Education Futures for Aboriginal and Superdiverse Children: Implications for Culturally Responsive Pedagogies

Event details

Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney AM will present a seminar on education futures focusing on themes of schooling, Aboriginal nations, superdiversity, social inclusion, Aboriginal epistemologies and culturally responsive pedagogies.

This seminar will share key findings of an Australian Research Council–funded project titled Towards an Australian Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. The project investigated the development and enactment of culturally responsive pedagogies with teachers in seven South Australian public schools with significant Indigenous and super-diverse student cohorts. Findings show disparities in educational outcomes continue to widen despite attempts over the past decade to ‘close the gap’. Teachers action research data show culturally responsive pedagogy offers a way for the schooling system to be more inclusive by redesigning pedagogies that link the cultural and linguistic intelligences to learning, namely ‘connecting to content to student life worlds’.

The seminar considers ways in which curriculum and pedagogical reforms, as well as changes to teacher education programs, might be usefully informed by culturally responsive pedagogies.

Presenter: Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney AM

Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney is a member of the Deakin University Vice-Chancellor’s Indigenous Advisory Council (VCIAC) in association with Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin and Pro Vice-Chancellor of Indigenous Strategy and Innovation Professor Mark Rose. Dr Lester-Irabinna Rigney is an esteemed Professor of Education in the School of Education at University of South Australia. Professor Rigney is Distinguished Fellow at Deakin University and previous Distinguished Fellow at Kings College, London.

In 2021 Professor Rigney was appointed member in the General Division (AM) for significant service to Indigenous Education and to social inclusion research. He is co-chair of Pedagogies for Justice Research Group and member of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion, Education Unit. He is a member of the Centro Loris Malaguzzi Scientific Committee, for the Foundation Reggio Emilia Children.

One of Australia’s most respected Aboriginal educationalists, he is well published and has led several research teams funded by the Australian Research Council and other competitive grants including: Indigenist Research Epistemologies, Addressing the Gap between Policy and Implementation: Strategies for Improving Educational Outcomes of Indigenous Students and Towards an Australian culturally responsive pedagogy.