The Australian National Indigenous Reform Agreement (Closing the Gap) aims to address inequalities in various aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ lives. Scholars have repeatedly critiqued its failure to tackle structural inequalities. The agreement was revised in 2020. The current study adopts Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ approach to critically analyse the recently revised National Agreement on Closing the Gap. This study shows that the main problematisation still concerns the unequal life outcomes between First Peoples and non-Indigenous Australians, but the major difference from the previous agreement is that such problematisation recognises the strong influence of structural inequalities. Findings indicate that Indigenous schooling is governed by the Agreement through discourses of structural change and the inherent comparative framework. This can condition the restructured relationship between First Peoples and the settler state, which makes it difficult to move beyond a comparative framework and a reductive understanding of self-determination. This study argues that the reconstructed relationships open opportunities to challenge settler colonialism in schooling and education policies. However, they should not be utilised to displace sovereignties and genuine self-determination.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚土著学校教育的结构变革和治理：问题是什么？

澳大利亚国家原住民改革协议（缩小差距）旨在解决原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民生活各个方面的不平等问题。学者们多次批评其未能解决结构性不平等问题。该协议于 2020 年进行了修订。当前的研究采用了 Carol Bacchi 的“问题代表是什么？” 方法批判性地分析最近修订的《缩小差距国家协议》。这项研究表明，主要问题仍然涉及原住民和非土著澳大利亚人之间不平等的生活结果，但与之前协议的主要区别在于，这种问题认识到结构性不平等的强烈影响。调查结果表明，土著学校教育通过结构变革的论述和固有的比较框架受到该协议的管辖。这可能会影响原住民与定居者国家之间的重组关系，从而很难超越比较框架和对自决的简化理解。这项研究认为，重建的关系为挑战学校教育和教育政策中的定居者殖民主义提供了机会。然而，它们不应被用来取代主权和真正的自决。