For this newsletter edition we are spotlighting the unique work being done by Associate Professor Marnee Shay (School of Education).
In 2024, Marnee is the Principal Research Fellow (ARC) on the project: ‘Co-designing Indigenous education policy in Queensland’.
Associate Professor Shay has published in many journals, books and scholarly media outputs. She is the lead editor of a critical text in the field of Indigenous education, "Indigenous education in Australia Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures", published by Routledge in 2021 (with Professor Oliver).
The book won a national award for 'The Tertiary/VET Teaching and Learning Resource (wholly Australian)' category at the Education Publishing Awards Australia.
Yarning scholarship is becoming more prominent in Australia, with an increasing number of Indigenous scholars advocating for its use in research.
In her 2021 paper on the topic, Associate Professor Shay aims to contribute to this discussion by introducing a methodology called Collaborative Yarning Methodology (CYM). CYM builds on existing yarning scholarship by critically addressing data collection and analysis. She developed this methodology during her doctoral research in alternative school settings.
In this paper she discusses the implications of using Indigenous methodologies in formal education settings and the challenges that may arise, particularly for Indigenous researchers. By analysing current discourses in Indigenous-focused research within educational institutions, she highlights how Indigenous researchers are positioned politically, racially, and socially.
Associate Professor Shay suggests that there is an over-reliance on positivist methods, such as audio recording, for collecting yarning data. As an alternative, she proposes a collaborative approach to data collection that is guided by the principle of self-determination.