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Abstract

This paper presents a framework implementing the Psychology Board of Australia’s Competency 8 through an Indigenous Rights-Based Approach (IRBA), recognising that effective cultural competency requires Indigenous expert leadership rather than models developed without Indigenous guidance. Centring Indigenous Sovereignty, self-determination, and reciprocal partnerships with Indigenous experts, the framework emphasises sustained relationships rather than episodic training. The three-tiered structure—Active Engagement, Adapting Practice, and Synthesis and Integration—guides practitioners from foundational understanding to systemic leadership, addressing colonial legacies within educational systems. It provides practical applications across all seven Competency 8 subsections, including culturally responsive care, trauma-aware practices and consultation frameworks, underpinned by pedagogically informed approaches. Critically, this paper addresses how implementation of Competency 8 risks placing another “colonial load” on Indigenous people expected to fix colonial systems without addressing the fundamental systemic flaws. The framework advocates for structured, Indigenous-expert-led supervision and reflective practice incorporating Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing, supporting professional growth of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous psychologists. By centring Indigenous rights, it provides actionable guidance for creating culturally safe environments that honour Indigenous students’ identities, aspirations, and inherent capabilities, contributing to decolonising psychological practice and fostering equity within Australian educational contexts.

Keywords

Competency 8 Indigenous rights-based psychology Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students Indigenous rights-based professional development systemic change in school psychology

Introduction

School psychology in Australia operates at the convergence of professional obligations, educational systems and Indigenous rights. Australia’s endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, United Nations, 2007) established fundamental principles for Indigenous self-determination, cultural preservation, and equitable access, creating critical foundations for understanding Indigenous rights. The Psychology Board of Australia’s (PsyBA, 2024b). Competency 8 addresses historic inequities by mandating human rights and health equity approaches when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients . Moving beyond cultural awareness towards structural change requires frameworks grounded in the Indigenous Rights-based principles.

Competency 8 requires practitioners to address colonisation’s ongoing impacts, systemic educational inequities, and rights-based practice through culturally responsive care, trauma-informed approaches, and self-determined decision-making (PsyBA, 2024b). However, colonial legacies continue shaping institutional practices, creating implementation gaps (Dudgeon, Rickwood, et al., 2014; Herbert, 2012). Existing professional development resources offer generalised principles that fail to address the fundamental repositioning required for rights-based work.

Competency 8 in Education Settings

School psychologists face challenges beyond role clarity, resource constraints, and system navigation (Castillo et al., 2014; Eklund et al., 2019; Jimerson et al., 2008.) They must navigate educational ecosystems historically functioning as instruments of cultural assimilation (Hickling-Hudson & Ahlquist, 2003; Ma Rhea, 2015a), identified as “educative trauma,” the intergenerational repercussions of harmful educational policies (P. J. Anderson et al., 2024). Contemporary practices often perpetuate deficit narratives, positioning Indigenous learners as problems to fix rather than sovereign individuals with inherent capabilities (Fforde et al., 2013; Fogarty, 2015).

These challenges create an urgent need for frameworks to guide school psychologists towards genuine rights-based practice. An Indigenous Rights-Based Approach (IRBA) provides a transformative bridging methodology that transcends surface-level cultural awareness to challenge the epistemological foundations of professional practice. However, translating Competency 8 principles into the specific context of school psychology requires sustained collaboration between Indigenous leadership and disciplinary experts to navigate the unique intersections of psychological practice and educational systems.

This gap prompted collaboration when Howe and Fox, researching barriers to school psychologists’ practice, approached Anderson and Diamond, who had developed IRBA for initial teacher education (P. J. Anderson et al., 2024). IRBA provides pathways for understanding Competency 8 as embodied rights-based principles. Anderson’s leadership guided operationalisation of rights-based competencies, shaped by analysis of Indigenous leadership across multiple disciplines (P. Anderson et al., 2025), proposing five IRBA elements: challenging deficit narratives; establishing ethical reciprocal relationships, validating Indigenous epistemologies; ensuring outcomes serve Indigenous priorities; and addressing systemic barriers.

