Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education

Marnee Shay is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School in the School of Education at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is an Aboriginal woman whose maternal family is from the Ngen’giwumirri language group. She researches in the fields of Indigenous education, policy studies, flexi schooling, and youth studies. She advocates for strengths-based approaches and the development of Indigenous-informed evidence in advancing Indigenous education.Grace Sarra is a Professor at the School of Education in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. She is of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage from the Bindal and Birriah clan groups of the Birrigubba nation and Torres Strait Islander heritage of Mauar, Stephen, and Murray Islands. Her research work utilises Indigenous knowledges and frameworks with theoretical frameworks to contest prevailing assumptions and stereotypes that contribute to the lack of success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in schools.

“Bold, urgent, and deeply affirming—Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education is a must-read for anyone committed to equity and justice in education. Dr Shay and Sarra in this powerful book conclude that deficit narratives have plagued Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. With clarity and precision, the authors reframe teaching toward agency, resilience, and self-determination. It doesn’t just review the system—it reimagines what education can become. A transformative and timely contribution that belongs in the hands of every educator, researcher, and policymaker today”!Lester-Irabinna Rigney AM, Professor of Education, University of South Australia and Adelaide University"A strengths based approach in Indigenous education is more than just a good way to pursue improved outcomes and the pursuit of excellence for our children; it is the only way!Educators with an authentic interest in making good progress with First Nations children in schools and classroom must understand the profound importance of the essence of a strengths based approach. We can only achieve positive progress with Indigenous children if we know what a strengths based approach means and how it is can be applied. Understanding and applying a strengths based approach to Indigenous students, and indeed all students, enables us as educators to experience the true joy and magic of being a teacher.Shay and Sarra well and truly deliver on their promise to provide educators, researchers and policymakers with a rigorous and theoretically informed alternatives in our pursuit to improve as educators of Indigenous children."Chris Sarra, PhD, Founding Chairman, Stronger Smarter Institute, Australia"Shay and Sarra’s book is long overdue. It provides all educators – teachers, principals, system leaders and policy-makers – with an invaluable and thought-provoking approach for Indigenous education. The book is premised on the crucial importance that a strengths-based approach in Indigenous education can make. Too often our schools and systems have focussed on what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children lack – a deficit discourse that reinforces stereotypes and compounds the historical injustices experienced by Indigenous children in the Australian education system.This thoughtful and insightful book balances a rigorous exploration of what a strengths-based approach is (and what it is not). It combines this with new and alternative ways to approach old problems, grounded in Indigenous-centric understandings of pedagogical knowledge. This book does not preach. It does not offer simplistic formulas. But it is a shining light - for it offers hope in a style that is accessible, engaging and thought-provoking. It is a must-read for all educators and researchers.Jane Wilkinson, Professor of Educational Leadership, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia

• 1. Introduction to Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education2. Theories and Strengths-based Approaches3. Theoretical Underpinnings for a Stronger Smarter Philosophy of Learning4. Applying SBA in Research and Practice5. Case Studies of Strengths-based Approaches in Research6. Strengths-based Codesign7. Learning from Local Wisdom and Expertise in Applying Strengths-Based Approaches8. Fostering Cultural Identity Through Education: Indigenous Strength Perspectives from Singapore and New Zealand9. Thriving Through Strengths – A New Generation of Indigenous Education Researchers10. A Theoretical Lens for Strengths-based Knowledge Production in Indigenous Education