A Practical Tool for Choosing Indigenous Resources with Confidence, Care, and Cultural Integrity
Not all resources about Indigenous peoples are culturally safe, accurate, or appropriate.
For educators, leaders, organisations, and community members, knowing how to identify quality Indigenous resources can be challenging. Good intentions alone do not guarantee that a resource is respectful, accurate, or free from harmful stereotypes and bias.
The Selecting Indigenous Resources: Dichotomous Key provides a simple, practical decision-making tool that guides users through a series of reflective questions to assess whether a resource is appropriate for use.
Designed to support culturally responsive practice, this resource helps users move beyond assumptions and make more informed choices that honour Indigenous voices, experiences, histories, and knowledges.
What This Resource Does
This resource helps you:
- Evaluate Indigenous resources using a structured decision-making process
- Identify resources that centre Indigenous voices and perspectives
- Avoid materials that perpetuate stereotypes, misinformation, or harm
- Strengthen cultural safety for Indigenous students, staff, and communities
- Increase confidence when selecting books, videos, teaching resources, websites, and learning materials
- Promote culturally responsive and respectful engagement
Rather than relying on guesswork, this tool provides a clear pathway for assessing resource quality and appropriateness.