This paper demonstrates how Indigenous leadership in dyadic collaboration with non-Indigenous disciplinary experts can advance rights based psychological service delivery. (P. Anderson et al., 2025). Without such frameworks, implementation risks increase colonial load (Weenthunga Health Network, 2023) through episodic professional development that does not allow for the necessary personal and systems-level transformation required.

Through this dialogic approach, co-constructing knowledge where Indigenous rights guide the interrogation of colonial norms within the profession established foundations translating abstract Indigenous rights principles into concrete professional practices guiding school psychologists working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, families, and communities, ensuring that self-determination can be realised through reciprocity and partnership.

Terminology Statement

This paper employs specific terminology aligned with Indigenous rights-based practice:

Indigenous/Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: Recognises two distinct groups of Australia’s First Peoples. We capitalise these terms when referring to First Peoples, their cultures, knowledge systems, and communities, and when referencing international frameworks such as UNDRIP (2007, 2022).

Sovereignty: The inherent rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples predating and surviving colonisation, encompassing self-governance, self-determination, and authority over lands, waters, and cultural practices. We recognise Sovereignty as a living principle informing all professional practice.

Colonial load: The inappropriate burden placed on Indigenous Peoples to educate non-Indigenous professionals without reciprocal institutional commitment (Weenthunga Health Network, 2023).

Competency 8: Psychology Board of Australia’s (2024b) eighth competency area, requiring psychologists to work with knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, mandating rights-based practice grounded in Indigenous self-determination.

Background

The Methodological Foundation

IRBA represents a fundamental departure from conventional cultural competency approaches, functioning as decolonising methodology and transformative professional development, challenging Western academic disciplines’ epistemological foundations (P. Anderson et al., 2025). Unlike Critical Race Theory, (Delgado & Stefancic, 2023) examining how race and racism are embedded in systems, IRBA addresses sui generis (unique, inherent) rights of Indigenous peoples predating colonisation, prioritising Indigenous-led governance, perspectives, and knowledge systems.

The Dyadic Dialogic Partnership Model: Discipline-based Positionality

Central to this methodology is a dyadic dialogic partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts, where Indigenous leadership guides processes while building authentic capacity for culturally safe practice. This collaborative model establishes protocols ensuring partnerships built on reciprocity, respect, and shared authority (P. Anderson et al., 2025). Our partnership united Anderson (Aboriginal higher education expert), Diamond (IRBA co-developer), and two non-Indigenous colleagues—psychology and behavioural science experts—developing discipline-specific applications for Competency 8. Through dialogue, the methodology identified disciplinary barriers to Indigenous rights realisation while developing specific IRBA applications, documenting how Indigenous rights principles integrate into psychological practice while maintaining Indigenous Sovereignty over cultural knowledge.

Key Transformative Insights From Sustained Indigenous Leadership

The collaboration revealed three critical transformations: First, examining professional foundations exposed how Western psychological paradigms perpetuate deficit narratives. Even strengths-based approaches maintain assumptions that students require professional intervention to develop presumed lacking capabilities. Second, fundamental repositioning emerged through understanding self-determination as recognising Indigenous students’ inherent capabilities rather than empowering them. While empowerment concepts gained favour in the 1980s (Rappaport, 1981), community psychologists questioned psychologists empowering others (Riger, 1993). Through IRBA, we shifted professional focus from fixing perceived deficits to addressing systemic barriers preventing students from exercising existing rights and capabilities. Third, Anderson guided reconceptualisation of professional development from discrete competencies to a transformative journey, revealing how psychology practitioners can respect Indigenous authority whilst mobilising professional expertise serving Indigenous self-determination. These insights demonstrate that implementing Competency 8 requires sustained Indigenous leadership and ongoing critical reflection rather than episodic training.

Methodological Implications

Ensuring Competency 8 reflects Indigenous Rights-based understanding requires practical frameworks. Conventional cross-cultural competency approaches—cultural awareness training or sensitivity workshops—fall short of fundamental epistemological shifts required for genuine rights-based practice (Fish et al., 2023; Gray et al., 2025). As traditional professional development models often perpetuate colonial power dynamics (Dudgeon & Pickett, 2000; Westerman, 2010).

