The utility of Critical
Race Theory for the
Australian education
Landscape
DR. Sheelagh Daniels-Mayes
University ofSydney
IRC 2017
Overview
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Positioning myself
‘Mud map’ of my research
Critical Race Theory (CRT
Critical Colonial Race Theory (CRT)
Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay Country
Research Questions
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What does successful teaching of
Aboriginal high school students look like
and,
What challenges do successful teachers
encounter?
ResearchDesign
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Multi-sited school ethnography
Located in 2 metropolitan Adelaide high
schools
10% of overall student population identified
as being Aboriginal
Teacher identification was accomplished
community nomination
Participating teachers
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Participants = 6
3 male & 3 female
5 non-Aboriginal & 1 Aboriginal teacher
Age range: mid-20s to 60+
Teaching experience: 2 years to 30+
Across all subject levels
Revealing Racism
My father is of German descent and he says
that ‘Aborigines [sic] should know by now that
they’ve been conquered; it would have been
better if we’d shot them all when we had the
chance’. But that’s how he is and we don’t
take him seriously [laughs].
(Mrs Tylor, non-Aboriginal Education worker)
Revealing Racism
That general deficit talk like ‘I didn’t ring the family
because they’re not gonna pick up the phone
anyway’ or ‘I didn’t bother with that kid because
even if he came to class he wouldn’t get it’. That
sort of stuff is common place everywhere across
the school; no thought processes that this is the
baggage that the kids bring into the classroom.
(Mr Banks – non-Aboriginal teacher)
Revealing Racism
They [teachers and school leaders] just don’t
get how racist they are. They don’t see the
damage they are doing to our kids when they
talk about them (student) being ‘hopeless like
their brother’ or, ‘not worth our time’. They
just lump them together as being Aboriginal
equal’s trouble and more work. (Aunty Nangala –
Aboriginal Education Worker)
Critical Race Theory (CRT)
The most basic argument of Critical Race
Theory (CRT) is that ‘race’ and racism are a
defining characteristic of society and CRT
aims to expose the patterns of exclusion and
what is taken for granted regarding ‘race’ and
privilege (Ladson-Billings 1998).
CRT tenets
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Racism is endemic and permanent in
society
‘Race’ is socially constructed
Asserts an oppositional scholarship
Privileges stories and counterstories
Elaborates the benefits of whiteness
Uses interdisciplinary perspectives
Commits to social justice and activism
CRT caution
Rizvi (2009, p. 364) cautions, racism is
experienced differently by different groups in
places with different historical and political
trajectories.
Colonial Critical Race Theory
ColonialCrit
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Racism is embedded in society;
‘Race’ is socially constructed;
Privileging of lived experience –
counterstorytelling; and,
Social justice, praxism and activism.
Culturally Responsive Pedagogies
of Success
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Deficit thinking is rejected;
A student's culture is validated and centred
in their learning;
Culture is seen as an asset for learning and
not a problem to be solved;
CRPS Teachers
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Caring-demander teachers:
Caring teacher-student relationships are
non-negotiable;
Teachers demand student success.
Defining Aboriginal
student success
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The get their education;
They stay as an Aboriginal person; and,
Students represent the Aboriginal peoples
of Australia.
Uncle Pedro the Fisherman
The Myth of Terra Nullius
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We are to consider that we see this
Country in the pure state of Nature, the
Industry of Man has had nothing to do with
any part of it. They seem to have no fix’d
habitation but move about from place to
place like wild Beasts in search of food."
(James Cook, quoted in Yarwood and
Knowling, 1991, p.31).
References
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Brayboy, BMJ 2006, ‘Toward a tribal critical race theory
in education’, The Urban Review, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 425446.
Ladson-Billings, G 1998, ‘Just what is critical race
theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education?’
in L. Parker, D. Deyhle, and S. Villenas (eds), Race is…
race isn’t: Critical race theory and qualitative studies in
education, Westview, Boulder, CO., pp. 7-30.
Rizvi, F 2009, ‘Racism and education: coincidence or
conspiracy?’ British Journal of Sociology of Education,
vol. 30, pp. 359-371.