School of Education Backboards to blackboards - rebounding from the margins; A critical auto/ethnographic study of the struggle for culturally- sensitive educational pathways for Aboriginal girls Helen Christine Dominica McCarthy This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University November 2010 Declaration i Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature: ……………………………………... Helen Christine Dominica McCarthy Date: 15th November 2010 Acknowledgments ii Acknowledgments I acknowledge the Faculty of Humanities Research and Graduate Studies Curtin University for providing me with a Post Graduate Scholarship (CUPS) and the resources to complete my PhD dissertation. I thank Curtin University School of Education for providing me with scholarly support in way of my Supervisor Dr Elisabeth (Lily) Settelmaier and Associate Supervisor from the Science and Mathematics Education Centre Associate Professor Peter Taylor. I especially thank from Notre Dame University Broome Campus Associate Professor Lyn Henderson- Yates. I strongly respect and acknowledge my Noongar and Wongi Reference Group members Mrs Robyn Reynolds, Mrs Suzie Mutch and Mrs Maxine Williams. I acknowledge Clontarf Aboriginal College for giving me permission to use the College as the site of my investigation. I thank Principal Mr Tony Chinook, Mr Ricky Grace Executive Officer Role Models WA, Mrs Jill Hill Clontarf College Liaison Officer and the staff and students who participated in the study. I also thank the Catholic Education Office for their approval and endorsement to conduct the inquiry. Any mission this size cannot eventuate without the support from a diverse collection of sources. If it takes a community to raise a child, it certainly takes one to write a PhD dissertation. Firstly I thank my partner David Price for his unconditional support that scaled a myriad of levels over an exhausting period of time. Without David this story would not have been written. I thank our children James, Billi and Jesse for the sacrifices they made and the hardships they endured along the treacherous path of poverty, resulting from me returning to full time study. In his absence, but always spiritual presence this dissertation is dedicated to my father Maurice Desmond (Peter) McCarthy. How I wish his Esperance-bay-blue eyes could have read this. I thank my inexhaustible mother Hazel McCarthy who at 91 years young, made endless food parcels for me and fed my family. As well she kept us warm during the cold winters by supplying us with barley bags to warm our beds and crocheted socks to warm our feet. Acknowledgments iii To my sister Kath and her husband Ray Gellard who provided us with financial and spiritual support when my scholarship expired and the ferocities of life, like wolves at the door, were relentless. To my sister Peta Poliwka who lured me out of my self-imposed tomb that a PhD spanning several years tends to leave one. Stuck in my own mind that resembled a sepulchre, she tempted me with music and wine, and life for meagre hours, seemed normal again. To my other siblings Ned, Ali, Glenys, Hazel, Jack and Maurie, thank you for your encouragement and support. To Lyn McCracken-Totterdell and Vicki Smith-Maguire who also fed, clothed and provided spiritual sustenance to my flagging spirit as it wandered the liminal spaces of uncertain terrain of new knowledge and discovery that reflect the PhD journey. To Mrs Anne Pitos and Mr Ian Elder who in the true spirit and compassion of the Sisters of Mercy continued to house and educate my daughters at Santa Maria College. To the Blitner/Huddleston family you took me in and made me one of you, I thank you for the fantastic memories of all the mad things we did. I miss how much I laughed. For computer and technical assistance I thank Rhonda Coffey who has spent endless hours helping and guiding me. Without her encouragement and contribution I would not have survived writing neither my Master of Education nor my Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Finally this dissertation came about because Jacqueline Amagula insisted that Aboriginal children needed the same educational opportunities as any other child living in Australia. She refused to be silenced and brought attention of the disparity that exists between lots of black kids and white kids to the forefront. Abstract iv Abstract This PhD research journey describes my personal and professional involvement with the Yolngu, Nyoongar and Wongi peoples, where I consistently observed Aboriginal parents and Aboriginal teachers express dissatisfaction with the way mainstream Anglo-Celtic education was delivered in their