IRBA methodology demonstrates meaningful engagement with Indigenous rights requires ongoing commitment to learning, relationship-building, and systemic change, rather than achieving predetermined benchmarks (P. Anderson et al., 2025; Wilson, 2008). Approaches lacking this commitment risk perpetuating colonial load. IRBA establishes clear protocols for Indigenous leadership within structured partnerships, ensuring Indigenous Sovereignty remains central while non-Indigenous practitioners assume responsibility for their learning (P. Anderson et al., 2025). This differs fundamentally from conventional training, treating Indigenous knowledge as content to learn rather than an active process facilitating fundamental shifts in professional identity and practice (P. Anderson et al., 2025; Kovach, 2021; Wilson, 2008)

Competency 8 in Context: The Framework

While Competency 8 represents significant advancement, this complex work must occur within challenging educational ecosystems. Existing resources offer generalised principles failing to address how practitioners authentically enact competencies while working within systems perpetuating dynamics they seek to transform.

The framework translates theoretical and methodological insights into actionable guidance through a three-tiered developmental structure—Active Engagement, Adapting Practice, and Synthesis & Integration—acknowledging Indigenous rights-based practice as a transformative journey rather than discrete skills. Each tier encompasses Competency 8’s seven specific areas (PsyBA, 2024b) while reframing them through an Indigenous rights-based lens

Table 1 details Competency 8 implementation. The framework addresses seven competency areas through Active Engagement (Foundational Level), Adapting Practice (Intermediate Level), and Synthesis & Integration (Advanced Level), reflecting dynamic, developmental approaches to professional learning aligned with adult education, psychological practice, and pedagogical design theories.

Table 1.

Implementation guide for enacting competency 8 through indigenous rights-based practice in school psychology.

Area 8.1	Active engagement	Adapting practice	Synthesis
Historical, Political, Social, and Cultural Context. “Works with knowledge and understanding of the historical, political, social and cultural context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, families and communities, including the ongoing impacts of colonisation and racism.” ^a	Actively learns about local Indigenous history and Indigenous education policies and their impacts. Maintains awareness of how historical policies continue to affect student engagement Recognises how deficit thinking manifests in school assessment and reporting and indirect service delivery Documents examples of “educative trauma” within current school practices Recognising the importance of rapport and relationship building with the families and community of Indigenous students, particularly in recognition of the ongoing impacts of educative trauma.	Identifies systemic barriers rooted in colonial practices—Analyses school policies for potential triggers/contributors of continued educative trauma Supports teachers in understanding how their practices might reinforce colonial perspectives Develops alternatives to deficit-based reporting and assessment practices Creates resources connecting historical educational policies to current student experiences Example: Identifying and reviewing parent and family connection practices within the school. Non-example: Review suspension policy for potential home/school expectation mismatches based on cliched or stereotyped perceptions of culture.	Leads school-wide initiatives to transform colonial educational practices Partners with Indigenous communities to reshape school psychology services Develops frameworks for decolonising school-based psychological assessment Implements systemic changes to address educative trauma All of the above processes are conducted in ways that reflect the transformation that comes from an IRBP and the reciprocity of practice between school psychologists, educators, and Indigenous communities.

Area 8.2	Active engagement	Adapting practice	Synthesis
Culturally Responsive Healthcare Considering Diversity “Demonstrates culturally responsive healthcare that considers the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, families and communities (e.g. there are different Nations, language groups, clans, culture) and that there are intersecting forms of diversity . . . ”^a	Builds respectful relationships with Indigenous families, learning about their connections to Country, community, and culture as families choose to share Recognises diverse ways Indigenous students and families engage with education, including the impacts of educative trauma Documents and integrates cultural considerations and preferences in school-based assessments including cognitive and learning. Example: Building relationships with all important individuals in the student’s life prior to determining goals, assessments, or interventions Non-example: Creating a process to identify specific Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander focused assessment tools.	Creates flexible assessment and support models for diverse Indigenous students Develops resources supporting teachers in cultural responsiveness Implements culturally appropriate behavioural support frameworks Establishes connections with families’ cultural support networks, and facilitates relationships between families and educators	Designs whole-school cultural responsiveness frameworks Transforms school psychology service delivery models Develops policies acknowledging Indigenous educational Sovereignty Creates professional learning for school staff about cultural responsiveness

