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Preliminary findings from a PhD collective case-study informed by Mandandanji positioning examine how English teachers and school leaders in private schools influence students’ experiences. Focus groups with Indigenous and non-Indigenous students privilege their voices and highlight truth-telling as a strategy to disrupt colonial dominance and legitimate Indigenous futurity in Australian English teaching.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/proppa-way-literature-as-truth-telling-and-indigenous-futurity-in-subject-english/594197/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/proppa-way-literature-as-truth-telling-and-indigenous-futurity-in-subject-english/594197.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Kurz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is “proppa way,” and how does it relate to educators’ practice?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"“Proppa way” is a colloquial Indigenous expression for doing something in a culturally informed and appropriate way. In the paper, it frames how educators embed Indigenous perspectives through truth-telling.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What does the paper identify as a key problem in subject English curricula?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Colonial history influences the stories told and the literature included, contributing to Eurocentric practices and the reproduction of hegemony and “otherness”.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What research method and participants are used in the PhD study?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The paper reports preliminary findings from a collective case-study using focus groups with Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, alongside their English teachers and leaders in private schools across South East Queensland.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},594197,1792160909,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},2336478945635,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Proppa way: Literature as truth-telling and Indigenous futurity in subject English  \nAmy Thomson  \nSchool of Education, The University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD, 4072, email: [a.holland@uq.edu.au](a.holland@uq.edu.au)  \n[In light of the results of the 2023 referendum](In light of the results of the 2023 referendum), truth-telling should inform how educators embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives across the curriculum. It is imperative that students’experiences of Indigenous content are understood, as this will inform the legitimisation of Indigenous futurity in classrooms and how teachers engage in truth-telling “proppa way”(a colloquial expression Indigenous Australians use to refer to doing something in a way which is culturally informed and appropriate) .  \nTeachers of subject English must understand how their views and approaches to Indigenous literature impact students. Texts present students with First Nations and colonialist histories, the intersections of these histories and the long-lasting legacy of both. How students comprehend and engage with these representations in their classrooms should be prioritised. This paper presents the preliminary findings of my PhD research informed by my positioning as a Mandandanji woman, educator and researcher. This collective case-study research shares data collected from focus groups of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alongside their English teachers and leaders in private schools across South East Queensland. The data presented privileges the students’ voices regarding their experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. This paper presents collaborative visions for the future of English teaching. The role of truth-telling is centred within these artefacts, as we look to disrupt the dominance of colonialism and prioritise Indigenous futurity in Australian English classrooms.  \nKeywords: subject English, Indigenous content, English teachers, truth-telling  \nIntroduction  \nIndigenous and non-Indigenous Australians have a shared history that is often presented separately as“black history” or “white history”, depending on how the collective “Australian” story is told (Phillips, 2012) . The ramifications of the invasion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land on Indigenous peoples’ experiences, cultures and histories were largely omitted in early historical records (Burridge & Chodkiewicz, 2012; Stanner, 1969). The doctrine “terra nullius”, meaning “land belonging to no-one” in Latin, was declared to colonise Australia (Reynolds, 1987). This initiated a turbulent relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous people, as it was established on a claim that denied the knowledges, languages, cultures and values of Indigenous peoples (Matthews, 2019) . This has had immeasurable impacts on the Australian education system as terra nullius was widely accepted and indoctrinated to reinforce dominant social agendas, expectations and norms; the colonial project rendered Indigenous peoples as sub-human, and these racialised discourses continue to permeate schools (Shay, 2016, p. 281) .  \nSpecifically, in subject English, Australia’s colonial history impacts the stories we are told and the literature that is included in our curriculum. Australian writing, particularly Australian Indigenous writing, has had to fight for a place in the curriculum (McLean Davies et al., 2017) . Curriculum stakeholders and teachers are beginning to realise, though, that including a wider range of diverse texts in the English Curriculum could facilitate more discussions about cultural differences in society (Jogie, 2015) . Such discussions could interrogate normative Western notions of authentic or legitimate knowledge (Hart et al., 2012). This would prevent the current Eurocentric practices, beliefs and values of Australian school culture reproducing hegemony while effectively creating “otherness” within nonEuropean cultures (H","cbCaijXPWAyAqAIS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijXPWAyAqAIS","pdf",997004,23,"English","# Introduction\n## Historical context and colonial impacts\n## Truth-telling in subject English education\n## PhD collective case-study and preliminary findings","[{\"question\":\"What is “proppa way,” and how does it relate to educators’ practice?\",\"answer\":\"“Proppa way” is a colloquial Indigenous expression for doing something in a culturally informed and appropriate way. In the paper, it frames how educators embed Indigenous perspectives through truth-telling.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the paper identify as a key problem in subject English curricula?\",\"answer\":\"Colonial history influences the stories told and the literature included, contributing to Eurocentric practices and the reproduction of hegemony and “otherness”.\"},{\"question\":\"What research method and participants are used in the PhD study?\",\"answer\":\"The paper reports preliminary findings from a collective case-study using focus groups with Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, alongside their English teachers and leaders in private schools across South East Queensland.\"}]","Proppa way - Literature as truth-telling and Indigenous futurity in subject English | PDF",1792078702,58]