Nichol, Raymond Matthew

Professor Raymond Nichol is Head of Social Science Education and Course Coordinator of the Bachelor of Educational Studies at La Trobe University, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. He is an anthropologist and teacher educator, with a strong interest in Indigenous education. Professor Nichol is a Fellow of the Australian Anthropological Society, Member of the Australian College of Educators, and member of a number of social studies educators’ associations. He completed his Research Master’s Degree in anthropology and his Bachelor of Arts, Honours in Anthropology, with First Class Honours in Ethnography at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Socialization, Land, and Citizenship Among Aboriginal Australians: Reconciling Indigenous and Western Forms of Education

2005 0-7734-5935-9
Culturally appropriate education for people of Indigenous descent is not a privilege; it is a fundamental right. Such an education is also a powerful resource for all educators and all cultures. This book explores Indigenous Australian education, particularly over the last thirty years. The major objective is to examine issues of education and pedagogy and to suggest forms of reconciliation between the dominant Western education and Indigenous forms of education. The work is grounded in an ethnographic case study and wide-ranging interaction and consultation with Indigenous Australians. The provision of the most appropriate education for Indigenous students is extraordinarily complex and presents an enormous challenge to educators, in Australia and elsewhere. The implications are profound; continued ignorance and arrogance from the dominant cultures will lead to even greater resentment, social alienation, poverty and divisiveness. The book explores these issues and concerns in both the broad historical, and more particular localized sense, each informing the other.