Area 8.3	Active engagement	Adapting practice	Synthesis
Culturally Safe Care Principles “Applies the principles of culturally safe care to psychological practice.”^a	Engages in ongoing critical self-reflection to examine personal and professional biases, actively working to transform psychological practices that may perpetuate racism or cultural harm Implements basic cultural safety in assessment practices. Creates welcoming spaces for Indigenous students and families Uses appropriate rights-based language in school communications Seeks feedback from Indigenous families on service delivery	Collaborates with school staff to develop and implement strategies that identify and address systemic racism, cultural bias, and discriminatory practices within school policies, procedures, and everyday interactions Conducts cultural safety audits of school psychology practices and develops initiatives to improve school cultural safety Implements comprehensive family and student feedback systems Collaborates with and facilitates an environment for families and Indigenous students to enact self-determination within their educational preferences and engagement.	Designs school-wide cultural safety frameworks, prioritising the importance of self-determined decision. Leads transformation of school psychology services Develops evaluation tools for measuring school cultural safety Mentors school staff in cultural safety practices Example: Centring community, family, and student voice when establishing desired outcomes and expectations for the school. Non-examples: Consulting with community, family, and students as a final step in developing school-wide frameworks.

Area 8.4	Active engagement	Adapting practice	Synthesis
Trauma-Aware and Culturally Informed Care “Applies the principles of trauma-aware and culturally informed care.”^a	Recognises signs and ongoing impacts of educational trauma in students and families Applies trauma-informed principles to student support Maintains awareness of potential triggers in school environment, including practices, policies, and learning content. Shifting the provision of care from a position of power or authority, where either the psychologist or client is the sole “expert,” to a partnership between psychologists and clients allows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients to provide context, insight and perspective regarding their values and beliefs, without sacrificing the knowledge and expertise psychologists do possess. Example: Reflecting on the potential negative impact of using learning materials like Rabbit Proof Fence without support or awareness of potential impact. Non-example: Encouraging the use of learning materials like Rabbit Proof Fence to ensure the presence of Indigenous content in the curriculum.	Develops trauma-informed assessment protocols for school context Integrates cultural healing approaches in student support Creates professional development for understanding educational trauma, focussing on a rights-based approach to the learning, social and emotional needs of Indigenous students. Supporting education staff to recognise the ongoing impacts from deficit-based language and approaches in teaching and educative practices, particularly when approaching behavioural, and learning support needs. Implements cultural safety frameworks in psychological services.	Systemic Responsibility: Position the school psychologist’s role as addressing and mitigating the systemic barriers that have caused harm, rather than “healing” the individuals. Develops school-wide trauma-aware policies, systems, and practices, focussing on a shift from deficit based to rights-based, emphasising self-determination and inherent empowerment of Indigenous students. Leads integration of these practices.

Area 8.5	Active engagement	Adapting practice	Synthesis
Learning from Aboriginal Cultures and Knowledges “Demonstrates the ability to reflect on and learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and Aboriginal knowledges.”^a	Learns about Indigenous educational philosophies Seeks guidance from Indigenous education experts, in addition to Indigenous psychology experts Documents learnings about Indigenous ways of knowing and critically evaluates their own learning experiences in light of this awareness.	Develops resources highlighting Indigenous educational perspectives Facilitates staff learning about Indigenous education Implements protocols for respectful knowledge-sharing Works to Integrate Indigenous knowledge into school psychology practice, in consultation and partnership with local Indigenous communities and/or the students themselves.	Develops professional learning about Indigenous education Establishes partnerships with Indigenous education communities Creates frameworks for Indigenous knowledge in school psychology Leads integration of Indigenous perspectives in school practices, particularly by establishing community learning partnerships Example: Establishes frequent opportunities for school staff to reflect on cultural impact or relevance of teaching and learning, behaviour support, and wellbeing work being undertaken within the school during staff meetings. Non-example: Creates a one-off PD on cultural responsiveness for all staff at the start of the year.

