First Nations health courses: Assumptions of the tertiary education sector

First Nations health courses: Assumptions of the tertiary education sector

Cultural safety and First Nations health are important components of health-related university programs. Many programs have accreditation requirements which mandate standalone courses on these topics. Having an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person teaching this type of course seems to make sense; however, many factors are not being considered when this decision is being made. Australian tertiary institutions are underpinned by Eurocentrism, that is, Western forms of knowledge, power and practice frameworks dominate. In deciding that a First Nations academic should teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health courses, consideration is not always given to: · The individual’s area of expertise · The impact on their well-being of teaching about the shocking treatment of your own people · The individual’s own knowledge of colonisation · The impact colonisation has had on the individual’s family and community – intergenerational trauma Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not one homogenous group and so have varied experiences and understanding of colonisation. Not all First Nations health professionals have worked significantly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These and many other issues were explored by the presenters and their co-author, Ms Lee Lingwoodock, a Gubbi Gubbi and Mandandanji woman in a manuscript being published in AlterNative.

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