Tensions between policy and practice: Reconciliation agendas in the Australian Curriculum English

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Author(s)
Exley, Beryl
Chan, Mui Yoke
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2014
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In various parts of the world, Indigenous and non-Indigenous
peoples are actively working towards Reconciliation. In Australia, the context
in which we each undertake our work as educationalists and researchers, the
Reconciliation agenda has been pushed into schools and English teachers
have been called on to share responsibility for facilitating the move towards a
new national order. The recently introduced Australian Curriculum mandates
that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures be
embedded with “a strong” but “varying presence” into each learning area
(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting ...
View more >In various parts of the world, Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are actively working towards Reconciliation. In Australia, the context in which we each undertake our work as educationalists and researchers, the Reconciliation agenda has been pushed into schools and English teachers have been called on to share responsibility for facilitating the move towards a new national order. The recently introduced Australian Curriculum mandates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures be embedded with “a strong” but “varying presence” into each learning area (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013). In this paper we consider the tensions between policy and practice, when discourses external to education are recontextualised into the discipline of English. We do so by applying an analytical framework based on Bernstein’s (1990, 1996, 2000) sociological theories about the structure of instructional and regulative discourses. Our findings suggest that the space to exert Reconciliatory agendas in the Australian Curriculum English is ambiguous and thus holds the potential to not only marginalise Indigenous knowledges but also to create tensions between policy and practice for non-Indigenous teachers of English.
View less >
View more >In various parts of the world, Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are actively working towards Reconciliation. In Australia, the context in which we each undertake our work as educationalists and researchers, the Reconciliation agenda has been pushed into schools and English teachers have been called on to share responsibility for facilitating the move towards a new national order. The recently introduced Australian Curriculum mandates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures be embedded with “a strong” but “varying presence” into each learning area (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013). In this paper we consider the tensions between policy and practice, when discourses external to education are recontextualised into the discipline of English. We do so by applying an analytical framework based on Bernstein’s (1990, 1996, 2000) sociological theories about the structure of instructional and regulative discourses. Our findings suggest that the space to exert Reconciliatory agendas in the Australian Curriculum English is ambiguous and thus holds the potential to not only marginalise Indigenous knowledges but also to create tensions between policy and practice for non-Indigenous teachers of English.
View less >
Journal Title
English Teaching: Practice and Critique
Volume
13
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2014 ETPC. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Curriculum and pedagogy
English and literacy curriculum and pedagogy (excl. LOTE, ESL and TESOL)
Teacher education and professional development of educators
Language studies