Decolonizing Schooling: Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers as Cultural Leaders in Australian Education

The Education Department of Western Australia advocates for culturally responsive schools. Aboriginal Indigenous Education Officers (AIEOs) are employed by schools to facilitate and enable the potential for Aboriginal school children to thrive in school settings. This article describes the values that AIEOs, parents, and teachers emphasized as being important in responding to Aboriginal students, through yarning circles organized in the first year of the Moombaki Study with three urban-based primary schools in Perth, Western Australia. The study aims to honor and reconnectgrassrootss Aboriginal knowledges to primary school education. AIEOs, parents, and teachers who participated in this study detailed essential attributes needed to ensure a respectful and safe space for Aboriginal primary school students. These values are established from the perspective of the local Noongar culture, the lived experiences of AIEOs, shaping a worldview, including trust, respect, sharing, and compassion. The research demonstrates how these values are embodied by AIEOs and serve as the foundation for approaches that prioritize and support the well-being of Aboriginal children, moving away from the deficit assumptions of Western educational approaches.