Aboriginal Studies syllabus, dot point by dot point

Analyse the changing government policies of protection, assimilation, integration, self-determination and reconciliation and their impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

How did government policy towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples change from protection to self-determination, and who held the power to decide in each era?

Analyse the processes of dispossession and dislocation that followed British colonisation and their impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Country

How did colonisation dispossess and dislocate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from Country, and what were the consequences for law, culture and survival?

Examine the spiritual, cultural and economic relationship Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have with the land and how the Dreaming connects people to Country

What is the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the land, and why is Country central to law, identity and the Dreaming?

Evaluate the reconciliation process in Australia, including symbolic and substantive reconciliation, and its contribution to social justice

What is reconciliation, how has it unfolded in Australia, and does symbolic reconciliation deliver substantive justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?

Evaluate the significance of the Mabo decision in overturning terra nullius and establishing native title in Australian law

How did the Mabo decision overturn terra nullius, and what did the recognition of native title actually change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?

Evaluate the ongoing social, cultural, economic and political impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

What were the broad social, cultural, economic and political impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and how do they continue today?

Part 2: Comparative Study

Compare the criminal justice experiences and community-led responses of an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community

How do an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community experience criminal justice systems, and how do they respond?

Compare the health experiences and self-determination strategies of an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community

How do an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community experience and respond to health as a social justice issue?

Compare the experiences of an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community in relation to Aboriginality and the Land

How do an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community experience their relationship to land, dispossession and the struggle to recover Country?

Examine the global perspective on Indigenous peoples and rights and apply it to frame the comparative study of two communities

What is the global perspective on Indigenous rights, and how does it frame the comparison between an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community?

Plan and structure the comparative study by selecting an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community and comparing them across two social justice topics

How do you design a valid comparative study of an Aboriginal community and an international Indigenous community across two social justice topics?

Core Part 2: Heritage and Identity

Examine cultural expression through art, music, dance, story, film and media as a means of maintaining and renewing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and identity

How do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples express and maintain heritage and identity through art, music, dance, story and the media?

Examine the role of kinship systems and family structures in organising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies and shaping identity

How do kinship systems organise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies, and why are they central to heritage and identity?

Analyse the nature and impact of racism, prejudice and stereotyping on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the ways communities have challenged them

How have racism, prejudice and stereotyping affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and how have communities challenged them?

Analyse the relationship between the Dreaming, spirituality and identity, and how it is expressed and maintained by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

How does the Dreaming shape Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spirituality and identity, and how is it expressed and maintained today?

Examine the diverse and dynamic nature of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identities and how identity is defined and asserted

What does Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity mean today, and why is it diverse, dynamic and self-defined rather than fixed?

Evaluate the role of language revival and cultural maintenance in strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and identity

Why are language and cultural maintenance central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity, and how are communities reviving what colonisation tried to erase?

Part 3: Research and Inquiry Methods - The Major Project

Conduct a local community case study as part of the Major Project, applying research and inquiry methods ethically and with community consultation

What is the local community case study, and how do you research a specific Aboriginal community or organisation ethically and in depth?

Apply ethical research protocols and Indigenous data sovereignty, then analyse, structure and present the Major Project findings

How do ethical protocols, Indigenous data sovereignty and clear presentation shape a successful Aboriginal Studies Major Project?

Plan the Major Project by selecting a focus, framing inquiry questions, and applying appropriate research and inquiry methods

How do you plan and conduct an Aboriginal Studies Major Project using ethical, community-centred research and inquiry methods?

Part 1: Social Justice and Human Rights Issues

Define self-determination and autonomy and explain their place within social justice and human rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

What do self-determination and autonomy mean for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and why are they the organising idea of the whole course?

Define and apply the concepts of social justice and human rights to the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia and internationally

What do social justice and human rights mean for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and how are these concepts applied to lived experience?

Analyse the struggle for land rights and native title as a social justice and human rights issue, using key legal and political developments

How have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples pursued land rights and native title, and how far have these struggles delivered social justice?

Evaluate the removal policies that created the Stolen Generations and the response of the Bringing Them Home report as a human rights issue

How did the forced removal of Aboriginal children breach human rights, and how have truth-telling and redress responded to the Stolen Generations?

Assess campaigns for constitutional recognition and political reform, from the 1967 referendum to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the 2023 Voice referendum

How have campaigns for constitutional recognition, from the 1967 referendum to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, advanced self-determination?