Area 8.6	Active engagement	Adapting practice	Synthesis
Self-Determined Decision-Making “Understands the importance of self-determined decision-making for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, families, and communities, and works in partnership to achieve health outcomes within an Aboriginal health frame of reference.”^a	Enables and facilitates partnership with families and students, to support joint decision making. Implements informed consent processes for assessments, learning an educational practices—emphasising the importance of partnership and self-determination. Recognises family and community decision-making structures Documents Indigenous family educational preferences	Creates professional development about self-determination Develops frameworks and professional development supporting educational to facilitate student and family self-determination. Establishes protocols for family-school partnerships Creates flexible assessment and intervention processes. Implements community-led educational initiatives Example: Engages with community partners and families to establish protocols for family-school partnership in ways that reflect an understanding of self-determination yet minimises cultural load on these partners. Non-examples: Creates protocols for family-school partnership and shares with families OR Seeks to create protocols for family-school partnerships yet places the load on families or community members.	Designs policies supporting educational Sovereignty Leads transformation of school decisionmaking processes Develops evaluation frameworks centred on Indigenous perspectives

Area 8.7	Active engagement	Adapting practice	Synthesis
Consultation and Collaboration “Consults appropriately with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, families, communities and organisations to support collaboration in achieving health outcomes.”^a	Enables and facilitates partnership with families and students, to support joint decision making. Maintains regular contact with community education groups Documents consultation outcomes in school context Seeks guidance on appropriate engagement	Develops consultation frameworks for school context: Supports family and student relationships with educators. Creates educational partnership agreements between families and students Implements family feedback systems	Designs school-wide consultation policies Leads development of educational partnerships Develops evaluation frameworks for school programmes Creates mentoring programmes for school staff Example: Embeds mentoring and culturally sensitive evaluation into school team structures to ensure it is consistent across all students, as well as all programs and supports. Non-examples: Mentoring, consultation, and evaluation are undertaken once a year and focus on some students, and or one school programs and supports.

Note. This table provides an explicit guide to enacting each area of Competency 8 from an Indigenous Rights-Based approach. Italicized ‘Example’ and ‘Non-example’ entries provide concrete illustrations of appropriate and inappropriate practices for each competency area.

Each of the competency area descriptors has been defined by the Psychology Board of Australia (2024a).

The Foundational Level draws on Knowles’ (1980) andragogy principles, emphasising self-directed learning and experiential engagement through situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The Intermediate Level reflects Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory and zone of proximal development, where learners refine competencies through scaffolded challenges. Professional development literature underscores reflective supervision, case-based learning, and iterative feedback importance (Falender & Shafranske, 2017). Mezirow (1991) highlights transformative learning through critical reflection on assumptions. The Advanced Level embodies integrative pedagogy (Tynjälä, 2008), where learners synthesise theoretical, practical, and self-reflective dimensions into coherent expertise—epistemic fluency (Markauskaite & Goodyear, 2017), navigating multiple knowledge systems. The developmental structure aligns with constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang, 2011) and contemporary lifelong learning models (Clegg, 2008), recognising psychologists’ growth as non-linear, contextually mediated, and deeply relational.

Active Engagement (Foundation Level) establishes essential awareness through building respectful relationships with Indigenous families, learning local Indigenous history and educative trauma impacts, and developing basic cultural safety. Activities include documenting educative trauma examples, recognising diverse Indigenous family engagement, and implementing informed consent, emphasising partnership and self-determination.

Adapting Practice (Intermediate Level) moves beyond awareness to active practice modification. Practitioners identify systemic barriers rooted in colonial practices, develop culturally appropriate assessments, and create resources supporting teacher cultural responsiveness through cultural safety audits, family feedback systems, and trauma-informed protocols.

Synthesis and Integration (Advanced Level) involves leading systemic transformation through designing school-wide frameworks, developing cultural safety evaluation tools, and mentoring others in rights-based practice. Practitioners lead initiatives transforming colonial educational practices and establish partnerships with Indigenous communities to reshape services.

Implementation in the School Context

Genuine rights-based practice requires systemic support within school contexts. Table 2 outlines supporting structures across three dimensions: developmental progression purpose, supporting resources importance, and quality assurance measures. Supporting resources include Indigenous leadership through negotiated partnerships, professional development for all staff, rights-based assessment templates, and school-based measurement tools, providing concrete implementation tools while avoiding colonial load. Quality assurance mechanisms—regular community partnership reviews, family feedback processes, professional reflection requirements, supervision documentation, and progression planning—ensure sustained, authentic implementation aligned with Indigenous community priorities and rights-based principles

Table 2.

