Cultural intersectionality and school leadership: decision making and Aboriginal education in the NSW urban primary school context

Despite the exponential growth of urban Aboriginal populations in Australia over the past four decades, the complexities of establishing, leading, and maintaining support for Aboriginal children in urban primary education has vastly been overlooked. Focusing on a specific case study in urban NSW, this paper identifies the influence of intercultural intersectionality and the prevalence of colonial power dynamics in decision-making processes and school-community partnerships. It investigates the potential impact of the existence of colonial structures that endorse the reproduction of Euro-Australian dominant cultural and social norms and values, which may generate barriers for educational leaders attempting to facilitate Aboriginal Education in an urban context. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, this paper highlights the dominance of non-Aboriginal authority in daily decision-making in primary education, and the positionality of non-Aboriginal educational leaders and community within a corresponding cultural intersectional interface which may impact on Aboriginal children’s identities. Furthermore, it outlines how the urban Aboriginal community are virtually non-existent in daily educational governance due to a lack of opportunities for participation and the incongruence of cultural norms and values. It concludes with summarising the potential consequences of disregarding Aboriginal sovereignty within decision-making processes in education.