Indigenous Australian ways of learning

This resource is about Indigenous Australian ways of knowing, being, and doing as applied to education and learning.

These eight ways of learning are based on "Yarning up Aboriginal pedagogies: A dialogue about eight Aboriginal ways of learning" (Yungaporta & Kirby, 2011).

This model is being used within education in Australia to help guide and inform endeavours to "indigenise the curriculum".

Story sharing. Approaching learning through narrative. We connect through the stories we share. Personal narratives (stories) are central.

Learning maps. Explicitly mapping/visualising processes. We picture our pathways of knowledge. Images or visuals are used to map out processes for learners to follow.

Non-verbal. Applying intra-personal and kinaesthetic skills to thinking and learning. We see, think, act, make and share without words. Kinaesthetic, hands-on, non-verbal learning is characteristic.

Symbols and images. Using images and metaphors to understand concepts and content. We keep and share knowledge with art and objects. Symbol, image and metaphor are central to pedagogy.

Land links. Place-based learning, linking content to local land and place. We work with lessons from land and nature. Ecological and place-based, drawn from the living landscape within a framework of profound ancestral and personal relationships with place.

Non-linear. Producing innovations and understanding by thinking laterally or combining systems. We put different ideas together and create new knowledge. Non-linear ways of learning are complementary, not oppositional.

Deconstruct/reconstruct. Modelling and scaffolding, working from wholes to parts. We work from wholes to parts, watching and then doing. Begin with the whole structure, rather than a series of sequenced steps. Holistic, global, scaffolded and independent learning orientations of students.

Community links. Centring local viewpoints, applying learning for community benefit. We bring new knowledge home to help our mob. Connections to real-life purposes, contexts, communities, and teams.

• 8 Aboriginal ways of learning: Aboriginal pedagogy (8ways.online)
• 8 Aboriginal ways of learning: Factsheet (painaustralia.org.au)