Critical policy analysis of Indigenous knowledges and perspectives within health and physical education: moving beyond the past

The ideology of a national curriculum is to facilitate and nurture a nation’s aspirations for future generations. The curriculum must provide a balance between recognition of cultural history and global contexts for 21st century learners. However, what constitutes effective policy reform to achieve future goals is always open to debate. Over the past decade, the Australian Professional Teacher Standards have increasingly emphasised the requirement for educators to demonstrate enhanced knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their histories, and cultures. As such, there has been a renewed focus to ensure that Indigenous knowledges and perspectives are embedded and ultimately enacted within the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (AC: HPE). A critical policy analysis was undertaken to investigate the evolution of the effectiveness and representation of Indigenous knowledges and perspectives within the AC: HPE Version 9 and to explore tensions arising from an Indigenous standpoint. The findings revealed evidence of cultural inclusiveness and reconciliation discourse across the curriculum context (within the content elaborations), albeit with varying degrees of prominence in each and with particular emphasis of specific contexts. Examination of the curricula yielded three primary tensions: (i) Disruption of Western ideologies; (ii) Indigenous self-determination; and (iii) Power dynamics. A positive contribution to the field, revealing a lack of substantive progress with embedding Indigenous knowledges and perspectives within HPE, the results of this study provide direction for policy makers and curriculum developers when further incorporating Indigenous knowledges and perspectives within the AC: HPE.