Pathways to progress? – collective conscientisation and progressive school reform in Aboriginal education

Setting in train various forms of curriculum and pedagogic change in schools whilst seeking to improve both teaching strategies and Aboriginal educational outcomes in Australia is a complex business. This involves a sustained effort to equip the next generation of educators with the skills and knowledges to identify, diagnose, and devise remedies for the ‘problems’ that are sometimes ascribed to Aboriginal learners. The work of Paolo Freire is a point of reference here. However, the halo around Freire and his work may occlude thinking about how to evoke his concepts, (specifically conscientisation) in the contemporary Australian context. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Freire’s work in this light. We also discuss the Culturally Nourishing Schooling (CNS) project, a whole school reform model where teachers are encouraged to shift their reflective gaze onto themselves and on the settings in which they work. We argue that for ‘success’ in education to no longer be defined by deficit thinking, firstly, conscientisation must be a collective process. To change teachers and their practice and schooling requires a different conception of both change and of conscientisation.