Year
2023Credit points
10Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Prerequisites
NilUnit rationale, description and aim
Educational leaders need to engage with community in culturally appropriate and responsive ways. Leadership as seen through an Indigenous community lens whilst utilising Yarning as an Indigenous pedagogy.
In this unit, students explore how the principles, knowledges and skills are applied in culturally responsive community engagement, practice and partnerships. They apply what they have learnt through a cultural immersion experience or engagement with First Nations Leaders within an Australian context. In so doing, the students are invited to embody the following principles: vision, values, relationships, transformation, resilience, reciprocity, integrity, cultural safety, culturally responsive community engagement and practice, and ethics and morality.
The aim of this unit is to enable educational leaders to apply concepts and skills developed from Australian and International First Nations Leadership into a culturally responsive community engagement process
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:
LO1 - Recognise, respect and contextualise principles, Knowings and skills required to be a transformative leader engaging with First Nations peoples (GA1, GA2, GA4 GA8; APST (HA) 1.4, 2.4; APSP 1, 2, 5).
LO2 - Demonstrate creative and innovative principles and practices through deep, respectful listening (GA1, GA2, GA4 GA8; APST (HA) 2.4; APSP 5)
LO3 - Identify, engage with, and reflect on service leadership, and synthesise this in their leadership contexts (GA1, GA4, GA8; APST (HA) 2.4, 7.3, 7.4; APSP 2, 5)
LO4 - Plan, initiate and evaluate effective strategies to negotiate community spaces for effective transformational leadership in their own contexts (GA1, GA2, GA4, GA8; APST (HA) 2.4, 7.3, 7.4; APSP 5)
LO5 - Critically analyse, reflect on and synthesise experiences of First Nations transformative leadership through application and experience in a community context (GA4, GA8; APST (HA) 2.4, 7.3, 7.4, APSP 5).
Graduate attributes
GA1 - Demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity
GA2 - Recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society
GA4 - Think critically and reflectively
GA8 - Locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - HIGHLY ACCOMPLISHED
On successful completion of this unit, students should have gained evidence towards the following standards:
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students Provide advice and support colleagues in the implementation of effective teaching strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students using knowledge of and support from community representatives. |
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians Support colleagues with providing opportunities for students to develop understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages. |
7.3 Engage with the parents/carers Demonstrate responsiveness in all communications with parents/carers about their children’s learning and wellbeing. |
7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities Contribute to professional networks and associations and build productive links with the wider community to improve teaching and learning. |
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARD FOR PRINCIPALS - PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES
In addition to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers this unit addresses the following Professional Practices:
1. Professional Practice: Leading teaching and learning Principals create a positive culture of challenge and support, enabling effective teaching that promotes enthusiastic, independent learners, committed to lifelong learning. Principals have a key responsibility for developing a culture of effective teaching, for leading, designing and managing the quality of teaching and learning and for students’ achievement in all aspects of their development. They set high expectations for the whole school through careful collaborative planning, monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of learning. Principals set high standards of behaviour and attendance, encouraging active engagement and a strong student voice. |
2. Professional Practice: Developing self and others Principals work with and through others to build a professional learning community that is focused on continuous improvement of teaching and learning. Through managing performance, effective continuing professional learning and feedback, they support all staff to achieve high standards and develop their leadership capacity. Principals support others to build capacity and treat people fairly and with respect. They model effective leadership and are committed to their own ongoing professional development and personal health and wellbeing in order to manage the complexity of the role and the range of learning capabilities and actions required of the role |
5. Professional Practice: Engaging and working with the community Principals embrace inclusion and help build a culture of high expectations that takes account of the richness and diversity of the wider school community and the education systems and sectors. They develop and maintain positive partnerships with students, families and carers and all those associated with the wider school community. They create an ethos of respect taking account of the spiritual, moral, social and physical health and wellbeing of students. They promote sound lifelong learning from preschool through to adult life. They recognise the multicultural nature of Australia’s people. They foster understanding and reconciliation with Indigenous cultures. They recognise and use the rich and diverse linguistic and cultural resources in the school community. They recognise and support the needs of students, families and carers from communities facing complex challenges. |
Content
Topics will include:
- Concepts of ‘service’ and ‘reciprocity’
- Developing and sustaining culturally responsive community engagement, practice and partnerships
- Guest paradigm
- Negotiating community spaces
- Indexes of well-being and happiness
- Leadership and accountability
- Language
- Evaluation
- Strategies
- Entrepreneurial innovation and creativity
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Learning and teaching activities offer students and lecturers/tutors the opportunity to journey their outlooks, their individual theories and praxis done in such ways as to engage shared learning and model the principles being facilitated through the unit. It engages collaboration with each other as well as with First Nations communities in authentic partnership arrangements. Immersion in country and culture is also foundational as teaching and learning strategies. Yarning circles, critical thinking and reflection are fundamental strategies. This specialist strand is taught by Australian First Nations people.
This specialist strand is taught by Australian First Nations people.
