Accrediting Indigenous Australian Content and Cultural Competency Within the Bachelor of Laws

The ‘Within’ Journey: Assessment of the Online Indigenous Australian Cultural Competence Training Programme at Charles Sturt University

The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education ◽

10.1017/jie.2018.12 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 14-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Barbara Hill ◽

Marian Tulloch ◽

Susan Mlcek ◽

Melinda Lewis

Keyword(s):

Cultural Competency ◽

Training Programme ◽

Emotional Impact ◽

Indigenous Australian ◽

Personal Learning ◽

Contested Space ◽

Individual Perception ◽

Learning Journey ◽

Competence Training ◽

The Impact

This paper explores the impact of self-reflective processes of staff at Charles Sturt University (CSU) while undertaking an online Indigenous Cultural Competency Program (ICCP). The ICCP was designed for completion by all university staff to enhance their knowledge and understanding of Indigenous cultures, histories and contemporary realities. Staff were requirement to complete and submit answers to an online quiz, and a written reflection on their learning. This paper reflects on the responses of 64 volunteers and indicates large positive shifts are self-reported knowledge and understanding. The reflective texts of staff provide a rich source of information on the ‘journey within’. In-depth thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) identified three key themes: evaluation, the mapped learning journey and the personal learning journey. The participant feedback, not only pointed to the cognitive, attitudinal and emotional impact of the content and pedagogical approach of the programme, but also identified barriers and issues for programmes aimed at complex change in a contested space. Our programme assessment relied on self-reported individual perception that surfaced hidden assumptions about Indigenous cultural competency (Kumas-Tan¸ Beagan, Loppie, MacLeod, & Frank, 2007). We acknowledge in the longer term a range of comprehensive outcome measures are needed.

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Developing Indigenous Australian cultural competence: A model for implementing Indigenous content into curricula

Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability ◽

10.21153/jtlge2013vol4no1art560 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 39-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Helen Flavell ◽

Rosalie Thackrah ◽

Julie Hoffman

Keyword(s):

Cultural Competence ◽

Cultural Competency ◽

Feedback Mechanism ◽

Field Resistance ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Indigenous Australian ◽

School Of Nursing ◽

Cross Cultural Education ◽

Global Citizenry ◽

Cultural Skills

Cross-cultural understanding has been identified as an important graduate capability crucial for global citizenry, and most universities now include cultural skills or competence within their generic graduate capabilities. However, cross-cultural education and pedagogy are specialised areas and few academics are equipped, or have the confidence, to teach in this area. As a consequence, cross-cultural graduate capabilities are rarely effectively measured or assured. Despite these challenges, the Australian higher education sector is increasingly being called upon to Indigenise its curriculum and develop graduates with Indigenous cultural competence (Australian Universities Guiding Principles for Developing Indigenous Cultural Competency, 2011). This paper describes the approach used to introduce a unit into Curtin University's School of Nursing and Midwifery, in partnership with Curtin's Centre for Aboriginal Studies, with the aim of developing graduate Indigenous Australian cultural competence. Pedagogical approaches are discussed and an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from the University's online student feedback mechanism provided. Results show that although the unit has provided the majority of students with a strong start on their journey to developing Indigenous cultural competence a single course is not sufficient and, consistent with the literature in the field, resistance to compulsory Indigenous content is evident. The paper considers some of the complexities of teaching Indigenous Australian content within a contemporary Australian university. In doing so, the paper explores what Indigenous cultural competency might be and how it might be achieved providing a useful model with application to other disciplines.

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