Reconciliation and Education: New report and recommendations

A report released today provides a comprehensive blueprint for advancing reconciliation in education.

Read the report here.

The Reconciliation and Education: Past-Present-Future Forum Summary Report, highlights the key challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for embedding reconciliation in the education sector.

The forum, held in November 2023, brought together key education leaders and stakeholders from every state and territory in the teaching of First Nations histories and cultures.

Co-hosted by Ngarrngga and Reconciliation Australia's Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education program, the forum explored the past, present and futures of education, and considered the challenges and successes that demand attention as the sector collaborates to drive a stronger future of reconciliation both in and through education.

Recommendations

The report highlights four key recommendations:

1. Build on past work: to understand deeply and critically - and to actively acknowledge - the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and the people and organisations who have contributed to this history-making.

2. Strengthen education policy and implementation: actively focus on the importance of revisiting, strengthening, and re-committing to education policy that can further reconciliation, with First Nations voices and perspectives at the core of policy and decision-making processes.

3. Coordinate the sector: work to develop a coordinated and collaborative sector approach toward shaping and actively committing to shared goals, including mapping and modelling how the system can advocate for positive change in Indigenous education and towards reconciliation.

4. Resource reconciliation: ensure additional targeted financial and non-financial resources - and corresponding policies and commitments of governments - are provided to support teachers and school communities to implement the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in their work and practice.

Echoing key reflections from the forum, both the Narragunnawali and Ngarrngga teams stress the need for the entire education sector to take a collaborative, relational, and coordinated approach to addressing these recommendations and, ultimately, enhancing a stronger future of reconciliation both in and through education. We encourage you to share the report with colleagues and networks, and to consider how each of us can contribute to addressing the challenges and opportunities identified by expert voices from the forum and the recommendations that emerged to ensure that reconciliation is at the forefront of education for all Australian citizens.