Dreaming Curriculum: Decolonising knowing and knowledge for better futures

Every single aspect of schooling as it is experienced in contemporary Australia is a colonial construct. It was established as part of the colonisation of the Australian continent and the adjacent islands. As the Australian nation-state began to coalesce and a unique national identity needed to be formed, the various school curricula were designed to facilitate this process. In doing this, the same colonial mentalities which crafted the White Australia Policy also influenced curricula which worked to exclude First Nations contexts and knowledges. This presentation will explore the historical context of curricula in Australia, consider the process of decolonising curriculum and what that could look like in the classroom and how this would contribute to wider focuses on decolonising the Victorian schooling system so we can begin Dreaming Curriculum.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Al Fricker

Dr. Aleryk (Al) Fricker is a Dja Dja Wurrung man born in Naarm, Victoria, and works as a Lecturer in the NIKERI Institute of the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. Dr Fricker is a former primary and secondary school history, Geography, English and maths teacher.

Dr. Fricker is an active teacher and researcher and works hard with the next generation of teachers, so they have the knowledge and skills to begin to decolonise their classrooms to benefit the next generations of students. He uses a decolonised pedagogical approach to ensure that his students can benefit from engaging with First Nations educational practices that are tens of thousands of years old.

Al's scholarship is focused on both the research that justifies the need for decolonisation, as well as the practical outcomes and the applied processes for school leadership, classroom teachers, curriculum designers, and the school communities that can support the educational outcomes of all, and especially First Nations students.