How does race and racism impact upon the

Indigenous child at school? How could you

address and combat racism in schools?














EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
Essay ID#2095008
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IMPACT OF RACE AND RACISM
Everyone deserves to go to school in a safe and comfortable environment. But for a lot of
people their cultural difference from others makes them the subject to race and racism.
Teaching staff with in schools need to address these issues to combat racism and bring back
equality in school environments. This essay will discuss what race and racism is and how as
teachers racism can be addressed and combated within the school environment.
To start What is race? Race is when people are categorised in to groups according to their
culture; or the colour of their skin; or their language difference; or anything that makes
them different to others. Does race really exist? The answer to this question is no. Everyone
is the same and there is really only one race, which is the human race. This idea of race can
then turn into racism. Racism is destructive. It disempowers people by devaluing their
identity. It destroys community cohesion and creates divisions in society. It is the opposite
of the democratic principle of equality and the right of all people to be treated fairly.
(RNW, 2010). This quota for the RacismNoway website explains how racism can really affect
all people in society. Racism within a school can be a lot worst then some students calling
other students horrible names, it can go to more extremes and students can be left mentally
scared. Students have the right to leave school having a positive experience. An Australian
survey done in 2001 on racism revealed that Indigenous Australians experience double the
amount of racism compared to Non-Indigenous Australians. At the time of this of this survey
little research was being done about the racism being occurred, but recent years has seen
an increase in action being taken on racism with in schools and within the community.
(Paradies, 2005)
EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
Essay ID#2095008
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Looking at racism in a broad view white Australians have a privileged way of life. We take
advantage of everything we receive so easy. For Indigenous peoples their culture is not
represented in society as much as it should be. From little things like not being able to buy
skin coloured band aids or being equality represented on television or in media. Looking at a
school point of view racism can be seen in the form of Indigenous people can not send their
children to school in unironed uniforms without it reflecting on their race or being able to
travel to and from school by public transport without being harassed about their skin colour.
(Tannoch-Bland, J, 1997)
Racism doesnt just affect a person mentally but also emotionally. As written in Fringe to
town dwellers - Oodnadatta: 1943-1950 book, it explains the experiences of a young girl growing up.
She was only half Aboriginal but she was still subject to racism and bullying at school. The other
students would call her dirty nigger, sing songs like Nigger, nigger, pull the trigger, one, two, three
and says she smelt. She and the other Aboriginal children were often blamed for bring lice into the
classroom, even though their hair was often cleaner then the Non-Aboriginal childrens hair. All this
racism started at the age of 7 and as she went through school it got worst and caused her to become
violent back towards the other children. Not only does this situation affect the girl being the subject
to racism but it ends up being a bigger problem when the girl had to resort to violence to defend
herself. Teachers have a responsibility to look after the wealth of all students. Violence and racism is
not needed and needs to be sorted out to keep positivity in schools. The racism that this girl
received though didnt just affect her while she was at school. She said she later left school and the
racism remained as a stigma with her for the rest of her life. She has felt the need to always be a
cleaner person not only herself but her house and workplace. (Tur, Mona Ngitiji Ngitji, 2010)
Quoted from the Racism. Noway website Students who experience racism talk of having reduced
levels of self-confidence and feelings of insecurity or failure. Students who feel that their culture and
EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
Essay ID#2095008
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identity are not valued may also experience reduced levels of self-esteem and self-worth and feel
that they have no place in the schooling system. These feelings may lead to a rejection of their own
culture, language and values and a subsequent loss of identity. (RNW, 2010) This shows how
important it is remove racism from the schooling system before students go to the extreme of
rejecting their own culture.
As a teacher there are many ways to address racism and help to remove it from the class
room. Providing a culturally appropriate education to all students can help even out the
cultural difference in the classroom and help close the gap. A culturally appropriate
education in a classroom allows all students to learn equally about different cultures.
Teachers develop the curriculum around the needs of every child rather than having the
standard white-washed education. They do this by using five elements: Language, Family
and Community, Context, Content, and Data and Accountability. You can use native
language in a classroom to help students understand what you are teaching them rather
than them trying to learn a new language on top of education. Using family and community
input can help you understand needs of students better. Using the right context and content
allows students to have a meaningful and relevant learning experience. Lastly making sure
the data you are teaching is correct and you understand what you are teaching makes the
learning experience accountable for the students (Singh, 2010). How does this help combat
racism? If each student is learning about the different cultures they will be more culturally
accepting. A lack of understanding is half the issue when it comes to racism. By providing
this type of education we are addressing the needs of all students and closing the gap that
exists between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Racism can make people feel
uncomfortable and cause a drop in attendance to school, making the gap grow rather than
closing it.
EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
Essay ID#2095008
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The Racism. Noway website is also an excellent tool for teachers to help combat racism. It