Framework for implementation of competency 8 in school context.

Foundation level development	Intermediate level application	Advanced level leaderships
Focus on understanding within the educational context Build knowledge of Indigenous education perspectives and the impacts of educative trauma on students and families Develop and prioritise relationships with families and community Regular supervision with cultural mentoring	Increased autonomy in school-based practice Development of educational resources and support educational staff to recognise educative trauma and rights-based practices to enable self-determination Leadership in specific school initiatives Community relationship building Mentoring of school staff	School-wide initiative development Policy and framework creation that emphasises a right-based approach. Professional development leadership Educational partnership building Mentoring of other school psychologists
Evidence of School-Based Progression	Supporting School-Based Resources	Quality Assurance in Schools
Documentation of practice in educational context Clear progression pathways in school psychology Regular review processes with Indigenous community, family, and student input Community feedback on school services Professional development planning	Cultural supervision arrangements (partnership and collaboration with local community leadership) Professional development opportunities for all staff Rights-based and strengths-informed Educational assessment templates (including behavioural and social and emotional support models). School-based measurement tools for learning, content, and equational practices.	Regular review with local community partnerships. Family feedback processes Professional reflection requirements Supervision documentation Progression planning in school context

Critical Implementation Features

Several features distinguish this framework from conventional approaches:

Progression as Journey: The three-tiered structure acknowledges developing Indigenous rights-based practice as transformative professional journey requiring ongoing learning and reflection, not discrete competency acquisition.

Systemic Focus: The framework emphasises systemic change, developing school psychologists as transformation agents.

Partnership with Indigenous Experts: Implementation requires genuine Indigenous expert partnership, with regular reviews ensuring alignment with Indigenous Peoples’ rights and priorities rather than institutional agendas.

Rights-Based Foundation: All activities grounded in Indigenous rights, moving beyond cultural sensitivity training to fundamental professional practice repositioning.

Practical Application: The framework provides concrete examples and non-examples for each competency area, clarifying what to do and avoid.

This comprehensive framework provides structured pathways for authentic Competency 8 implementation while maintaining Indigenous Sovereignty and addressing educational practice complexities, honouring Indigenous peoples through Indigenous leadership rather than non-Indigenous interpretation

Discussion

Addressing Practice Translation Gaps Through Sustained Indigenous Leadership

The framework embodies a fundamental reconceptualisation of school psychologists’ roles in supporting Indigenous rights. Through dyadic dialogic methods, we discovered current professional development misunderstands Indigenous rights-based practice by treating it as a discrete competency rather than a transformative journey reshaping professional identity and exposing colonial mindsets underlying psychology. Indigenous experts commonly face non-Indigenous practitioners immobilised by guilt and shame. Without Indigenous leadership, well intentioned practitioners risk causing further harm. The framework acknowledges these phenomena through scaffolded pedagogical approaches. Guilt-remorse experienced by non-Indigenous individuals recognising privileged status within racially stratified systems represents normative identity evolution stage confronting complicity in systemic racism (Helms, 1995). While guilt may initially motivate ethical conduct, competence, and justice require continual self-examination, collaborative learning, and adaptation. Our dyadic, dialogic work allowed Indigenous wisdom to shape navigation of shame and guilt manifestations, fostering genuine change through ongoing dialogue, reflexive supervision, and crucially, centring Indigenous rights and epistemologies—not white practitioners’ emotional comfort (Tuck & Yang, 2012)

Insights from our collaborative partnership revealed fundamental inadequacies extending beyond insufficient professional development approaches to critical gaps in translating rights-based principles into accountable, actionable practice within educational systems (P. J. Anderson et al., 2024; Dudgeon, Milroy, & Walker, 2014).

