Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publisher
Edith Cowan University, Western Australia in association with Khon Kaen University, Thailand and Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Thailand.
Abstract
Australian universities recognise cultural competency as an essential attribute for graduates. Within this context, The Australian Psychology Accreditation Committee (APAC) has enforced requirements for students within psychology programmes to have access to Indigenous content. Though Indigenous participation rates are low, the inclusion of Indigenous content or what is often labeled ‗Indigenous psychology‘ acts at least as a symbolic gesture and important step forward in reconciling the massively disadvantaged position of Indigenous Australians. However there is little to date in that way of guides to help develop appropriate teaching methods to include such content more substantially in programmes. This paper reflects on embedding Indigenous issues and content within curriculum of qualitative research methods. While all content areas can or could include Indigenous content, the teaching of qualitative research methods has enormous capacity to bring Indigenous content to life for students. First, a general argument for the inclusion of Indigenous content within the qualitative research methods curriculum of psychology is suggested. Second, several case study examples of teaching praxis including Indigenous content are provided. Finally, evidence on the utility of such examples for students in learning about Indigenous peoples and key processes and skills for working with Indigenous communities from student feedback are discussed.
Comments
EDU-COM 2008 International Conference. Sustainability in Higher Education: Directions for Change, Edith Cowan University, Perth Western Australia, 19-21 November 2008.