Elly Mackay
28 November 2024: The University of Canberra hosted the second Indigenous Higher Education Curriculum Conference (IHECC) this week, with representatives from universities across Australia and internationally descending on Ngunnawal Country for the event.
The three-day conference was held on-campus, with various workshops and events also held around parts of the ACT aiming to showcase the region and provide cultural education to attendees.
Conference convenor and University of Canberra Education Designer Marina Martiniello said IHECC is an opportunity to promote the ethical embedding of Indigenous perspectives across the higher education curriculum.
“It allows us to share the practice of Indigenous curriculum design, and learn from each other in that space, both nationally and internationally,” Ms Martiniello said.
“In the two years since the last conference, membership has grown. The further we can build on those connections and recognise that this is not an individual thing that each university is doing, but a collaborative journey where we can share what we are doing and how we are doing it, is vital to promote that kind of sharing.”
IHECC 2024 was opened with a keynote address from Dr Cally Jetta, who shared the findings of her PhD The Complexities of Aboriginal Self-Determination in the School Sector – and highlighted the importance of authentically and naturally integrating First Nations ways of knowing into the curriculum.
“There isn’t a prescriptive formula – it really is a process of self,” Dr Jetta said.
“First and foremost, you have to be aware. I feel like at the moment we’re trying to skip some important steps, and trying to run before we can walk. Educators feel a lot of pressure to tick boxes – and so if they’re lacking support and confidence, they’ll do tokenistic things that aren’t really authentic.
“Whereas if you actually come to know this space yourself, to think this way and practise this way, then it just becomes embedded naturally.”
An international panel discussion featuring speakers from New Zealand and Canada touched on international perspectives around Indigenous curricula in higher education.
Other events throughout the conference included an On Country experience at Mulligans Flat, an Indigenous student panel discussion, and a dinner where Professor Annette Gainsford of University of Technology Sydney (UTS) was keynote speaker. Various workshops and networking events were also hosted across the week.
The conference was first held in 2022 at UTS, and is now supported by an Indigenous Curriculum Community of Practice.
Dr Annette Gainsford conceptualised and ran the inaugural IHECC conference in 2022.
“Indigenous curriculum in universities is a large component of our curriculum, and I just felt that there needed to be a space for people to come together and talk, learn, share and collaborate,” she said.
“There are a lot of people who are isolated in their own universities doing this work, so I thought if we could come together as a collective, we would have a more powerful force to assist.”
The 2024 conference saw over 130 delegates from 35 tertiary institutions in attendance, up from 24 institutions in 2022.
“I attended the first iteration of this conference and I just loved it, it was fantastic,” Ms Martiniello said.
“I approached the Office of Indigenous Leadership here at UC and proposed hosting in 2024, and it snowballed from there. I worked with Professor Naomi Dale and Professor Allison Gerard, who were instrumental in getting it off the ground and ensuring that this was an Indigenous-led space.”
Professor Dale and Professor Gerard are among several University staff who not only attended the conference, but presented and chaired sessions throughout the program.
It is hoped that the conference will continue in coming years, and Dr Gainsford anticipates it will be hosted by different universities from across Australia.
“Following the first conference at UTS, the idea was that every two years it would go to a different university on a different Country, so that people who came to the conference could experience different things, traditional owners and traditional cultural practices,” Dr Gainsford said.
“It’s very lovely to be here at the University of Canberra and be on Country. We had beautiful Ngunnawal Elders come and welcome us, which was very special for myself and everyone at the conference, to have that connection to Country and connection to land.
“It brings us back to our philosophy and our spiritual place of why we do this.”
