Aboriginal perspectives matter: Yarning and reflecting about teaching literacies with multimodal Aboriginal texts

Wendy Cumming-Potvin
Murdoch University, Australia
Libby Jackson-Barrett
Edith Cowan University, Australia
Dominique Potvin
Murdoch University, Australia

Reporting on a qualitative study, informed by Australian Government Indigenous education and literacy policies, this article unveils early career teacher reflections about infusing Aboriginal perspectives in the English curriculum using multimodal texts. Forging a praxis between the Aboriginal practice of yarning (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010) and Freire's (1974, 1996) frameworks for conscientisation and teachers as facilitators, the project overlays the work of Ladson-Billings (1995) and Foster, Halliday, Baize & Chisholm (2020), to unravel how culturally responsive pedagogy manifests in early career primary school teaching. We discuss teacher starting points and challenges to be culturally responsive educators, who use appropriate Aboriginal texts in classrooms. Results suggest that yarning is useful for meeting English curriculum outcomes and for collaboratively developing decolonising knowledge, which can impact multiple stakeholders. Recommendations for future research include co-designed projects to support teacher education through multimodal texts and yarning practices with Aboriginal Elders.
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Authors: Dr Wendy Cumming-Potvin is an Associate Professor at Murdoch University in Western Australia and has also been a visiting professor at McGill University in Quebec, Canada. For over two decades, Wendy's research has highlighted social justice and equity, with a focus on diversity in culture, language, gender and sexuality. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4961-9379 Email: w.cumming-potvin@murdoch.edu.au Dr Libby Jackson-Barrett is an Associate Dean and Senior Indigenous Lecturer/Researcher at Kurongkurl Katitjin Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research, and the School of Education, at Edith Cowan University, Australia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3662-657X Email: e.jacksonbarrett@ecu.edu.au Ms Dominique Potvin is an experienced pre-service teacher educator and research assistant in the tertiary setting. She holds a Masters in Teaching in Early Childhood (University of Western Australia), a Graduate Diploma of Education (UWA) and a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English and French (Edith Cowan University, Australia). Email: roxy_genie87@hotmail.com Please cite as: Cumming-Potvin, W., Jackson-Barrett, L. & Potvin, D. (2022). Aboriginal perspectives matter: Yarning and reflecting about teaching literacies with multimodal Aboriginal texts. Issues in Educational Research, 32(4), 1342-1363. http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/cumming-potvin.pdf