From inequality to quality: Challenging the debate on Indigenous education

Abstract

When Noel Pearson wrote 'Radical hope' (2009), he queried, in a wide-ranging and politically informed essay, whether the education system has the potential to transform the lives of Indigenous Australians and, if so, how that might be done. Pearson's answer was in the affirmative with caveats; like many Indigenous leaders before him, from access the world, he acknowledges that the education system's responsibility to enable and deliver good teaching in context needs to be balanced with personal responsibility. Furthermore, he does not want Australian Indigenous children to give away their identities, cultures and language; far from it. His focus is on bringing together of world views, that o..