The teacher’s role when there are Aboriginal experts in the school

If I asked teachers who is best placed to teach about Aboriginal cultures, histories, languages and customs, they would undoubtedly say Aboriginal Elders. I would not disagree but are Aboriginal Elders the only ones who should teach about Aboriginal perspectives?

For many teachers the challenge of teaching Aboriginal perspectives is knowing what is appropriate to teach and what knowledge and resources they should be drawing on. When there are Aboriginal experts in the school either as student and education support or if the school is lucky enough to have an Elder in residence program or Elders who work directly with the school, it can feel like a big relief. The teacher knows that Elders are experts and so can lead the teaching and learning of Aboriginal perspectives. But there is also a flip side to this wealth of knowledge and information being shared and that is that the teacher steps back too far and doesn't engage with Aboriginal perspectives at all or very little because that is the role of the Aboriginal expert.

This might not seem like a bad way to go as Aboriginal perspectives is about teaching Aboriginal culture, language and all the complexities that come with the history of Australia and who better to teach this than Aboriginal experts? Having Aboriginal Elders to navigate this puts the school in an extremely privileged position. But there are two main issues, the first is that there are not enough Aboriginal teachers and experts to only have this knowledge taught by Aboriginal experts. The second, and I would argue more important issue, is what does this teach our students about Aboriginal perspectives, if the only people talking and teaching it are Aboriginal while their non-Aboriginal teachers stay silent? What does it say to non-Aboriginal students about who is allowed to speak about this and who is not? When there are Aboriginal experts in the school this should be an invitation for teachers to upskill their knowledge and to bring in more Aboriginal knowledges and understandings into their everyday teaching. It's a chance to explore more complex ideas, draw on community knowledge and implement Aboriginal pedagogies. Having Aboriginal experts as part of the teaching team should not be a reason to step back but a reason to step up. We must show all students that learning from and with Aboriginal peoples and sharing that knowledge whether Aboriginal or not, benefits us all.