Relationships Matter: Yolngu Models of Community-Centred Education

Abstract

Education is an enculturated and enculturating process that continues to privilege dominant Western structures and practices. However, in some communities in the Northern Territory, people have been reconceptualising, theorising and applying local models of education for many decades. Both ways education, as it is often referred to on the ground, is a model of learning that includes both Western and Yolngu knowledge systems in the process of schooling. The concept of 'both ways' education was first applied at Yirrkala School in the 1980s in response to education that excluded Yolngu knowledge systems. Critical to the implementation of both ways education were community-based teacher education courses which included action research cycles and developed local education theories which are still applied today. While this research demonstrates that understandings of both ways education vary, models of education that include Yolngu epistemologies were identified by participants as essential in contemporary education. However, the education system has continually failed to recognise the theoretical foundation of local models of learning. Furthermore, the absence of community-based teacher education courses that validate local models of learning have resulted in low numbers of qualified Yolngu teachers, despite these courses being integral in the continuation of both ways education.

In this doctoral research I examine the intercultural educational space at Yirrkala and in the Laynhapuy region. Through an ethnographic approach that included methods such as group and individual interviews, workshops, and participant observation, I examined the conditions required for the planning, implementation and evaluation of local models of education; in particular, Galtha Rom. A place-based intergenerational pedagogy, Galtha Rom creates learning opportunities based on Yolngu ways of being, knowing and doing. Although the findings of this research indicate there is a high level of community and educator support for the inclusion of Yolngu knowledge systems in the process of schooling, there are issues related to the lack of ongoing teacher education and funding, and systemic clarity about both ways education models. Furthermore, the capacity of schools and communities to educate young people and adults through approaches such as Galtha Rom are impacted by fluctuating government policy, the skills, values and engagement of educators, and the dominant ideological underpinnings of stakeholders and systems. Consequently, the teaching of English is privileged, imbalances of power are sustained, and local knowledge is marginalised. A model of learning that includes local epistemologies could transform Western education systems, but community-based teacher education, local decision-making, and a deep engagement with context-specific educational theories and their application, are urgently required.