You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives

VATE's You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives series is designed to support English teachers to build their own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural responsiveness in order to provide their students with accurate, informed and culturally appropriate context, knowledge, skills, language and pedagogies.

By the end of 2025, You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives series will consist of a suite of on-demand videos with First Nations academics, commentators, and writers, as well as complementary teaching resources that explore how to use the insights from each in the English classroom. The purpose of these resources is to support, inform and engage English educators in the development of their understanding and teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and perspectives in the English classroom.

These resources have been written by Emma Jenkins and reviewed by Darby Jones. The artwork for this program has been generously provided by Aretha Brown and has been reproduced with her permission. The music in this program is 'The Red Sand Sea' by Robbie Miller and is used under license by APRA-AMCOS.

The You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives program is funded the the Victorian Department of Education's Strategic Partnerships Program.

Emeritus Professor Richard Broome AM of La Trobe University is also President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. He is the author of over 20 books including Aboriginal Australians: A History since 1788 (5th edition, 2019) and the award-winning Aboriginal Victorians: A History since 1800 (2nd edition, 2024).

In this interview for VATE’s You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives series, Broome gives an account of the history of First Nations people in Victoria, touching on some of the developments in colonial policies, misconceptions about First Nations people in Victoria, and the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria have resisted and survived colonial oppression.

Professor Tony Birch holds the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at Melbourne University. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Prize, in recognition of his contribution to Australian literature, and he is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry books. His most recent novel, Women and Children (UQP 2023), was awarded The Age 2024 Fiction Book of the Year.

In this interview for VATE’s You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives series, Birch discusses the importance of selecting and teaching texts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Dr Aleryk (Al) Fricker is a proud and sovereign Dja Dja Wurrung academic. He is a former English, History, and Humanities teacher who now teaches and researches Indigenous education and decolonising education practices in Australia. His research recognises that First Nations knowledges and pedagogies have the potential to revolutionise education in Australia and benefit all students regardless of their cultural contexts.

In this interview for VATE’s You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives series, Fricker discusses the concept of decolonisation, how teachers can engage with decolonial praxis, and ways in which educators can show up as ‘comrades’ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in their work.

Associate Professor Jeanine Leane is an acclaimed Wiradjuri writer, poet and academic from southwest New South Wales.  Leane teaches Creative Writing and Aboriginal Literature at the University of Melbourne where her research looks at Indigenous storytelling and the archive. In 2023, Leane was the winner of the David Harold Tribe Prize for poetry – Australia’s richest poetry prize.

In this interview for VATE’s You Can Teach That: Teaching First Nations Perspectives series, Leane discusses the power of language in shaping identity, subverting societal pressures, and the role of the English language as a tool of colonialism and oppression.