The Needs of Aboriginal Children

‘School attendance and Aboriginal Students’ by G. Partington, J. Gray & M. Byrne is an insightful piece that highlights the lack of attendance in mainstream schooling found amongst the Indigenous youth of Australia. However, the reading does not focus on the negative aspects of this lack of attendance but rather the reasons why these absences may occur. It aims to assist schools in minimising this problem by not only understanding the issue in more depth, but also promoting easy to implement strategies at both a teacher and whole school level.

The discourse of whiteness has severely impacted on the educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (herein referred to as Indigenous Peoples). The discourse is based on an ontology founded on overt racism, discrimination, prejudice, exclusion and dispossession and towards all Indigenous Peoples. Subsequently, the history of Indigenous Peoples experiences in relation to education is extremely negative. They have been denied the right to the same education as non-Indigenous students, frequently expelled and continually forced to deny their cultural identity. The discourse of whiteness has resulted in pedagogies and pedagogical practices that are overly racist and not inclusive of Indigenous Peoples culture. To improve future educational outcomes it is necessary to decolonise Australia and rewrite the curriculum so that it is inclusive for all students.

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

60% of aboriginal children are significantly behind non-indigenous Australians by the time they start years one. Only 40% of aboriginal children stay at school through to year twelve. Causes of this include language because English is their second language, inappropriate context; material being taught does not relate to the aboriginals lives. Over crowed house where aboriginal children cannot learn to do homework is a big factor in them being behind in education.

In this essay we will try to provide a brief overview of educational issues of Aboriginal communities in Australia and Victoria and the elements that influence the educational outcomes of young Aboriginal people, such as culture and contemporary challenges. In addition to this, the inclusion of Aboriginal content in the Victorian curriculum and classroom practices will be explored as well as contemporary government policies.

The participation and full engagement of all students in education is a ‘key factor affecting the life chances of all Australians’ (Buckley & Armstrong, 2011, p. 62). It is clear from current statistical information, that participation and eventual success in educational studies is particularly vital for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who among us all have the lowest level of participation in education (Buckley & Armstrong, 2011). Ockenden (2014) notes that whilst more Indigenous students are completing Year 12 than ever before, there still exists a significant gap between educational achievement in literacy, numeracy

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 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.

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the curriculum has now become a high priority amoungst schools across the nation. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2013), recognises “that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority is designed for all students to engage in reconciliation, respect and recognition of the world’s oldest continuous living cultures”. By including this, the curriculum will continue to see Indigenous culture throughout school become part of the norm. Furthermore Indigenous Australian perspectives can and should be included in the classroom and any barriers that arise can be overcome.

Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within

In relation to teaching Indigenous origins, history and culture - the demonstration of the Australian Institute for Teaching and Schools (AITSL) standard 2.4 will assist me. “The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards)* reflect and build on national and international evidence that a teacher’s effectiveness has a powerful impact on students” (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2012). There are seven teaching standards that can guide teachers and improve their

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.

Throughout the last fifty years two diametrically opposed views have played out. H.C. Coombs argued that the priority was to use the curriculum and teaching methods to rebuild and sustain traditional Aboriginal culture destroyed by colonisation, racism and oppression. He supported Moira Kingston’s view that all Aborigines had a “world view derived from the Dreaming and irreconcilable with the demands of a modern industrialised market economy.” Sir Paul Hasluck represented the opposing assimiliationist view that schools should give priority to literacy, numeracy and technical and scientific knowledge to asssist integration in the workforce.Many theorists and practitioners have focused on the one third of students in Aboriginal schools with a specifically Aboriginal education rather than the majority attending the same schools as non-Indigenous children. In either case major problems were indentified with Aboriginal education by 2000.