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Ngaga-dji, a call to action: education justice and youth imprisonment

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Abstract

This article takes up the challenge offered to educators, researchers and policy-makers in the Ngaga-dji report, to reflect on the ways in which services and institutions need to change to better support and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their families and communities. Ngaga-dji, which means ‘hear me/hear us’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people, was launched by the Koorie Youth Council in August 2018 and reports on the experiences of 42 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people from across Victoria who have had contact with the criminal justice system. With a focus on education, the article engages with the Ngaga-dji report to examine how educators and those involved in education might seek to change their practices. The solutions put forward in the report are also connected to international research on education and youth justice.

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Notes

  1. Koorie is a word that is used to describe Aboriginal people from the southeast part of the Australian continent. Where possible First Nations groups are specifically referred to in this article. The collective terms, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Indigenous peoples and First Nations are also used (as synonyms) at times to refer to these communities broadly but these broad collective terms are not intended to homogenise the vast diversity of knowledge, culture, experience and desires that exist for First Nations peoples across Australia.

  2. Yarning is a unique Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practice of meeting and discussion, which is about sharing knowledge with a focus on relationships, expected outcomes, responsibility and accountability between ‘participants, country and culture’ (Dean 2010, 6). It is also a practice taken up by Indigenous groups in other parts of the world (see Bessarab and Ng’andu 2010). The KYC operated from a community focused standpoint to conduct this research and I make these connections here to reflect on the ways in which academic research and disciplines may mirror and intersect with community approaches. I do not have the space to elaborate here on these methodologies.

  3. The Uluru Statement from the Heart was issued in May 2017 and was the culmination of a number of months of consultation with Aboriginal communities through Regional Dialogues. The Uluru Statement called for voice, treaty and truth.

  4. The Imagination Declaration was read out by Sienna Stubbs at the Garma Festival and can be found here: https://mailchi.mp/aimementoring/applications-are-open-1376029?e=223f267282

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the research assistance provided by Neerim Callope and Douglas Briggs in 2018/2019 who assisted with the literature review and initial planning of the article. I also acknowledge the Koorie Youth Council who bestowed this task of writing for Ngaga-dji upon me and thank them for their work and dedication to better outcomes for Koorie young people. I also thank the young people who shared their stories for the Ngaga-dji report with the KYC, so that we can learn better ways of keeping young people connected and valued in our education communities. Finally, I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of this article who helped to strengthen it and raise important issues in relation to cross-cultural and cross-sector collaboration.

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  1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Level 7, 100 Leicester Street, Carlton, 3010, Australia

    Sophie Rudolph

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Correspondence to Sophie Rudolph.

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Rudolph, S. Ngaga-dji, a call to action: education justice and youth imprisonment. Aust. Educ. Res. 48, 433–448 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-020-00408-6

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