The role of theory in indigenous health online learning pedagogy

ABSTRACT

In a world of rising social and structural inequity, there is an increasing expectation that higher education responds to it. Recent world events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, global warming, and the Black Lives Matter movement, simultaneously celebrate peoples' strength and tenacity and draw attention to deepening inequities. This exists alongside a declining trust and faith in education informed solely by western and colonial paradigms. Indigenous peoples globally experience great inequities predominantly driven by ongoing colonialisation and racism. This extends into education where a dominant colonial paradigm exists, continually reinforcing active and complicit roles in legitimising and reproducing multiple forms of structural inequity. However, the tide is turning. There is a retrospective and contemporary interrogation of the memorialisation of oppression leaders, their paradigms, and the continuing harms these evoke. Statues have fallen, truth is being told and educators are turning to more equitable and sustainable educational theories to inform pedagogy. Engaging praxis and applying theory to inform teaching will prevent 'peddling the same old stuff' and thus provide better equity. In this chapter, we discuss these theories and their role in praxis and pedagogy for Indigenous health and cultural safety online learning, with a focus on the Australian context and including global relevance. © 2022 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.