Investigating Indigenous games as Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in PETE: a systematic literature review

Abstract

This systematic literature review (SLR) investigates the enablers and constraints which impact the enactment of Traditional Indigenous Games within curriculum. SLR methodology was used to identify all potential literature within Australia and internationally, between February 2022 and April 2022. Searches were limited to peer-reviewed literature, written in English and published between 2002 and 2022. Search protocols employed to investigate relevant literature were based upon the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) model with the following databases explored: A+ Education via Informit online, AEI ATSIS, ERIC Proquest, Taylor & Francis and Sage Journals (Education). The following search terms were used: ALL FIELDS, (‘Traditional Indigenous games’ OR ‘Indigenous games’ OR Yulunga OR ‘Indigenous sport’ OR ‘Aboriginal sports’ OR ‘Torres Strait Islander sports’ AND ‘Australian curriculum’ OR ‘cross curriculum priorities’ OR ‘Indigenous pedagogy’ AND ‘Indigenous perspectives’ OR ‘Indigenous knowledge’s’ OR ‘Embedding Indigenous perspectives’ AND ‘health and physical education’ OR ‘physical education teacher education’ OR ‘health & PE’ AND ‘Cultural competency’ OR ‘cultural safety’ AND ‘Initial teacher education’ OR ‘pre-service physical education teachers’). Results suggest that culturally relevant pedagogy is a dominant enabler, whilst curriculum and teacher cultural awareness are dominant constraints which impact the enactment of Traditional Indigenous Games within curriculum.