Gower, 2021; Shay, Sarra & Woods, 2021). Partnering with community forms part of the robust catalogue of ways, aforementioned, that schools and centres can become spaces that enable strengthened connections to culture for First Nations’ wellbeing. Murrup-Stewart and colleagues (2021) include within this catalogue: connecting Aboriginal youth with each other; connecting to dedicated Aboriginal spaces; connecting with Elders; connecting with formal/informal cultural learning activities; connecting with family, community, and Country; connecting with a strong First Nations formal education for everyone; and connecting with the reality that being Aboriginal can carry an unseen emotional load.
Connecting with other Aboriginal youth: The young people in Murrup-Stewart and colleagues’ (2021) research expressed the importance “of opportunities and spaces to connect to other Aboriginal people” (p. 1838), especially in light of the fact that, in many urban educational settings, First Nations children and young people represent a minority group.
Connecting with dedicated Aboriginal spaces: Similar to the Nunga Room described as a space for transformation and empowerment in Blanch’s (2009) research, Murrup-Stewart et al. (2021) explain the importance of dedicated First Nations’ spaces within the context of schools as follows:
… physical spaces, such as dedicated Aboriginal lounges [… allow] for informal relationship building and relief from the environmental structural violence of settler colonial institutions. These spaces also [allow] for learning from other Aboriginal youth, for example, some [young Aboriginal participants in the study] felt stronger
‘when you’re able to meet with others you know, aspiring young Indigenous people’.
(p. 1838)
Connecting with Elders: Elders play, “an essential role as teachers and sources of knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual support for many young people” (Murrup-Stewart et al., 2021, p. 1838).
Connecting with formal and informal cultural learning activities: Schools and centres may provide dedicated cultural learning activities, either for First Nations young people exclusively or as shared learning events for Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners together. The young people in Murrup- Stewart and colleagues’ (2021) study spoke specifically about the former, noting “that the events, activities, and practices [made available to them] provided experiences of connection, and this included arts, weaving, dance, men’s/women’s groups, spending time on Country, sport, ceremonies and community gatherings, music, traditional foods/hunting, reading, and mindfulness practices” (p.
1838). However, opportunities for connection to culture which helped to strengthen First Nations’
wellbeing were also attributed to leadership programmes and special events, such as a National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) march. Collectively, these events were seen to provide important chances for connection to culture.
Connecting with family/community: The young people in Murrup-Stewart and colleagues’ (2021) study highlighted the importance of their schools (in this case) making meaningful connections to family and community, which resonates with the literature on culturally responsive schooling. For instance, Khalifa et al. (2016) emphasise the importance of creating authentic overlapping school-community spaces, which shift the focus from only reaching out to contact parents about what their child/ren may have done wrong (p. 1289) to engaging with students’ home lives and communities in concerted relationship building (p. 1287).
Connecting with Country: As noted throughout the section of this review entitled Curriculum, connecting to Country is a foundational means of supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations students as well as re-educating non-Indigenous peoples. Tynan (2021) explicates that Country is a wellspring of relationality, and “relationality is foundational to the health and wellbeing of all entities, [thus] removing those relationships is extractive” (p. 605). Harrison and Skrebneva (2020) add that Country should be centralised in curriculum given its propensity to promote “a sense of belonging […] among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students [… which] is relevant when we acknowledge the ongoing relationship between Country and wellbeing (Ganesharajah, 2009), and the need to ensure that Indigenous children are [thus] connected to Country” (Harrison & Skrebneva, 2020, p. 17). These sentiments resound strongly with Murrup-Stewart and colleagues’ (2021) study in which their young Aboriginal participants described connecting with Country as promoting feelings of,
“calmness, clarity, happiness, a sense of connection with ancestors, resetting of one’s spirit, and peacefulness” (p. 1841).
Connecting with strong formal First Nations education: As with the Aboriginal youth in Lowe and Weuffen’s (2022) research, participants in Murrup-Stewart and colleagues’ (2021) study were forthright in their view that formal educational institutions need to include a stronger focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education for all students, consistently from the early years through secondary schooling. With respect to the teaching of history, these writers explain:
Young people were quick to point out that formal education systems had failed in the most fundamental teaching of Aboriginal history during formative childhood years.
Knowledge holders expressed disappointment and frustration at the continued lack of taught Aboriginal history and culture:
I think it’s still really weird to hear that in secondary schools that Indigenous culture is still not being taught, like that really frustrates me at this day and age that kids only get 1788 the first fleet came and that’s where Australia started.
That just does my head in.
This knowledge holder’s insight demonstrates that the ongoing lack of content on Aboriginal history within the Australian curriculum was an ongoing source of exclusion, dissatisfaction, and irritation for many Aboriginal students. (Murrup- Stewart et al., 2021, pp. 1837-38)
Connecting with the reality of the emotional load borne by Aboriginal peoples: For some of the young Aboriginal participants in Murrup-Stewart et al.’s (2021) study, they also spoke of the heavy emotional burden of participating in some activities or events with a First Nations’ focus owing to the risk that Aboriginal cultural identity is sometimes distorted or misrepresented, which can be traumatic, such as when media presents Aboriginal issues negatively. As noted in the section of this review on Learners, the continued high circulation of negative discourses of Aboriginality within society, schools, and media can elicit resistance on the part of Aboriginal youth or their families to elements of schooling, even dedicated events with a First Nations’ focus. It remains vital that education staff learn to read such resistance not as individual pathology or defiance, but in the broader context of past and ongoing settler colonial harm, and develop the stamina required to continue engaging in this important decolonial work (Stein et al., 2021).