'I have to jump like a kangaroo … I have to slither like a snake'. A qualitative evaluation of elder-led art workshops in the child protection sector
Date
2025
Authors
Hamilton, S.
Maslen, S.
Jones, L.
Penny, M.
Pell, C.
Michie, C.
Mutch, R.
O'Donnell, M.
Shepherd, C.
Farrant, B.
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Studies in the Education of Adults, online, 2025; online:1-21
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Abstract
Indigenous peoples globally have incurred significant harm resulting from colonisation and the forced removal of children from their families, culture, communities and Country. Over the last two decades in Australia, there have been calls for significant reform and there has been a raft of policy changes in child protection services. However the problems are intractable, and the numbers of Indigenous children being removed from their families continues to rise. While cultural training is seen as a quintessential component of service reform, the quality of training has been variable and rarely evaluated. This study evaluates an innovative, Elder-led approach to cultural training of non-Indigenous out-of-home care workers, using art workshops as a medium for assessing training effectiveness. Participants created post-training artworks and told the stories of their artworks, describing the lessons learned from a series of five cultural training activities. Participants articulated a hopeful reimagining for a different future of child protection practice, and their art underscored the importance of facilitating and maintaining Aboriginal children's connection to kin, family, community and Country. The findings suggest that Elder-led arts-based approaches can support critical thinking and reflective practice, which are essential for decolonising adult and Indigenous education when advocating for change.
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Copyright 2025 The Authors. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Access Condition Notes: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.