Learning from Country to conceptualise what an Aboriginal curriculum narrative might look like in education

Missing from the Australian Curriculum is a coherent Aboriginal curriculum narrative that is legitimate in its own right, rather than an “add on” to other curriculum areas. We argue that in order to do this, teachers need to experience Country-centred learning led by local Aboriginal community members. From these experiences, teachers can build relationships and better understand local knowledges and practices to develop an Aboriginal curriculum narrative for their teaching. In an urban Australian university teacher education program, Learning from Country in the City (LFC), a largely non-Aboriginal cohort of preservice teachers participate in Aboriginal community–led learning outside the classroom and on Country. This paper is based on qualitative data from individual yarns and group yarning circles with ten Aboriginal community-based educators and 30 preservice teachers. From this data, a Learning from Country Framework (Burgess et al., Teachers and Teaching, forthcoming) was developed which emphasises (i) Country-Centred Relationships, (ii) Relating, (iii) Critical Engagement, and (iv) Mobilising. Through deep listening and truth telling processes, preservice teachers build confidence and relationships with Aboriginal people and Country, awaken their critical consciousness and explore processes to conceptualise an Aboriginal curriculum narrative for their teaching. Through deep listening to the cultural, historical, and socio-political narratives of place, learning occurs through being and doing. Aboriginal community-based educators highlight the signifcance of Country-centred knowledges and truth-telling processes to challenge settler-colonial narratives and the power dynamics that have silenced Aboriginal people.