Reinvigorating Country as Teacher In Outdoor and Environmental Education
Details:
11:30 am – 12:20 pm
5th of December
Room: 1N-206-207
David Spillman
Monty Nixon
‘All we are is a story, and a good story is one of connection and obligation’ – Damu Paul Gordon
Our story is all we bring with us from our past to this moment. If we don’t know our story, we are lost in the present moment: bereft of working out where we are heading. In this workshop, participants will be invited to begin sharing their stories and reflect on how knowing our stories helps us connect with Country and Earth-kin. We will also share our story, learnt from Karulkiyalu Country, a story little bit different but same across Australia, of relational reciprocity and Oneness. In this story Country was always the central knowledge holder. Subsequently, Australia’s first Outdoor Education was primarily people directly experiencing, and learning from Country. Our workshop introduces Country as Teacher, (following Senior Custodian for Karulkiyalu Country Damu Paul Gordon’s re-interpretation of this old way of teaching and learning) as a pedagogy for Country-and-student led-inquiry, a teaching and learning approach that maintained socio-ecological well-being for millennia. Our Old People tell us that the birthright of all children is to connect with and learn from Country, coming to know, love, and understand how to care for her through relational reciprocity. This workshop considers the opportunities of honouring this old way education system and thereby helping us all live our birthright, a good story of connection and obligation.
About the Presenters
We are two cultural men, Grandfather (David Spillman) and Grandson (Monty Nixon), of Karulkiyalu Country south of Brewarrina, NSW.
We are also Supervisor and PhD student, researchers and educators at the University of Canberra. I, David Spillman, am also a career educator, having worked in teaching leadership positions in remote, rural, regional and urban NT and QLD and am now an Assistant Professor at UC.
