (2013). National Assessment Program - NAP. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu.au/
AITSL. (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list
COAG. (2008). National Indigenous Reform Agreement (Closing the Gap). Retrieved from
http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/health_indigenous/indigenous-
reform/national-agreement_sept_12.pdf.
DEET. (1989). National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy. Retrieved
from
https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/national_aboriginal_and_torres_strai
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Freeman, L. A., & Staley, B. (2018). The positioning of Aboriginal students and their languages
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Holden, M., & Kitchen, J. (2016). Evolving practices: Admissions policies in Ontario teacher
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Milne, E. (2017). Implementing Indigenous education policy directives in Ontario public
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