Now Aussie Mathematics Teaching Goes Woke Indigenous! By James Reed

The Daily Mail article, entitled "Aussie maths teachers will be expected to incorporate Indigenous dance and storytelling into lessons under radical new plan - but not everyone is happy about it,"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14404327/indigenous-maths-teachers.html

published on February 16, 2025, and written by Max Aldred, explores a controversial update to Australia's national school curriculum. The piece outlines several key issues surrounding the mandate for mathematics teachers to integrate Indigenous cultural elements into their lessons, reflecting a mix of educational policy, cultural sensitivity, and practical concerns, and I will add, Leftist woke as well.

The core issue is the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority's (ACARA) revision to the mathematics curriculum, which includes 37 specific instructions for teachers to weave Indigenous practices—such as dance, storytelling, reconciliation plans, and traditional weaving—into lessons on topics like addition, subtraction, algebra, statistics, and trigonometry! For instance, Year 7 algebra lessons are suggested to link mathematical skills to Indigenous culture, while Year 1 students might explore number sequences through cultural narratives. This push aims to acknowledge Australia's Indigenous heritage, but it's met with unease by some who see it as a forced fusion of unrelated disciplines. Sympathy lies with teachers tasked with this novel approach, who must now bridge abstract numbers with cultural stories, potentially at the expense of core mathematical focus. It smacks of woke brainwashing.

A significant point of contention is whether this integration enhances or detracts from learning mathematics. Critics like Bella d'Abrera from the Institute of Public Affairs argue that it's "indoctrination" driven by ideology, not education, diluting the focus on essential skills like times tables or equations. The article cites an example where teachers are told to use Indigenous reconciliation plans to teach statistics, prompting questions about how such methods translate to practical numeracy. This resonates with parents and educators worried that students—already lagging in global math rankings—might lose ground, a concern amplified by Australia's declining performance in international assessments. The tension here is sympathetic to those who fear cultural goals might overshadow academic rigor.

The article highlights practical challenges for teachers, many of whom lack training in Indigenous culture or the expertise to blend it with mathematics. One commenter called it "a nightmare for teachers who signed up to teach maths, not cultural studies," a sentiment reflecting the added burden on an already stretched profession. Imagine a teacher, skilled in calculus, now scrambling to research Dreamtime stories for a geometry lesson—there's a real sense of overwhelm. This issue evokes sympathy for educators caught between policy demands and their classroom realities, raising questions about support and resources for such a shift.

Another issue is the risk of trivialising Indigenous culture, let alone mathematics. The curriculum's intent, as ACARA's CEO David de Carvalho explains, is to ensure "students have the opportunity to learn from the oldest continuing culture in the world." Yet, critics quoted in the article fear it could become "patronising" or "tokenistic"—reducing traditions to mere teaching aids for equations. For Indigenous communities, this might feel like their heritage is being co-opted rather than honoured, a delicate balance that the policy struggles to strike. The article doesn't quote Indigenous voices directly, but the implied concern sympathises with those who might see this as superficial rather than substantive recognition.

The policy has ignited a broader cultural debate, with the article noting polarised reactions. Some Australians, per reader comments, see it as "woke ideology" infiltrating schools, while others view it as a long-overdue nod to Indigenous history. Education Minister Jason Clare defends the move, arguing maths isn't just computation but understanding patterns in the world, including cultural ones. However, the backlash—echoed by d'Abrera's call to prioritise basics—suggests a divide between progressive ideals and traditional expectations. This reflects a sympathetic frustration among parents and taxpayers who feel educational priorities are being hijacked by woke political agendas, especially post the 2023 Voice referendum's rejection.

The article briefly nods to similar efforts elsewhere, like New Zealand's integration of Māori culture into subjects, framing Australia's move as part of a global trend. Yet, it questions whether such models work in a country with a different historical and demographic makeup. This issue taps into a broader anxiety about national identity and education's role in it—should schools mirror cultural reconciliation or stick to universal skills? Clearly if you want to dumb down the culture and let China rule the world, woke education is the way to go.

