“I’m not here to make you feel guilty, but I’m here to give you truths and facts that ensure that the pain ends with us” is how the Uncles from the Stolen Generation begin their stories of tragedy, trauma and survival. We are with Uncles from  KBHAC (Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation) who are speaking to around 100 students and staff at the University of Sydney. KBHAC was established in 2002 to support survivors of the Kinchela Boys Home to heal and reconcile from their experiences of trauma by honoring their narratives and recovering their stolen identities, by engaging in truth-telling.

Through established processes, their Care Model and networks of support, empower each survivor to “take control of their future” and break the cycle of trauma. The Uncles establish a safe space for the largely non-Indigenous preservice teacher audience to learn by making it clear that they do not intend for the audience to feel shamed, attacked, or guilty for the past. Telling their story, talking about their culture and the impact of their removal from their families and culture, supports their healing. The Uncles invite listeners to learn from their stories, with no judgment toward those without prior knowledge of Aboriginal histories and cultures. As they explain, this is an opportunity to educate future teachers so their grandchildren have teachers with a deeper understanding and empathy for Aboriginal children and their families.

Engaging hearts and engaging minds 

The process of listening to Aboriginal narratives of lived experiences creates a deep emotional engagement that we argue is critical to learning; that is, an openness and willingness to engage in deep listening, understanding, learning, and feeling (Thorpe et al, in press). For effective learning and change to take place, emotions need to be awakened, expressed, understood and unpacked. Engaging hearts to engage minds contrasts sharply with dominant Western approaches that emphasise objectivity and positivist knowledge.

This deep emotional engagement allows and legitimizes the sharing of personal experiences and truth-telling, giving a human face to complex issues, and bridging the disconnect between policy and the people, communities and Countries that are affected by these. Rather than textbook teaching, learning from an Uncle sharing his experiences of discrimination today and his efforts to shield his family from these experiences, provides listeners who may be emotionally and intellectually disconnected from this reality, an opportunity to understand history as a living reality for Aboriginal peoples in this country.

Motivation to do better

Emotional discomfort, difficult conversations and disquieting knowledges are important for channeling negative emotions into motivation to do better. Engaging in controversial and complex dialogue builds critical consciousness to work towards a more equal, equitable society. Lasting change requires support from the ground up, where dominant attitudes cannot easily be shifted by changes in power.

In order to do this, critical consciousness must be built through the exposure of narratives that challenge the status quo.“Emotionally engaging with such truths may be means of understanding the inhumanity of the status quo, which can lead to a commitment to collective humanization”. When people come to understand the injustices that others face, they may feel more personally responsible for helping undo these systems as “the right thing to do,” 

Embodying Truth-Telling through Learning From Country

Learning from Country (LFC) is a pedagogical approach that involves being present and going on a journey with Aboriginal Elders and community members on Country to experience Aboriginal narratives of place and the effects of colonisation. By collaborating with Aboriginal organizations such as KBHAC, pre-service teachers have opportunities to deepen their understanding of Aboriginal cultures, histories and knowledges through place-based learning on Country.

The University of Sydney’s Learning From Country (LFC) course is a three-week intensive program that engages hearts to engage minds, where most of the teaching time is spent learning from Aboriginal community-based educators. Through this approach, complex issues are addressed, and negative perceptions about Aboriginal peoples are challenged to educate and  empower preservice teachers to create culturally-safe classrooms. Pre-service teachers come to understand their privilege, how it shapes their reality and feel motivated to ameliorate these inequalities for their future students. The transformative impact of these experiences is noted by one preservice teachers 

The emotion and pain in the room was palpable, but in hearing those stories and bringing them to light, I felt as a room it was a shared feeling of motivation as educators to do what we could in our roles to support breaking those cycles of intergenerational trauma. As an educator, I want to hold onto the grief that I felt in that room for the people that were and still affected by those policies and use it to motivate and inform my actions.

The Way Forward

The LFC approach of engaging hearts to engage minds provides a way forward by thinking about what is critical in developing culturally responsive teachers who feel empowered to challenge the education systems which continue to fail Aboriginal children. When students’ lifeworlds are not reflected in curriculum and assessment, when their families and communities are victims of the system claiming to help them, and their histories of trauma, tragedy and survival are silenced, disengagement, failure and alienation ensues.

“Indifference to these issues denies all students with the opportunity to be informed about those socio-political discourses that have forged the environment in which Aboriginal people exist in Australia today”. We need to continually remind ourselves of the human, social and cultural purposes of schooling to bring perspective and prioritize accountability to our students and communities, rather than to the system.

Culturally safe learning environments

Healing and social change is a collective process which can be achieved through the efforts of teachers. Knowledgeable, confident and emotionally engaged teachers who provide culturally safe learning environments to foster culturally aware, empathic students, can help  end cycles of generational trauma for Aboriginal students and generational ignorance in the broader student population. “We need the systems to listen and respond to good practice based on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being, and doing that have been shared and demonstrated over many decades under colonization”.

Thus, programs like LFC that collaborate with Aboriginal community-based educators and organisations such as KBHAC, provide opportunities to rewrite dominant narratives, beginning with teachers emotionally engaging with Aboriginal histories, cultures and communities for the benefit of their future students, and society. Our mission is to never let another cohort of Australian students go through the system without knowing the true history of this country.

From left to right: Study Abroad student Caroline Pontaoe is a third-year student at Cornell University, USA is studying education in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. While studying at the University of Sydney, she researched Australian Aboriginal education policy and the significance of emotions in policy.

Cathie Burgess is an associate professor and researcher Aboriginal Community Engagement, Learning from Country and Leadership in Aboriginal Education programs at the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney. Her teaching and research centres on the transformative impact of Aboriginal community-led education in university and school education. Cathie’s work is acknowledged through the 2024 Teacher Educator of the Year Award, Honorary Life Member, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and Life Member, Aboriginal Studies Association NSW Email: cathie.burgess@sydney.edu.au Valerie Harwood is a Professor of Sociology and Anthropology of Education in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney. Her research is centred on a social and cultural analysis of participation in educational futures. This work involves learning about collaborative approaches and in-depth fieldwork on educational justice with young people, families and communities.Email: Valerie.harwood@sydney.edu.au

Header image: Learning From Country July 2020. Aboriginal presenters Kareel Phillips, Macoy Hansen, Willy Gordon, Tiarna Fatnowna, Julie Welsh & Gloria Duffin. Lecturers Valerie Harwood (SSESW), Cathie Burgess (SSESW), Reakeeta Smallwood (Sydney Nursing School) with nursing students.