This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy.
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessment in the First Nations specialisation strand is focused around the importance of collaborative learning, critical thinking, self-reflection and culturally responsive community engagement practice. The aim is to build a learning community of scholars who are committed to transformational change. In order to effect these a highly structured and open-ended process for authentically documenting Indigenous Knowing’s Storying and Country through Life Journey Plan will be developed from the first Unit and followed through each of the other units. This Plan will track people’s attitudes from the outset. Further, peer assessment and cultural immersion are important.
The First Nations specialisation strand will employ genuine cultural immersion attached to students actively and transformatively spending 5 days in the community hosting the World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Education (WIPC:E) prior to the conference. The students would then present at WIPC:E.
If this conference and forum is not available other experiences will be negotiated between the student, the Lecturer in Charge of the Unit and with First Nations communities in Australia.
In order to pass this unit, students are required to submit or participate in all assessment tasks.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes | Graduate Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment Task 1: Yarn with First Nation Leader(s)
| 50% (1. 25%) (2. 25%) | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 | GA1, GA2, GA4, GA8 |
Assessment Task 2: WIPCE: Masterclass or Life Journey Plan: comprises the following elements:
| 50% | LO5 | GA4, GA8 |
1.Respectful yarn (interview) with one or two First Nations Leader/s and/or /Elder/s.
You are to negotiate authorisation to interview First Nation Leader(s)/Elder/s. The following are questions that may guide the yarn process. You are to negotiate authorization to interview a First Nation Leader(s).
- Describe the organization
- Background of the leader’s history with the organization. The leadership may be collective rather than individual.
- What previous experience/s have the leader/s had with First Nations peoples and/or with leadership engaging First Nations peoples?
- Why did the leader/s come to organization? Initial challenges? How challenges were met? Who/ what assisted?
- What changes have occurred?
- What are the future plans?
2. WIPCE: Masterclass or equivalent in country/in community Masterclass
Students spend five days in the Indigenous community prior to participating in the World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Education (this is an international Indigenous education conference held every three years) or equivalent. The students critically analyse, develop, reflect on, synthesise and apply a transformative model of leadership with people in the community they visit/interact with. They present their work at the following conference. They review this as the final part of their Life Journey Plan. The Garma Festival NT may be a venue for this assignment. http://matsiti.edu.au/event/garma-festival/?instance_id=3488. If this conference and forum is not available other experiences will be negotiated between the student, the Lecturer in Charge of the Unit and with First Nations communities in Australia.
Or
Life Journey Plan: comprises two elements
Journal and Self Reflection: This task is about journeying the students’ attitudes; their individual theories and praxis done in such a way as to engage collaborative learning and model the principles being facilitated through the unit. This Plan is an ongoing Plan developed through the three units offered in the specialist strand.
Students will journal (using multiple literacies) responses to the following:
- What made you come to this university to do this course?
- What expectations did you have at the beginning?
- What aims did you have at the beginning?
- What previous experience/s have you had with First Nations peoples and/or with leadership engaging First Nations peoples?
- What got you to this point?
- What knowledge do you anticipate getting from this unit?
- How do you plan to use the knowledge gained?
Representative texts and references
Althaus, C., & O’Faicheallaigh, C. (2019). Leading from between: Indigenous participation and leadership in the public service. London, UK: McGill-Queens University Press.
Archibald, J., Lee-Morgan, J., & De Santo, J. (2019). Decolonizing research: Indigenous storywork as methodology. London, UK: Zed Books.
Evans. M., & Sinclair. A. (2015). Navigating the territories of Indigenous leadership: Exploring the experiences and practices of Australian Indigenous arts leaders. lea.sagepub.com DOI:10.1177/1742715015574318.
Fredericks, B., Maynor, P., White, N., English, F., & Ehrich, L. (2014). Living with the Legacy of Conquest and Culture: Social Justice Leadership for the Indigenous peoples of Australia and America. International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Social (In)Justice, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Kenny, C., & Ngaroimata Fraser, T. (2013). Living Indigenous leadership: Native narratives on building strong communities. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia.
Maranzan. K., Sabouring, A., & Simard-Chicago, C. (2013). A Community-Based Leadership Development Program for First Nations Women: Revaluing and Honoring Women’s Strengths. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 4(2).
Ma Rhea, Z. (2015) Leading and Managing Indigenous Education in the postcolonial World. New York, NY: Routledge.
Voyageur, C. (2015) Restorying Indigenous leadership: Wise practices in community development (2nd ed.). Alberta, Canada. Banff Centre Press.
Watkin, E. (2015). LeadershipFIT for everyday living. Surrey Hills, Vic: Michael Hanrahan Publishing.
Wright, S., Suchet-Pearson, S., Lloyd, K., Burarrwanga, L., Ganambarr, R., Ganambarr-Stubbs, M., & Maymuru, D. (2015). Bawaka Country. Working with and learning from country: decentring human authority. Cultural Geographies, 22(2), pp.269-283.