The issues in this article revolve around a highly contentious curriculum shift, pitting cultural inclusion against educational pragmatism. Teachers face an uphill battle to implement it, students risk losing focus on core skills, and Indigenous culture teeters between celebration and caricature—all while the public debates its value. Once more, like the Voice, it is another woke strategy dropped upon Australians by the New Class globalist elites, who tireless work towards the destruction of the West.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14404327/indigenous-maths-teachers.html

"Maths teachers will be expected to incorporate Indigenous dance and storytelling into school lessons under the revised national school curriculum.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority began developing the current version of the national curriculum in 2022.

An analysis of the new curriculum by the federal opposition has found that, of the 2,451 lesson suggestions, three-quarters relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture. More

The mathematics curriculum includes 37 instructions for teachers to use Indigenous dances, storytelling, reconciliation plans and traditional weaving to teach skills such as addition, subtraction, algebra, statistics and trigonometry.

Kindergarten and prep-school teachers can use 'body-tallying that involves body parts and one-to-one correspondence from counting systems of First Nations people' to help their students count to 20.

The elaboration for Year three teachers instructs them to prepare a lesson that explores First Nations Australians' stories and dances.

Three-quarters of the lesson suggestions, which are known as 'elaborations', in the current national curriculum relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture.

The stories and dances will show the 'connection between addition and subtraction, representing this as a number sentence and discussing how this conveys important information about balance in process of Country/Place'.

This elaboration is set to help seven-year-old students understand and learn addition and subtraction.

Year five teachers are instructed to use Acknowledgment of Country to help their 10-year-old students learn about binary computer coding.

'Making collaboratively a long thread with beads representing binary for the letters that spell the Country/Place name in the local First Nations language and English, and could be displayed as a 'binary banner' as an Acknowledgement of Country that we are on the Traditional Lands of the (insert name) peoples,' the elaboration reads.

Teachers are also given the option to use data relating to Australia's reconciliation process with First Nations people to teach the collection, validation and reporting of data.

When introducing Year seven students to algebra, teachers are advised to link the core mathematical skills to Indigenous culture.

The elaboration reads: "recognising and applying the concept of variable as something that can change in value, investigating the relationships between variables, and the application to processes on Country/Place including how cultural expressions of First Nations Australians, such as storytelling, communicate mathematical relationships that can be represented as mathematical expressions."

Teachers are encouraged to study 'traditional weaving designs' when explaining the mathematical formulas in calculating the area and circumference of a circle.

Kindergarten and prep-school teachers can use 'body-tallying that involves body parts and one-to-one correspondence from counting systems of First Nations people' to help their students count to 20.

Meanwhile, when year 10 students are being taught Pythagoras' theorem in geometry, teachers can 'explore navigation design of technologies or surveying by First Nations Australians'.

Australian Government Primary Principals Association president Pat Murphy said the new curriculum was 'better' than the previous, but that the 'cross-curriculum priorities' had 'overcomplicated' maths and made it almost 'impossible to teach'.

'The curriculum is a mile wide and an inch deep,' Mr Murphy told The Australian.

'There is so much to cover across so many subjects, you don't get any depth around the really important elements of literacy and numeracy.

'A primary teacher is generally teaching six to eight subjects, so it becomes impossible for them to be across every one of those subject areas in such depth.'

Mr Murphy called for the curriculum to be revised for primary school students to focus on the basics of numeracy and literacy.

'It really challenges every child – let alone a student who might be struggling. We've tried to jam too much into each subject area,' Mr Murphy said.

He added the complexity of the national curriculum meant it was open to individual interpretation, allowing for a 'choose your own adventure' style of teaching.

The opposition had endorsed the current curriculum when it was last in government in 2022.

Federal Opposition Education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson slammed the current curriculum, labelling it as 'unwieldy and ideological'.

Senator Henderson claimed the Coalition government, if elected, would 'get back to basics' by focusing on evidence-based teaching' with a priority on reading, writing, maths and science.

She added learning about Indigenous history and culture was vital for a child's education but claimed prioritising was motivated by ideology.

'The classroom is for education not indoctrination, and I am concerned the cross-curriculum priorities are motivated more by ideological causes than what is in the best interests of children,' Ms Henderson said.

It is unclear whether the Coalition would order the states and territories for a review of the current curriculum.

The curriculum, which can be read in full on the The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority's website, is not due for a revision until 2027."