Abstract:
This paper critically examines some elements of the
nation's policy on Indigenous education priorities
(Department of Employment, Education and Training,
1989) and how they have framed our approaches to formal
schooling issues over the past decade. I draw on some of
the "cultural" tensions in the policy position to illustrate
the dilemma they produce at the level of practice. I then
reflect on the implications of these tensions for literacy
teaching as well as ways that they can be addressed. The
conclusion brings these reflections back to a more
theoretical level to consider how shifts at the level of
theory might re-frame how we might best view the literacy
issues and priorities in Indigenous contexts.
