Indigenous Cultural Competency for Legal Academics Program: Final Report, 2019

Abstract

The Indigenous Cultural Competency for Legal Academics Program (ICCLAP) was designed as a response to the Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Behrendt review; Department of Education and Training 2012), which recommends (Recommendation 32) that universities develop Indigenous cultural competency (ICC) in staff and students, as one measure to promote Indigenous student success. Universities Australia’s (2011a) Guiding principles for developing indigenous cultural competency in Australian universities recommends (Recommendations 1, 2 and 4) that Indigenous knowledges and perspectives be embedded in all university curricula and that ICC be included as a graduate attribute, with the need for staff training to achieve this goal. The project’s aim was to promote the inclusion of ICC in legal education with a view to improving Indigenous student outcomes, and to build ICC in all students. An important step towards this aim was to build the capacity of legal academics to engage with Indigenous knowledges and ICC in their work. The project was led by the University of New England, together with partner institutions The Australian National University, Queensland University of Technology, RMIT University and the University of Technology, Sydney. The project’s final report was completed in April 2018.