This paper addresses questions of social justice and Indigenous rights in schooling through a case study of a school in an Indigenous community in Queensland, Australia. The provision of quality education to Indigenous minorities the world over is a continuing problem, with common patterns of low achievement, participation and graduation, and Australia’s Indigenous peoples face especially serious problems in this respect (Long, North and Burke, 2009). Explanations of these patterns variously point to cultural domination and exclusion, low socioeconomic backgrounds, geographical isolation, inadequate resourcing of education and other support systems, and other possible influences.

Debates on this issue in Australia have become controversial following criticisms by Indigenous leaders that teachers in remote Indigenous community schools are failing in their duty, calling them lazy and/or incompetent. The issue has been magnified by an increasingly popular view that explanations of low achievement which resort to cultural or socioeconomic factors are neglecting the professional failure of teachers to meet the needs of Indigenous children. This view has been strengthened by recent research which has promoted the efficacy of good teaching over cultural or socioeconomic disadvantage. Similar debates have also occurred in very similar ways in New Zealand (Gutschlag, 2007).

This raises a series of important questions bearing on policy and practice with respect to education in Indigenous schools. A key question is how to balance the professional obligations of teachers to take responsibility for their students’ learning, notwithstanding the effects of disadvantage, without overlooking the powerful effects of cultural domination, socioeconomic disadvantage, geographical isolation and inadequate resourcing. In other words, how can teachers avoid what George W. Bush called the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’, while being realistic (Thrupp, 1999) about the obstacles to educational success which arise from the objective circumstances of Indigenous people. Related to this are questions about teachers’ views of accountability and deficit theorising with respect to Indigenous educational outcomes, and the relationships between teachers and the communities in which they work.

The study being reported here addressed these questions in a case study of an Indigenous school in the State of Queensland, Australia. The larger project of which the case study was a part was commissioned by the Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts. The focus of the study was on the work of teachers and their curriculum, assessment and pedagogical practices. The study gathered observation, survey and interview data from a range of state schools across Queensland. This case study analysed the views and relationships among teachers, administrators, parents and children through a series of interviews, supported by classroom and school observations. Interviews covered questions about concepts of good pedagogy, assessment, equity and accountability; the school environment, systemic support and leadership; parent involvement in the school; the overall quality of education in the community and related issues and challenges; and relationships among teachers, parents and students.

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