schools and communities. This disparity never sat well with me and I had always wanted to write about the unacceptable inequity. As a consequence this doctoral research deploys a critical auto/ethnographic research design within an interpretive paradigm where “the writing process and the writing product are deeply intertwined”. The research became the site of exploration about the struggle for culturally-sensitive educational pathways for Aboriginal adolescent girls. The investigation took place at a metropolitan Aboriginal secondary school, where staff developed an emergent curriculum framework known as the Yorgas Program to re-engage Aboriginal learners in their schooling, through a sporting program known as the “Girls‟ Academy”. As a consequence of the Yorgas Program there were observable improvements in the girls behaviour leading to regular attendance, improved personal hygiene, greater commitment to study, self-regulation and willingness to defer risk-taking social behaviours resulting in a significantly larger number of Year 12 graduates completing their studies with the majority of students going on to traineeships or further studies. Disclaimer v Disclaimer An examination of the history of British colonialism and slavery throughout the world reveals that one of the first acts in the process of oppression has been the de-identification of the intended victims and a replacement of their names with labels such as “indian”, “aborigine”, “native”, “black” or “nigger”. Less concern is likely to be expressed for the oppressed or murdered if they are unknown (Fesl, 1993, p. xiv). In this research thesis I use the term Indigenous reluctantly, my preference is to use the term of the local “Aboriginal” peoples‟ in their geographic homeland. For example in this PhD dissertation Wongi/Wonggai refers to local Aboriginal people where I live in Esperance, Western Australia, Australia. As well there are variations in the spelling of clan names and languages across the regions. I was guided by a Wongi Elder who told me that the songlines or dreaming tracks of the Wongi, “span from the west to Ravensthorpe and east to Eucla, which includes Esperance, north east of Cosmo Newberry and south of Wiluna” (J. Dimer personal communications, 1999). Non-Aboriginal people are referred to as Wadjula or Wadjella or White Fella. When I refer to the Nyungar/Noongar I am talking of the people in the territory of the Nyungar which extends from “…the Geraldton district south along the coast to Cape Leeuwin, continuing south-east almost to Esperance and then in line north-west to rejoin the coast at Geraldton. It is an area of almost 3,000,000 hectares” (Green, 1984, p. 1). In this context I also refer to the non-Aboriginal people as Wadjula or Wadjella‟s or White Fella. I refer to the peoples in the north east region of Arnhem Land in northern Australia as Yolngu and the non-Aboriginal people as Balanda. The people of The Island are known as Warnumamalya and the non-Aboriginal people are called Dumangkadirra. When doing this research, most of the metropolitan based students were Wongi and Noongar, however the regional and remote students came from various communities in the Murchison, Pilbara and Kimberly regions of Western Australia, to my limited knowledge, belonging to Banyjima, Nyiyaparli, Innawonga, Karajarri, Jabirr Jabirr, Warrwa, Bunuba, Bardi Jawi, Nyangumarta and Mangala people. Instead of referring to their country I have used the term Aboriginal interchangeably Disclaimer vi with Indigenous. As such, within this dissertation the term Aboriginal refers to mainland Aboriginal peoples, and the term Indigenous is articulated to mean both mainland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Nomenclature I acknowledge the colonial legacy in the naming conventions and recognise Aboriginal people‟s ambivalence towards the proper nouns; Indigenous and Aboriginal. Further throughout the dissertation I have intentionally chosen not to use the term Western when referring to dominant mainstream white Australian society, but rather call this social order Anglo-Celtic interchangeably with colonist. I am cognisant of and acknowledge that contemporary Australian society is constructed on a foundation of ethnicities far broader to those who first invaded. As such, I begin this paper in the spirit of reconciliation of past differences, helped by contemporary black African writer Malidoma Some who argues, “there is an indigenous person within each of us” (as cited in Tacey, 1995, p. 137). Throughout this PhD dissertation pseudonyms have been used, however I wish to advise Aboriginal readers that there are images and stories