The Indigenising Curriculum Working Party (ICWP) was established in November 2020 by the Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC) to address Action 14 of the UQ Reconciliation Action Plan.

The review facilitated a UQ-wide approach to embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curriculum and inclusive teaching practices in programs.

Podcast - Indigenising Curriculum in Practice

Co-hosted by Professor Tracey Bunda and Dr Katelyn Barney, this podcast series focuses on Indigenising the University curriculum.

Each episode is an interview with Indigenous and/or non-Indigenous academics across faculties at The University of Queensland. Indigenising Curriculum in Practice investigates how Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and non-Indigenous academics are Indigenising the curriculum at UQ. It provides academics with practical suggestions and advice on Indigenising the curriculum through exploring case studies across disciplines. 
 

Listen to podcast

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ICWP purpose

The ICWP advises and makes recommendations to the TLC on:

  • The adoption, configuration, and integration of best practices for embedding Indigenous perspectives in UQ curriculum.
  • Emerging educational developments and practices in relation to the Indigenisation of curriculum, including related technological developments and digital platforms.
  • Support, training, communication and professional learning requirements related to embedding Indigenous perspectives in curriculum, including the development of training to teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and the establishment of a network/community of practice.

The focus of the ICWP is to develop a coordinated approach to support faculties and schools to expand existing curriculum to incorporate Indigenous knowledges, perspectives, and pedagogies, complementing UQ’s goals to:

  1. develop Indigenous curricula for all students in specific majors and programs, and 
  2. support Indigenous students to become knowledge creators through and within the curricula or extra curricula activities. 

ITaLI works closely with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit to progress the embedding of Indigenous Knowledges into the UQ Curriculum.

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ICWP program of work

Planned activities and outputsDetails
Indigenising curriculum mapping report and database

In June 2021, John Graham (ITaLI’s Elder in residence) conducted a mapping activity that provided a framework for identifying Indigenous curriculum across UQ programs and courses.

This report also recommended that the following actions are undertaken: 

  • Identification of Indigenous content by each course coordinator at UQ. 
  • Adopt the Indigenising Curricula Framework as a means to identify and develop new courses. 
  • Improve and enhance UQ graduate attributes (5.5 Ethical and Social Understanding). 
  • Support courses, identified as potential courses for including Indigenous content, for further development.

Benchmarking Indigenising Curriculum practices elsewhere

Desktop survey conducted of practices at Australian universities, including: Charles Sturt, Australian Catholic University, Deakin University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Griffith University, University of Melbourne, University of Western Australia, University of South Australia, Curtain University of Technology, James Cook University, Macquarie University, Monash University, University of Wollongong, University of Sydney, University of NSW (Sydney), Australian National University, University of Adelaide.

Development of principles for Indigenising curriculum

The activities for 2022 culminated in a formal Indigenising Curriculum Consultation Green Paper complementing the RAP and providing guidance for continuing work in Indigenising the curriculum at UQ. 

The Green Paper was presented at Academic Board on 14 October 2022 and launched during Teaching and Learning Week (31 October – 4 November) and is open for feedback until 30 November 2022.

Indigenising Curriculum Colloquium

This event was held on Monday 7 November 2022 and brought together decision-makers from across UQ to develop an action plan that can be used to enable the implementation of Indigenising curriculum principles. The keynote presentation was from Associate Professor Jay Phillips, Charles Sturt University.
Development of an Indigenous knowledges HEA accredited pathway Program designed to recognise various levels of expertise through HEA Fellowship awards is under development and will be submitted for accreditation review by Advance HE in March 2023. 
Establishment of a Community of Practice (CoP) at UQ with a program that draws on the expertise from Indigenous communities and other universities 

Elder John Graham’s contract was extended to one day per week into 2023 to facilitate the establishment of a community of practice to support those seeking to Indigenise curriculum.

A survey was sent to participants at the Indigenising the Curriculum Teaching and Learning Week event to gather information to shape the CoP.

A series of case studies developed by champions within UQ schools

Tips sheets and guidelines arising from the case studies will be made available to staff via this webpage.

Discussions are underway with UQ Library to develop an online, searchable repository of tips, resources, scholarly works and modules that have been peer-reviewed.

Indigenous-led resource development

Video resource: The Language of Relationships – ‘You Can’t Ask That’
Review of existing policies to consider amendments that will enable the recognition of the importance of Indigenising the curriculum and subsequent actions.This will be a topic of discussion at the final ICWP meeting in December 2022.

 

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ICWP members

The ICWP provides a University-wide representation from Indigenous scholars, Directors of Teaching and Learning (T&L), faculties and schools and Indigenous students.

  • Professor Tracey Bunda* (Chair)​​, Academic Director, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit​
  • Professor Karen Benson (Deputy Chair)​​, Director, Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation​
  • Professor Pauline Ford​​, Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)​
  • Professor Craig Franklin​​, President of Academic Board​
  • A/Prof Sandra Phillips*​, Associate Dean (Indigenous Engagement), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences​
  • Dr Marnee Shay*​​, School of Education, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences​
  • Professor Blake McKimmie​​, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences​
  • A/Prof Greg Birkett​​, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology ​
  • A/Prof Deanne Gannaway​​, Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation​
  • Professor Lisa Ruhanen​​, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law​
  • Dr Preetha Thomas​​, Faculty of Medicine​
  • Professor Liza O’Moore (invited member)​​, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology​
  • Jim Walker*​​, Faculty of Science​
  • Corin Walker*​, Undergraduate student representative​
  • Coen Hird*​, Postgraduate student representative​
  • Beth Madsen* (on leave)​, Postgraduate student representative​

* Indigenous members

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