| Volume 26 Number 5 | January 31, 2025 |
Yarning on Solid Ground: Connecting Aboriginal High School Students to Culture Through Yarning and Arts-based Learning
Thomas Fienberg
University of Sydney, Australia
Debbie Higgison
Solid Ground Program, Australia
Neville Williams-Boney
NAISDA Dance College & University of Sydney, Australia
Citation: Fienberg, T., Higgison, D., & Williams-Boney, N. (2025). Yarning on Solid Ground: Connecting Aboriginal high school students to culture through yarning and arts-based learning. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 26(5). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea26n5
Abstract
This article explores the role yarning has in supporting Aboriginal high school students to connect to culture through creative projects in partnership with First Nations artists, knowledge holders and Elders in the local community. Following an exploration of literature on yarning as method and Aboriginal pedagogies in Australian schools, Neville Williams-Boney and Debbie Higgison reflect on what yarning means to them and the role yarning played in their own education. The article then shifts to discussing how yarning was integrated as a pedagogical tool within weekly sessions of the Solid Ground program. Here Aboriginal students engaged in a process of negotiation and collaboration with industry mentors as they developed and shared several creative outputs with the local community. We conclude by evaluating the benefits of devoting space for Aboriginal pedagogies in school contexts and the broader possibilities of yarning to collect, analyse and disseminate data in music education research.
