Cultural responsiveness, Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports, and the settler colonial state

Abstract Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a whole school change framework and approach to learning and engagement that originated in the United States (US) and is now implemented around the world. Such a framework requires consideration of cultural responsiveness, particularly in settler colonial states such as the US and Australia. This article examines guidance for improving culturally responsive practice in the PBIS Cultural Responsiveness Field Guide: Resources for Trainers and Coaches (the Guide), a key resource for educators working with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. We employ critical policy analysis and Decolonising Race Theory (DRT) to analyse and discuss the possibilities and consequences of the Guide for educators who are working with Indigenous students in settings that inherit and uphold structural racisms endemic to colonisation. We identify possible intended and unintended effects of the Guide in settler colonial contexts, particularly Australia. Our critical analysis using DRT highlighted some silences and erasures within the PBIS cultural responsiveness advice. The tendency towards othering, binary thinking, and maintenance of the cultural status quo was also apparent. Through this analysis we show how DRT offers rich opportunities for unsettling settler colonial hegemonies in PBIS and in education more broadly.