A different more practical education: Aboriginal education in Western Australian secondary schools after the second world war

Down, B. (1994) A different more practical education: Aboriginal education in Western Australian secondary schools after the second world war. Education Research Perspectives, 21 (2). pp. 47-68.

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Abstract

This paper sets out to examine the role of Western Australian state secondary schooling in linking the ideas of 'race' and ability in such a way as to justify very different educational experiences for Aboriginal students. The primary purpose is to unearth the ideological nature of school knowledge and how it operated to perpetuate the myth that Aboriginal students were intellectually, socially and culturally inferior compared to white students. Specifically, it examines the nature of the manual and domestic curriculum deemed suitable for the 'needs' of Aboriginal boys and girls. The final part of the paper argues that Aboriginal students actively resisted European educational ideologies and practices by not turning up to school.