Theoretical Complexity in Professional Practice

Enacting Competency 8 requires school psychologists to fundamentally question field assumptions and theoretical foundations of practice. This requires Indigenous psychology experts to lead examination of how psychological theories, knowledge, and assessments historically privileged Western paradigms over Indigenous ways of knowing and being. This aligns with Gray et al. (2025) advocating “epistemic pluralism,” elevating Practice-Based Evidence rooted in Indigenous leadership. Indigenous knowledge becomes central to navigating transitions from “functional competencies” to transformative practice genuinely serving Indigenous rights (P. J. Anderson et al., 2024).Skills Development for Engaging in Systemic Change

Meaningful change requires school psychologists to identify structural obstacles and colonial legacies within educational frameworks while developing innovative strategies prioritising Indigenous rights. This framework acknowledges “educative trauma” enduring effects (P. J. Anderson et al., 2024) while reshaping understanding of psychological service delivery. Achieving systemic change requires recognising social and political intricacies of educational environments. School psychologists can prioritise fostering relationships with Indigenous families and communities, implementing psychoeducation and educator consultations disrupting entrenched hierarchies sidelining Indigenous voices. This work requires navigating tensions between Indigenous Rights-based practices application, colonially embedded institutional regulations, and colonial legacy educational framework functioning, whilst advocating transformative change.

Developing Reciprocal Partnership

The dyadic dialogic partnership at the heart of this research exemplifies collaborative approaches necessary for authentic rights-based practice. School psychologists must partner with Indigenous communities, recognising that intersecting lived experiences and professional expertise is crucial for advancing school-based psychological practices. This reciprocal knowledge exchange model provides templates for practitioner engagement while avoiding colonial load (Weenthunga Health Network, 2023).

Partnerships mitigate risks of non-Indigenous professionals perpetuating colonial load when seeking guidance. Colonial load increases when engagement is transactional and tokenistic rather than meaningful, critical reflection and professional development, for example, seeking Indigenous knowledge solely for NAIDOC or Reconciliation Week, or one-off workshops.

School psychologists further perpetuate colonial load when seeking guidance on trauma-informed practices without acknowledging school systems’ historical role in intergenerational trauma, or burdening Indigenous students with educating peers, staff, and psychologists about Indigenous knowledge, systems, and protocols. While student voices are invaluable, primary responsibility for developing Indigenous rights-based approaches rests with psychologists as professionals. This is addressed through ongoing Indigenous supervision, genuine community engagement, and systematic Indigenous knowledge systems integration into professional practices. School psychologists must work closely with Indigenous students, staff, families, leadership, and local communities, fostering partnerships where knowledge exchange is valued, reciprocal, and respectful

Structural Change Supporting Reflective Practice

The transformative journey documented through ongoing dialogical dyadic collaboration and critical reflection demonstrates how reflective practice functions as mechanism through which theoretical insights become embodied understanding. This reflective process must be embedded in school psychologists’ professional development for Competency 8, Indigenous expert engagement and substantial systemic with necessary financial arrangements enabling ongoing Indigenous professional development leadership. The Psychology Board of Australia must lead Indigenous expert group development, guiding Competency 8 implementation with sufficient resources, enabling effective professional accountability.

School psychologists must commit to ongoing reflective practice through structured examination of professional identity practices and impact. This included regularly evaluating assumptions, biases, and professional practices through individual reflection and collaborative supervision, with ongoing Indigenous leadership in dialogic exchange. Psychologists must seek Indigenous education and psychology expert input, engaging in structured individual and peer supervision while genuinely valuing Indigenous rights. Actively engaging in reflective practices could involve systematic methods whereby psychologists maintain practice journals and shareable case notes, forming ongoing dialogic accountability with Indigenous experts, promoting Indigenous rights-based perspectives while ensuring responsibility lies with practitioners.

Ongoing structured reflective practice enables school psychologists to acquire professional insight for informed clinical decisions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ rights. By integrating reflective practice with clinical judgement and ethical decision-making, school psychologists employ systematic approaches meeting competency 8.

Key reflective questions supporting this process include:

Professional Context and Capacity:

- What is your current role and scope of practice?

- How do personal and professional experiences influence your approach to Indigenous students?

- What resources and support systems are available, and how can they support Indigenous rights-based practice?

Practice Implementation:

- How does your practice style align with Indigenous ways of knowing and being?

- What adaptations might better support Indigenous rights?

