NATIONAL INSTITUTE for CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy

Aboriginal education is not only the appropriate education of Aboriginal students but also must involve the education of all Australian students about Indigenous Australia. (NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, 1998)

NICE recognises the unique place of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders as indigenous peoples in the multi-ethnic, multicultural context of today's Australian society. Unlike other ethnic and cultural groups, they are not part of modern Australia by their own free choice. They are part of this society as a result of conquest and subjugation. Although, based on the prevailing worldview and value system of the European peoples at the time, this process of conquest and subjugation was regarded as justifiable, involving no violation of the rights of the indigenous peoples, we recognise that it did, in fact, involve a fundamental violation of sovereignty, disruption of the indigenous social order and culture, and consequent violation of the personal identity of the Aboriginal peoples. We further recognise that this historical reality is the root cause of the unique problems faced by the indigenous peoples of Australia to this day.

Fundamental to NICE policy is the development of partnerships with indigenous communities, both in the provision of services suited to the needs of those communities and in promoting understanding of those communities in the wider Australian society. We do not regard it as satisfactory for us to develop services either for or about indigenous communities other than in a close, and equal partnership with these communities.

While in this, as in other matters, it is our policy to respect relevant government legislation and policies, both state and federal, we do not take this as our primary source of guidance in the development of our services in relation to indigenous communities. Working in this, as always within the framework of our distinctive character as a Christian institution, we look to the indigenous communities themselves as the primary source of guidance in developing our programs in ways that meet their distinctive needs.

Integral to this partnership approach, we are committed not only to obtaining the input of indigenous communities but also to engaging appropriately qualified indigenous educators as participants in both course design and delivery.

As a Christian institution committed to viewing the whole of human life from a biblically informed perspective, NICE encourages all its students to engage in a critical evaluation of the world view beliefs that are embedded in all cultures, directing this critique particularly to the culture that shapes the patterns of their own lives. We regard all cultures, as part of God's creation, as embodying valuable features and all cultures, as part of fallen human life, as embodying significant weaknesses.

Our immediate objective in meeting the needs of indigenous communities, therefore, is to ensure that the programs we deliver are structured with a flexibility and integrity that meets these needs together with those of students from other cultural backgrounds. We also aim to ensure a learning environment in which students from indigenous communities will be free to express and develop their own personal identity as indigenous people in a manner that equips them to further express and develop that identity within the wider Australian society.

Given the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, it would be unrealistic to expect that a small, though vigorously growing institution such as NICE that is engaged in distance education on a national scale, could implement this policy in a comprehensive way in the short term. We have, however, made a beginning in a way that is appropriate to our present stage of development and are firmly committed to the progressive expansion of measures, within the limits of our resources, that will extend the implementation of this policy.

Information on this page is a summary of section 2.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy
on pages 21 - 23 of the CCHE Student Handbook and Policy Manual

Updated on 2 July 2008