Unit Synopsis
This unit Indigenous Learners and Learning will develop your knowledge and understanding of historical factors that impact on the engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners and families in education. The policies and actions of governments and media representations are analysed, discussed, and compared with Indigenous perspectives on race relations and past events, with an emphasis on developing an understanding and appreciation of contemporary Indigenous Australian identity and culture. Pedagogies for working effectively and appropriately with Indigenous Australians, families and communities, including current systemic initiatives and policies, are evaluated in terms of their suitability for students in rural, remote, and urban Australian communities. You will consider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander world views and your own and others' attitudes to Indigenous people to defend the selection of teaching strategies aimed at promoting reconciliation and effective learning relationships with students, families and communities.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Admission to a postgraduate course or completion of 72 credit points in an undergraduate course. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online Quiz(zes) | 0% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 50% |
| 3. Portfolio | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 3 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 52.94% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 18.68% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE
Tutorial hours
Reduce the weekly lectures to 1.5 hours each.
Tutorials were reduced from 2 hours to 1.5 hours.
Source: Self-reflection
Make the content more critical.
Add a weekly critical question to the weekly tutorials to analyse and collaboratively discuss content in a breakout room.
Readings were offered for discussion in the breakout rooms.
Source: Student SUTE
Shorten tutorial length
Keep the tutorials at 1.5 hours as opposed to 2 hours.
In Progress
Source: Student SUTE
Use readings for critical discussion
Include opportunities for focused critical discussion in tutorials.
In Progress
Source: Tutorial feedback Student SUTE
Students dislike some aspects of the assessment tasks
Review assessment task requirements.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Use culturally appropriate terminology and protocols when referring to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culture and histories
- Analyse the impact of deficit views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students on learning and engagement
- Analyse and respond to representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in contemporary and historical texts and their impact on race relations with non-Indigenous Australians
- Critique government policies and approaches to the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in past and present society
- Explain how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander world views and the concept of relatedness shape Indigenous students' learning processes and educational experiences
- Justify the use of strategies that cater for the diversity of experience, identity and linguistic background of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and communities
- Evaluate the capacity of current programs and initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, families and communities for promoting engagement and participation in education.
Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to demonstrate the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers focus areas of:
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
4.1 Support student participation
7.3 Engage with the parents/carers
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | ||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | |||
| 3 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Research | • | • | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | • | • | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | • | ||||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |