Indigenous voices: reimagining Indigenous education through a discourse of excellence

Abstract

The persistent deficit positioning of Indigenous students has meant that the combined terms ‘Indigenous education’ and ‘excellence in education’ have been kept separate in mainstream discourse. Excellence in education is an under-theorised concept that must consider intercultural and diverse perspectives. Consequently, this paper aims to understand excellence in education through Indigenous peoples’ perspectives regarding how excellence in Indigenous education is (or could be) enacted in schools. This paper reports on findings from a pilot study with Indigenous community members, principals, teachers, and support staff. The research aimed to address the question: How do Indigenous education practitioners define excellence in Indigenous education? This qualitative study used appreciative inquiry, which allowed for an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon and multiple contextual and localised examples from everyday community members, educational practitioners, and leaders. The data show that employing a language underpinned by strengths can change the conversation, expectations, and aspirations in Indigenous education, as framing through excellence may shift the ideology of policy and, thus, the interpretation of enactment in Indigenous education.