SPECIAL ISSUE - Teachers and Educational Policy: Markets, Populism, and Im/Possibilities for Resistance - Rhetoric vs Reality - Disconnect between Policy and Practice for Teachers Implementing Aboriginal Education

Oct 15, 2026

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In Australia, pervasive deficit representations and positioning of Aboriginal peoples undermine teachers’ ability to embed Aboriginal curriculum and pedagogies. This occurs within policy settings driven by standardization, competition, and market forces aimed at closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal student outcomes. Using Bacchi’s WPR analysis and the 2019 Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, the article traces discourses that cast Aboriginal communities as incapable while governments act as saviors, silencing concerns tied to racism, social justice, truth-telling, sovereignty, and treaty.

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SPECIAL ISSUE

Teachers and Educational Policy: Markets, Populism, and Im/Possibilities for Resistance

Rhetoric vs Reality: The Disconnect between Policy and Practice for Teachers Implementing Aboriginal Education

SPECIAL ISSUE Teachers and Educational Policy: Markets, Populism, and Im/Possibilities for Resistance education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 30 Number 97 | July 12, 2022 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | Rhetoric vs Reality: The Disconnect between Policy and Practice for Teachers Implementing Aboriginal Education in their Schools Cathie Burgess University of Sydney Australia & Kevin Lowe UNSW Australia Citation: Burgess, C., & Lowe, K. (2022) . Rhetoric vs reality: The disconnect between policy and practice for teachers implementing Aboriginal education in their schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 30(97). [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.30.6175](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.30.6175) This article is part of the special issue Teachers and Educational Policy: Markets, Populism, and Im/Possibilities for Resistance, guest edited by Meghan Stacey, Mihajla Gavin, Jessica Gerrard, Anna Hogan and Jessica Holloway. Abstract: In Australia, pervasive deficit representations and positioning of Aboriginal peoples continue to impact on teachers’ capacity to meaningfully embed Aboriginal curriculum and pedagogies into their teaching. This sits within a policy context driven by standardization, competition and market forces focused on closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal student outcomes to address the statistical dissonance caused by Aboriginal underachievement. Our analysis is informed by Bacchi’s (2009)‘What’s the ‘problem’ represented to be?’ analytical tool. We reveal discourses that position Aboriginal peoples as the ‘problem’ and the effects of these on teacher practice. Using the 2019 Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, which represents a national partisan vision of Australian education, we demonstrate how discourses of community engagement, Reconciliation and data-driven solutions continue to position Aboriginal peoples as incapable, and government as savior. This flags the silencing of Aboriginal peoples’ key concerns of racism, social justice, truth-telling, sovereignty, and treaty, all of which are central to the ongoing fight for voice, reparative justice and recognition. Until these concerns are heard and accounted for in policies, the gap will remain, teachers will continue to struggle to meaningfully engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policies and curriculum content and consequently fail Aboriginal aspirations. Keywords: Indigenous education; Aboriginal education policy; Bacchi WPR analysis; teaching practice; policy discourse Retórica versus realidad: La desconexión entre la política y la práctica para los docentes que implementan la educación aborigen en sus escuelas Resumen: En Australia, las representaciones deficitarias generalizadas y el posicionamiento de los pueblos aborígenes continúan afectando la capacidad de los docentes para incorporar de manera significativa el plan de estudios y las pedagogíasaborígenes en su enseñanza. Esto se ubica dentro de un contexto de políticas impulsado por la estandarización, la competencia y las fuerzas del mercado enfocadas en cerrar labrecha entre los resultados de los estudiantes aborígenes y no aborígenes para abordar ladisonancia estadística causada por el bajo rendimiento de los aborígenes. Nuestro análisis se basa en la herramienta analítica de Bacchi (2009)“¿Cuál es el 'problema' representado?'Revelamos discursos que posicionan a los pueblos aborígenes como el “problema” y losefectos de estos en la práctica docente. Usando la Declaración de Educación de Alice Springs (Mparntwe) de 2019, que representa una visión partidista nacional de la educaciónaustraliana, demostramos cómo los discursos de participación comunitaria, reconciliación y soluciones basadas en datos continúan posicionando a los pueblos aborígenes como incapaces y al gobierno como salvador. Esto marca el silenciamiento de las p

FAQs

How do deficit representations affect teachers’ ability to implement Aboriginal education?

They undermine teachers’ capacity to meaningfully embed Aboriginal curriculum and pedagogies into their teaching, affecting how policy translates into classroom practice.

What analytical framework guides the article’s investigation?

The analysis is informed by Bacchi’s (2009) ‘What’s the ‘problem’ represented to be?’ tool, used to reveal problem-framing discourses.

Which discourses are shown to position Aboriginal peoples and governments in particular roles?

Discourses of community engagement, Reconciliation, and data-driven solutions continue to position Aboriginal peoples as incapable and government as a savior, while silencing key Aboriginal concerns.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca