Dr Scott Alterator, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education at La Trobe and lead researcher of the study, said that while GenAI has great potential to support classroom teaching, it also runs the risk of perpetuating cultural ignorance and tokenism.
“Australian education faces a critical challenge in incorporating Indigenous perspectives and contexts into classroom instruction, and emerging technologies like GenAI add to these complexities.”
“The national curriculum mandates the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, however many teachers struggle with confidence and cultural competence in this area,” Dr Alterator explains.
“The Yoorrook Justice Commission Recommendations on education identifies the need for inclusion of First Peoples’ content and knowledges at all levels of education. This places further emphasis on the need for teachers to undertake this work.”
“While AI platforms promise efficient access to knowledge, they can also lead to misunderstanding or misrepresentation of Indigenous ways of knowing and cultural practices.”
The research, published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education Special Issue and co-authored by Dr Alexia Maddox, Dr Clare Southerton and Dr Stefan Schutt, found that GenAI tools often disconnect Indigenous knowledge from its authors and custodians.
“This separation undermines the cultural and custodial aspects of accessing and using Indigenous knowledge, which are fundamental to its integrity and proper transmission.”
“AI systems, in their current form, fail to adequately respect or represent the complex protocols and relationships that govern the sharing of Indigenous knowledge in traditional contexts.”
“Our research also revealed that these tools can inadvertently perpetuate colonial injustices in a new, technologically mediated form. This means that GenAI tools risk continuing the historical pattern of appropriating and misrepresenting Indigenous cultures and wisdom.”
Dr Alterator hopes this research will improve the way that Indigenous perspectives are integrated into Australian schools.
“It is crucial that these tools enhance, rather than undermine, the sharing of Indigenous knowledge in classrooms.”
“Our work provides a foundation for developing guidelines and practices that can help educators navigate the use of AI tools while maintaining cultural sensitivity and authenticity in their engagement with Indigenous content.”