provides detailed information on what is racism, laws surrounding racism and resources for
teachers. Understanding what racism is before teaching it is important. You can not teach
something you dont fully understand. Resources you can use in the classroom could be fact
sheets, flags and languages hanging around the room; have group discussions about topics
like multicultural, racism, discrimination or reconciliation; you could watch different medias
that show racism and the effects or the show the apology delivered by Kevin Rudd. (RNW,
2010).
Using these resources can help within the classroom but what about the school yard. If race
and racism is to be address in schools, all staff need to come together and create an action
plan. The action plan can be put into area of action such as: Policies and guidelines,
Curriculum and pedagogy, training and development, student support and development,
parent and community involvement and monitoring and reporting. You can break these
areas down by:
o Policies and guidelines: making all policies and guidelines culturally inclusive and
support a racism free environment.
Using anti-racism policies, language policies, behaviour management policies,
etc.
o Curriculum and pedagogy: making curriculum and teaching practices address the
dynamics and dimensions of racism so you can achieve a racism free environment
for students to achieve their best educational outcomes.
Having Aboriginal education programs, resources and flexible student
assessment
EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
Essay ID#2095008
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o Training and development: Have training and development programs that equip the
school community with the knowledge and skills to sustain an inclusive learning
environment for students.
Start training through pre-service teachers and provide training ongoing
training for teachers and school staff.
o Student support and development: help students become equipped with knowledge
and skills needed to contribute towards a racism free society and to participate
effectively in our culturally diverse society.
Start student leadership programs, youth forums and student councils.
Provide access to career advice and counselling services.
o Parent and community involvement: Parent and community of all cultural
backgrounds involvement with the school life enhances students learning outcomes
and working in a racism free environment.
Hold community events, start parent participation programs and school
councils.
o Monitoring and reporting: ongoing monitoring of student performance is used for
planning, delivery and development strategies to remove racism and maximise
students learning outcomes.
Always checking accountability, resolve complaints and always plan and
report on student outcomes.
These action plans can be found on the Racism. Noway website and they cater all year
levels. They provided all the information on how to introduce them into your schools, how
you can use them and under each area of action is a list of examples that explains how to
EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
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reach the end goals (RNW, 2010). By having a racism free environment you are increasing all
the students changes of leaving school achieving the best outcome and removing the
chances of children leaving school and having a stigma attached to them. No one should
determine the way another person lives their life. This mental stigma that racism leaves
behind can run the way someone behaves in life.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has all the
guidelines of the curriculum listed on their website. Using the pages about Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander History and culture within the curriculum could help not only students
but also teachers get a better understanding of the worlds longest living culture. It gives
everyone a sense of identity, approached through the aspects of Country/Place, People and
Culture. (ACARA, 2012)
So the word race has been defined as people being categorised into groups according to
their culture or religion; and from this idea of putting people in groups based on their
culture, racism advantages out and suddenly people are being discriminated against just
because they are different from others. Racism as seen above can affect students in
numbers of ways. They can be mentally scared and live with low self-confidence for their
lives and they can also resort to violence to help fight back against the other students
creating the racism. As teachers with in schools it is very important to combat racism and
create a racism free environment so students can achieve their best outcomes. This can be
achieved by creating culturally appropriate educational classrooms, so bring culture into
the curriculum. Developing action plans for the whole school to work under to remove
racism from the environment and also get the community more involved in the schooling of
our children. In conclusion this essay has explained what race and racism is and how it
EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
Essay ID#2095008
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affects people and students. It has also given examples of ways to help remove the racism
within a classroom and within a school community. Racism affects lives so doing as much as
we can to remove it will help students to achieve their best educational outcomes.


EDUC2420- Teaching Indigenous Australian Students Ashlee Noble
Essay ID#2095008
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References
ACARA- Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2012) Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander histories and cultures, viewed 17-10-2012,
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/CrossCurriculumPriorities/Aboriginal-and-Torres-
Strait-Islander-histories-and-cultures

Paradies, Y, (2005) Anti-Racism and Indigenous Australians, Analyses of Social Issues and
Public Policy, Volume 5, Issue 1, pages 128

RNW- Racism. Noway
Racism. Noway (2010) Anti-racism education for Australian schools, viewed 17-10-2012,
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/index.html

Singh, Navin Kumar (2010) Culturally Appropriate Education Theoretical and Practical
Implications, viewed 17-10-2012, http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/HOH/HOH-2.pdf

Tannoch-Bland, J. (1997) Identifying White Race Privilege, Foundation for Aboriginal
research action, Woolloogabba, pp. 1-4

Tur, Mona Ngitiji Ngitji. (2010), Fringe to town dwellers - Oodnadatta: 1943-1950 (chapter 2,
pg. 22-42), Hyde Park Press, Adelaide