When we talk about Aboriginalizing education, we have to find ways of describing or analyzing what happens in education, which will help us to understand what needs to be done. For me, one of the most useful ways of thinking about education is to make a clear distinction between what is taught (the content, or message of education), and how it is taught (the methods, or processes or the medium of education). In traditional white education, both the content and the process of education reflect the white ways of looking at the world. In traditional Aboriginal education, the process and content of education are both Aboriginal.

It is axiomatic that the development of any material such as this for inservice and induction of teachers draws on the work, ideas, and philosophies of many people over a considerable period of time. If it has any success in achieving desirable results it must be appreciated that the recent developers “stand on the shoulders of those who went before.” Paul Mort (1964, p.324) reinforces this by stating

Ear disease and hearing problems are alarmingly widespread in Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. School hearing screening results indicate that between 25% and 50% of Aboriginal children may suffer from middle ear disease and associated hearing loss. This means that up to half the children in any classroom cannot hear their teacher properly.

There is a growing body of literature of teachers’ accounts of their attempts to implement improvement and change in classrooms and schools. This literature is evidence that Australian teachers are thinking more reflectively and critically about their work than ever before.

This paper will attempt to define action research, and explore its characteristics and the epistemological and theoretical framework that has grown out of it.