Editorial
| Author | Lyn Alderman,Bronwyn Rossingh,Carol Quadrelli,Liz Gould |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X1601600301 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
2Evaluation Journal of Australasia Vol 16 | No 3 | 2016
Editorial
Lyn Alderman | Liz Gould | Carol Quadrelli | Bronwyn Rossingh | Editors
It is important for evaluators to undertake this training as
the history of Australia is told through a white lens; cultural
safety acknowledges this white lens and the impacts this has
for Aboriginal Australians. A ‘lens’ is about how a person
or a group views the world from their perspective. Their
perspective diers, based on their experience, culture and
education. In Australia, the dominant lens is a white lens.
The benefits of the training from Beyond is that it supports
non-Aboriginal board members to view the world from an
Aboriginal or non-dominant lens.
Cultural safety is about looking at an environment that is
spiritually, socially and emotionally safe. As well as being
physically safe for people where there are no challenges or
denial of identity or who we are and what we need. So it is
about developing a shared knowledge, a shared meaning and
shared respect.
The training for the AES Board members undertaken
in August 2016 is to support the members in gaining an
understanding of the historical and ongoing eects of
colonisation and dispossession, and the impact of these
experiences for Aboriginal Australians in their everyday life,
including work life.
The training provided by Beyond (2016) included a focus on:
n A personal and professional journey of self-awareness for
non-Aboriginal people and how their values and attitudes
impact on the experiences of Aboriginal people with
whom they work as colleagues and clients.
n Making ‘real’ and meaningful the issues associated
with all dimensions of racism, particularly institutional
racism.
n How non-Aboriginal people can address racism
personally and professionally at an individual, team
and organisation level so that workplace experiences,
service experience and health and wellbeing outcomes for
Aboriginal people improve.
n How organisations can be more eective in closing
the gap in health and wellbeing outcomes between
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
My name is Sharon Clarke, my country is Wergaia on my
mother’s side and Gundjitimara on my father’s side. In my
capacity as an ordinary Board member of the Australasian
Evaluation Society (AES) in 2016 I advocated for cultural
safety training as a way to move forward.
The cultural safety training was facilitated by Kathleen
Stacey and Sharon Gollon from Beyond, Kathleen Stacey
and Associates. This two-day training program oered the
Board members an opportunity to ensure that as a Board,
and as individuals, each member was aware of the need for
cultural safety in evaluation. Cultural safety is a concept that
emerged in the late 1980s from New Zealand as a framework
for the delivery of more appropriate health services for Maori
people. It has been recognised that the concept is broadly
applicable not only in heath, but education, social welfare
and other settings.
Williams (1999) defines cultural safety as an environment
that is spiritually, socially and emotionally safe, as well as
physically safe for people, where there is no assault challenge
or denial of their identity, of who they are and what they
need. It is about shared respect, shared meaning, shared
knowledge, and experience of learning together.
Cultural safety extends beyond cultural awareness and
cultural sensitivity, instead it empowers individuals and
enables them to contribute to the achievement of positive
outcomes. Cultural respect sits within a framework of
cultural safety and is about dealing respectfully with and
for Aboriginal Australians and is important to implement
in professional practice because of the poor outcomes for
Aboriginal people since colonisation. It encompasses a
reflection on individual cultural identity and recognition of
the impact of personal culture on professional practice.
The Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council’s
standing committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
health working party 2004-2009 recognises cultural respect
as the recognition, protection and continued advancement of
the inherent rights, cultures and traditions of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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