Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education
Research and Practice
Marnee Shay editor Grace Sarra editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:26th Sep '25
£26.99
This title is due to be published on 26th September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This book brings together Indigenous thinkers and scholars with Western theories and practice frameworks to propose a theory for a strengths approach to knowledge production in Indigenous education.
The text traverses disciplines and fields that have advanced strengths-based approaches in providing practitioners, researchers and policy makers a way of reframing problems to start from a place of strength and capital. Strengths approaches have gained traction in various contexts in Indigenous education; however, this book is the first of its kind to explore the field more broadly and consider its potential for a way forward in Indigenous education. Using existing scholarship to consider how Indigenous education has been positioned in the past and present, it puts forward compelling reasons why new approaches grounded in strengths-based approaches are necessary for reimagining the possibilities for Indigenous education.
Offering a theoretically robust framework, this is an essential resource for educators, researchers, and policy makers interested in transformative action in Indigenous education.
“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
ISBN: 9781032445618
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 453g
182 pages