Improving Indigenous Outcomes in Education in Australia

As part of my postgraduate studies in Indigenous education, it has become clear that there is a significant divide in how this complex issue should be approached. Indigenous scholars such as Shay and Lampert argue that the current Australian education system and its efforts to improve Indigenous outcomes remains an outdated, neoliberal and Western-centric model that continues to marginalise Indigenous ways of knowing and learning. They point out how numerous government initiatives intended to improve outcomes have largely been limited with only negligible progress.

Nevertheless, meaningful efforts have emerged to reframe Indigenous education through frameworks such as Yunkaporta’s 8-Way Model, which uses Indigenous knowledge systems as the foundation for teaching Indigenous students. This approach offers several advantages: it strengthens students’ confidence and identity, values traditional forms of knowledge and bridges learning across multiple curriculum areas, such as Literacy, Numeracy, Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) and the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. It is specifically designed to bridge how Indigenous students live culturally within society and their traditional ways of knowing within Western education norms and standards. It also promotes the development of ethical and cultural understanding for all students.

For pre-service teachers, adopting an Indigenist lens also involves critical reflection on positionality and worldview. Teachers must ask themselves: How do I know what I know? What assumptions and biases shape my thinking? How might these influence my teaching practice? These questions are vital for developing self-awareness and teaching that is both culturally responsive and respectful. By creating classrooms that authentically incorporate Indigenous pedagogies, teachers can help rebuild trust among Indigenous students, many of whom have a historical mistrust of schooling due to the legacy of the Stolen Generations and policies that once used education as a tool for assimilation and labour preparation.

One powerful way to support this shift is through children’s literature that celebrates Indigenous culture, practice, and history. For example, Aunty Joy’s Welcome to Country functions as both a narrative and a ceremony, introducing students to Indigenous terms, cultural values and Bunjil’s creation story, thereby fostering intercultural respect and understanding. In upper-primary years, students can engage with more contemporary texts such as Big hART’s Space Junk — a multimodal digital comic that integrates audio and visual storytelling. Set in the Western Pilbara in 2076, this work highlights that Indigenous storytelling is not confined to the past; it also envisions vibrant Indigenous futures, exploring identity, place and resilience through a futuristic lens. Engaging classroom activities may incorporate Literacy with geography, history and science to meaningfully add learning outcomes with Indigenous ways of knowing.

Ultimately, these approaches demonstrate how teachers can embed Indigenous perspectives meaningfully within their practice, aligning with the aspirations of Indigenous education scholars who advocate for policy and pedagogical transformation. A particularly compelling finding from recent research is that Indigenous students who see their culture, language and history reflected in their school experience show greater engagement and improved educational outcomes. Thus, whether through Indigenous frameworks or culturally celebratory curricula, embedding Indigenous perspectives has the potential to positively transform learning for students who have long been marginalised in the education system. While acknowledging historical injustices remains essential, it is equally important to look ahead and to envision a future where Indigenous students feel a sense of belonging in school, enjoy learning, achieve higher retention and graduation rates and are empowered to shape their own futures with pride and self-determination.