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Dr Janet Mooney
Janet Mooney is the Director of the Koori Centre at the University of Sydney. Janet is from the Yuen nation from the South Coast of New South Wales. She is an Indigenous academic who has dedicated her career to improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal people. She believes strongly that education is a tool for social justice and therefore actively promotes exemplary and innovative educational practice. Hence, in all of the positions she has held she has kept abreast of sound educational practices for Aboriginal learners, and has strived to create an understanding for non-Aboriginal people of the practices and principles of attitudinal change that can only produce a more cohesive community of Australians.
Janet completed her PhD at UWS in 2011. Her study focused on an analysis of Aboriginal studies in primary teacher education training.
Qualifications
BA (CAI), MEd (Sydney), GradDipEd (Sydney), PhD (UWS)
Grants
- New Solutions For Maximising Aboriginal Students' Potential: The roles of self-concept and motivation in making a real difference to desirable educational outcomes. ARC Linkage.
- NSW Indigenous Languages Feasibility Study. NSW DAA funding.
- A critical analysis of core Aboriginal Studies subjects in Primary Teacher education courses. Discovery – ARC Indigenous Researchers Development Grant.
- A History of Aboriginal Education at the University of Sydney. University of Sydney Sesquicentenary Grant.
- Teaching the teachers core Aboriginal Studies: elucidating successful strategies and overcoming barriers. DEST. IESIP funding 1999-2001.
- Teaching the Teachers Core Aboriginal Studies: Impact on Postgraduate Teachers' Ability and Commitment to Teaching Aboriginal Studies in Australian Schools, DEST EIP.
Thesis Title
Abstract
Australia has come to a critical point in its identity as a nation, that is, acknowledging its Aboriginal peoples - Australia's first people - as an intrinsic part of what it is to be Australian. That means respecting Australia's history which includes Australia's first people's histories in our studies, and in the fabric of who we are. It also includes Aboriginal students, achieving educational outcomes commensurate with their non-Aboriginal peers. The New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSW DET) Aboriginal education policies, along with the national Aboriginal education policies and a whole host of reports, have identified that for a complexity of reasons, non-Aboriginal Australian's have nurtured prejudices and out-dated misconceptions about Aboriginal Australians. These reports and policies have therefore recommended that all Australian school students be taught the truth about Australia's Aboriginal past from colonisation to the present, to learn how the past shaped the present, and to walk together to shape the future. Teaching Aboriginal Studies and integrating Aboriginal perspectives by incorporating Aboriginal history, culture, and values into the school's curriculum has been a challenge for NSW DET. Whilst teachers are expected to teach Aboriginal Studies and integrate Aboriginal perspectives, many lack knowledge about Aboriginal history and culture, many have never met an Aboriginal person, and many pre-service teachers have not been taught the knowledge, skills, and understandings to effectively teach Aboriginal Studies and Aboriginal students as a component of their teacher education courses. Of the pre-service teachers who have experienced Aboriginal Studies teacher education core courses, a paucity of research has been conducted to explicate the nature, value, and impact of these courses. The overarching purpose of this thesis was to assemble an evidence-based rationale, which includes the voices of multiple stakeholders, to test the extent to which core Aboriginal Studies subjects in primary teacher education courses are vital to improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal children, advancing reconciliation, and creating a more socially just society. To address this purpose, the present investigation critically analysed multiple stakeholders' self-perceptions of the value, nature, success, and impact of core Aboriginal Studies subjects in primary teacher education courses.
Thesis submission date
2011
Supervisors
Professor Rhonda Craven & Associate Professor Geoff Munns
Publications
Cleverley, J. & Mooney, J. (2010) Taking our place: Aboriginal education and the story of the Koori Centre at the University of Sydney. Sydney University Press: Australia.
Mooney, J. (2009) Why Teach Aboriginal Studies: Disadvantage in Indigenous Australian Education. Paper presented at the Fifth International SELF Research Conference, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, January, 2009.
Mooney, J. (2009) Enhancing preservice teachers’ self-concept: Understanding best practice in Aboriginal Studies subjects in preservice teacher training programs. Paper presented at the Fifth International SELF Research Conference, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, January, 2009.
Dr. Kutay, C., Mooney, J. (2008) Linking Learning to Community for Indigenous Computer Courses. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37 supplementary, 90-95.
Mooney, J. (2008) A Journey of Discovery: the Establishment of Aboriginal Education and Studies in Australia’s first University. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education’s (AARE) Annual International Education Research Conference, Brisbane Australia, November 2008.
Mooney, J. (2007) A Pedagogical Imperative: Teaching Teachers to Teach Aboriginal Studies. Paper presented at the Making the Connections: 12th National Aboriginal Studies Association Conference, University of Western Sydney, November 2006.
Mooney, J. (2006) Reconciliation: Why we need to teach teacher’s to teach Aboriginal Studies to all Australian students. Paper presented at the Fourth International SELF Research Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, July 2006.
Mooney, J. (2006) Teaching Aboriginal Studies: Improving Professional Practice in NSW Schools. Paper presented at the Fourth International SELF Research Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, July 2006.