- How can you utilise ethical decision-making frameworks, navigating tensions between institutional requirements and Indigenous rights-based practice?

These reflective questions should be analysed across different levels and practice aspects in Tables 1 and 2. By addressing these questions through clinical judgement and ethical decision-making perspectives, school psychologists deepen understanding of how to evolve practice while upholding professional standards and supporting Indigenous rights, moving beyond acquiring isolated competency skills towards establishing integrated, rights-based foundations for professional work.

Conclusion

Competency 8 implementation represents a transformative opportunity for school psychology moving towards practice centred on Indigenous rights. This requires school psychologists to develop a profound commitment to rights-based practices, moving beyond cultural awareness.

A rights-based approach through this framework represents a significant evolution beyond traditional empowerment, cultural awareness, and strengths-based practice models. While these approaches contributed to more inclusive psychological care, they remain limited by focussing on individual capacities without addressing structural and relational justice dimensions. Rights-based frameworks foreground Indigenous Sovereignty, self-determination, and collective rights (UNDRIP, 2007), shifting emphasis from cultural sensitivity to accountability and systemic transformation. This approach aligns with Dudgeon, Rickwood, et al. (2014), arguing culturally responsive practice must embed recognition of historical trauma, ongoing colonisation, and genuine partnership with Indigenous communities. This helps avoid tokenistic cultural awareness training, supporting decolonising methodologies centring Indigenous epistemologies and relational accountability (Sherwood, 2013). By integrating Indigenous-led frameworks such as Dadirri (Ungunmerr-Baumann, 2002) and the Social Emotional Well Being (SEWB) model (Gee et al., 2014), Indigenous strengths situate within broader resistance, resilience, and cultural continuity narratives rather than deficit-framed service paradigms, enabling profound practitioner reflexivity, relational ethics, and structural change commitment. Psychologists become not only cross-culturally competent but ethically engaged and politically aware. Such shifts reflect direct, practical responses to Indigenous scholars’ urgent calls for decolonised, culturally safe psychology achieving “epistemic pluralism” required to genuinely serve all communities (Gray et al., 2025).

The transformative journey outlined, progressing from Active Engagement to Adapting Practice and ultimately Synthesis and Integration, recognises Indigenous rights-based practices as an ongoing commitment to learning and systemic change. This journey requires school psychologists to critically examine their profession’s theoretical foundations, address systemic barriers, and actively create educational environments where Indigenous students thrive.

As we progress, implementing Competency 8 success will be evaluated by individual skill development and extent to which it fosters systemic transformation within educational contexts. School psychologists, working alongside educators and Indigenous communities, have distinctive opportunities to redefine how psychological services are delivered to Indigenous students. By prioritising Indigenous rights, school psychologists can create educational environments where Indigenous students’ identities, cultures, and ways of knowing are honoured, and their academic experiences are shaped by their aspirations.

The journey towards fully implementing Indigenous rights-based practices in school psychology requires courage, commitment, and willingness to engage with complexity. It calls for transformation in practice and perspective, recognising the work is not about prevention and behaviour management approaches to problems faced by Indigenous students, but addressing systems that have historically failed them.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the pioneering work of Professor Patricia Dudgeon, University of Western Australia and Dr Tracy Westerman, Jilya Institute and the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association.

ORCID iDs

Peter J. Anderson

Wren D. W. Howe

Zane M. Diamond

Russell A. Fox

Ethical Considerations

Not applicable.

Consent to Participate

Not applicable.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

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A Framework to Enact Competency 8 Through an Indigenous Rights-based Approach in School Psychology

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Competency 8 in Education Settings

Terminology Statement

Background

The Methodological Foundation

The Dyadic Dialogic Partnership Model: Discipline-based Positionality

Key Transformative Insights From Sustained Indigenous Leadership

Methodological Implications

Competency 8 in Context: The Framework

Implementation in the School Context

Critical Implementation Features

Discussion

Addressing Practice Translation Gaps Through Sustained Indigenous Leadership

Theoretical Complexity in Professional Practice

Developing Reciprocal Partnership

Structural Change Supporting Reflective Practice

Conclusion

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

ORCID iDs

Ethical Considerations

Consent to Participate

Funding

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Data Availability Statement

References