1Trekking Beyond: Re-imagining a Future Role of Evaluation for Making a Real Difference for Indigenous Students

All Australian governments have acknowledged that Indigenous Australians remain the most educationally disadvantaged group of Australians. This dire situation has persisted for decades. Historically in Australia evaluation was used as a tool of oppression whereby, culturally biased tests were administered to validate Eurocentric misconceptions and stereotypes about Indigenous Australia. More recently evaluation has been used as a tool to measure whether Indigenous students are attaining educational outcomes commensurate with their non-Indigenous peers. The purpose of this presentation is to present a rationale for the proposal that evaluation has the potential to make a real difference to Indigenous students ’ lives and to re-imagine the form evaluation should take to achieve such a goal. It is suggested that evaluation needs to be culturally appropriate, diverse in target content and form, permeate all education levels, and be utilised to inform teaching, student mastery of tasks, and to demonstrate that education systems are ensuring that Indigenous students are attaining educational outcomes valued by Indigenous people at a commensurate level to their non-Indigenous counterparts