Diversity: Indigenous Communities

The Australian Curriculum currently is struggling with incorporating indigenous perspectives as a key focus in the curriculum properly. It is lacking the ability to normalise indigenous knowledge and instead represents

This subject is very broad and includes the understanding of past, present and future of the Aboriginal people and their families. In particular, it is essential to lay stress upon how the history has been affecting peoples ' lives from past to present and will also affect our future. This essay will demonstrates that how the health professionals have work together and been involved with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as well as how our communities will respond to these connections.

This indirectly implies the significant role of culture in improving educational outcomes of Aboriginal population. Which role does the acknowledgement of culture play in education of Aboriginal students? Meyer (1998, as cited in Hanlen, 2010) argues that the Aboriginal communities consider the knowledge to come through other people’s knowledge and that a person exists through interaction with other people. Education is considered to be a process which never stops and which is taking place inside the family and daily activities (Hanlen, as cited in Hanlen, 2010). Furthermore, Hanlen argues that the Aboriginal people think about goals of the community as more important than individual goals and all aspects of life are

I believe that our culture helps to shape our identity and therefore I believe that early childhood education should reflect the culture of the children attending the program, while teaching other cultures to promote diversity and inclusion. Aboriginal Head Start programs are contributing back to the communities through culturally responsive education, which reinforces Aboriginal identity. Nguyen (2011) argues that Aboriginal early childhood education needs to provide children with a “sense of who they are and where the come from, which will impact community self-government and self-determination” (p.231). Similarly, Greenwood et al. (2007) points out that early childhood education should socialize children into their heritage and ancestry through programs that reflect their community and nation. The Aboriginal Head Start programs foster the education of both Aboriginal culture and language into the program in hopes that this inspires children to learn their respective language and participate in their communities (Nguyen,

Teachers in Australia have the responsibility of catering to the learning needs and abilities of the students in their classroom. Additionally they are also responsible for catering to the unique cultural backgrounds of each student, in particular the cultures of Indigenous Australians. The teacher can cater to the diverse and complex Indigenous cultures by creating a learning environment that is based on effective student engagement for Aboriginal students. Studies have shown that Aboriginal students are currently not academically achieving as well as non-Aboriginal students (What Works: Core Issue 5). Closing the academic performance gap is considered a national priority. As a result, the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework has been developed to ensure that schools are delivering the best possible education to all students, specifically those who identify as Aboriginal. During term 3, 2017, I completed my final practicum at Baler Primary School in a year 4 classroom. The students in my class came from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, many of which identified as Aboriginal. Throughout this essay I will use examples from my final practicum at Baler Primary School in South Hedland to discuss how to make learning engaging, accessible and culturally responsive for Aboriginal students.

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada had gone through many situations to get to where they are today with their education system. Pain, sorrow, doubt, and hope are all feelings brought to mind when thinking about the history and the future of Aboriginal education. By taking a look at the past, anyone can see that the right to education for Aboriginal peoples has been fought about as early as the 1870s. This is still is a pressing issue today. Elder teachings, residential, reserve and post-secondary schools have all been concerning events of the past as well as the present. Though education has improved for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, there are still many concerns and needs of reconciliation for the past to improve the future.

The CFCSA states in part 1, section 4, that “if a child is an aboriginal child, the importance of preserving the child’s cultural identity must be considered in determining the child’s best interest” (1996). In both cases, both youth had family members within their Indigenous culture that were willing to take them but due to unrelated circumstances these requests were not taken into consideration. The overrepresentation of Indigenous children in care is demonstrated here, where child protection workers are not equipped with the training or resources to adequately identify and address risk when dealing with Indigenous children. This is one of the recommendations within the TRC where “ensuring that social workers and others who conduct child

The important relationship building teachers must conduct with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is another key issue teachers must keep in mind for working successfully with Indigenous students. Price (2012) argues that teachers hold a special place in the Indigenous community, especially with parents and caregivers. She states that by “mastering the craft” of teaching, you will be rewarded both personally and professionally over the years of your career (Price, 2012). Over the last 30 years, a number of prepositions have been put forward that will assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to become emotionally healthy, so they can live out their entitlement to becoming a dignified citizen of Australia and the world (Price, 2012).

Indigenous education is utmost challenging to incorporate throughout the holistic approach in schools. This is why educators need to incorporate Indigenous perspectives in all units of work to build a safe, positive, yet constructive learning environment for students, families and the community. By undertaking this all students can learn in different ways to build an understanding of the history, beliefs, and Australian heritage.

Improving academic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is mired in inherited and contemporary difficulties. Because of poor policies and pedagogy, generations fear and lack confidence in the education system (Harrison and Sellwood, 2013). It is, therefore, imperative that teachers have a range of resources and strategies for adapting the curriculum to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. This should include fostering pride in identity, making connections to community and land, and respecting language variation and culture. In doing so, teachers meet expectations for Australian professional teaching standards and the community.

Australia is one of the country that has grown to be the most diverse in the world. Many people come from different country, different ethnic background and different beliefs/religions. We want to enrich children’s experiences of diversity. At the same time we want our children to also experience, learn and explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander because they are the Australia original inhabitants.

There is a height of significance when it comes to embedding Indigenous perspectives in the curriculum and in schools. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, their students thrive in educational environments where staff respect and promote strong Indigenous culture and identity, build collaborative relationships and set high expectations (Kerley, 2015). Abiding by this principle would see students thriving for higher education, recognizing this has made it quite common for schools to introduce indigenous programs or units. These are put in place for the purpose of being extra support to not only Indigenous students but for everyone at school serving as a source of information and guidance. By incorporating these Units, cross-curriculum

1. What strategies can be used in schools to meet the main goal of the NSW DET Aboriginal Education and Training Policy (2008)?

The following report will focus on the health plan Koolin Balit: Victorian Government strategic directions for Aboriginal health 2012-2022 (Koolin Balit). This report will firstly provide an overview of Koolin Balit and will discuss the selected health plan Key Priority Area Two: Healthy Childhood. The at-risks groups pre-school and primary school aged Aboriginal children affected by the priority area will then be discussed. There are three Determinants of Health (DOH) that will be focused on throughout the report, these being education, food (access to and distribution) and access to care and health services (Keleher & MacDougall, 2016). Evidence will be used throughout the report to support the DOH and discuss the relevance of the DOH to Key Priority Area Two: Healthy Childhood.

The structure of this paper will follow the Cultural Competency Framework as a means for exploring the above stated speeches. This framework moves through knowledge; informed practice/informed decision; and positive/effective learning and development. At the knowledge stage the content, importance and effect of the speeches will be explored, as well as their context. To address informed practice/informed decision the paper looks more closely at the issues which are raised in the speeches and their impact on Indigenous Australians. Finally positive/effective learning and development will be acknowledged through the exploration of the education implications that these issues can have in the classroom.