Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education

Assignment 2: Essay
Learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history should be a vital aspect of
children’s schooling as it has affected past and present Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians lives. Throughout this essay I will be discussing a number of ways to incorporate
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies into the classroom at a primary school level and what
is appropriate to teach. Some ways of doing this will include bringing it into the curriculum through
other subjects such as English and Geography and creating a visually culturally inclusive
classroom. I will also be discussing ways to teach children effectively in a school setting focusing
in on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. This will include the importance of
relationships with Indigenous children and families and different ways of engaging them in the
classroom.

The Australian Curriculum also known as ACARA is a nation-wide curriculum around Australia that
is responsible for the ages from kindergarten to year 12 (Acara.edu.au, 2015). The Australian
Curriculum contains the guidelines and aims for specified school subjects for teachers to know
what they need to be teaching and what their students should be achieving and learning.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is not a compulsory subject in the ACARA curriculum
but should still be taught throughout a child’s education which can be done in different ways. It can
be embedded in other subjects or taught as a cross curriculum priority which are to benefit the
students and broaden their knowledge on the world around them. Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander histories and cultures is of one of the cross- curriculum priorities which provides
opportunities for the children to learn more about Australia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people. ”The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priority provides opportunities for all
learners to deepen their knowledge of Australia by engaging with the world’s oldest continuous
living cultures. This knowledge and understanding will enrich their ability to participate positively in
the ongoing development of Australia.” (Australiancurriculum.edu.au, 2015). Within the priority
there are three key ideas or topics to be taught, ‘country/place, culture and people’ which spilt the
priority into key points with key ideas the students should be learning about.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in schools and nationwide as it is very important to
know Australia’s history and to educate children about past and present issues in the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander communities today. As a teacher it is your responsibility to help the
children learn and grow in the classroom in accordance to the Australian Curriculum. Teachers get
the opportunity to be creative and create new and exciting ways for the children to learn and be
engaged in class. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies can be brought into the everyday
class subjects by teachers embedding them into a lesson plan. For example Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander studies can be brought in to an English lesson with in multiple different ways.
Focusing in on English scope and sequence F-10 under ACARA sub strand ‘responding to
literature’ a year 2 level the criteria says “Compare opinions about characters, events and settings
in and between texts” (Australiancurriculum.edu.au, 2015). A teacher could set out the class
lesson by sharing some Dreamtime Stories to the class and then discussing the message behind
the story what they thought about certain characters, where the Dreamtime stories was set and
what happened. When planning a lesson similar to this it is important to teach the children about
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and what a Dreamtime story is, what it means to
the Indigenous Australians, the art work and possibly the authors and illustrators.

April Perkins
ID: 110170590
When teaching students about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education it is important to be
critical in what the students can learn according to their age level as the history of the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people is very sad and not fully appropriate to teach especially in the
lower age groups. In the younger years it would be more appropriate to teach the children about
the land, foods, art, Dreamtime stories and other things relevant and appropriate to them. When
the children get to later primary or high school the Stolen Generations may be learnt and
discusses in a respectful way still age appropriate.
“Your work as a teacher provides a way to examine and transform your understanding of other
cultures and histories, and reflect on what drew you to education in the first place. You have the
opportunity not only to change perceptions, but to change lives.” (Price 2012) This quote really
shows you how important it is to educate children and give them a broader knowledge on the
world around them. As a teacher you may influence a student’s life in a huge way and really
impact how they develop and learn. That’s why it is so important to teach Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander education carefully as children may not be emotionally ready to deal with the issues
the Indigenous Australians faced.
Another example of bringing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies into a school subject
strand of Geography. Under the ACARA scope and sequence one of the sub strands is all about
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the land. The year 6 section “the world’s cultural
diversity, including that of its indigenous peoples” (Australiancurriculum.edu.au, 2015) gives the
children a great opportunity not only to broaden their knowledge on Indigenous Australians but
also Indigenous cultures around the world. If not already known the children can research the
indigenous land they live on such as the Kaurna land of Adelaide or the Peramangk people of the
Adelaide hills as a lesson plan. The children then could create a display about how the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people lived in the area such as the food they ate, the land they were on
and other important information about the people and then compare to another countries around
the world Indigenous cultures.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education can be brought into the classroom or school in a
number ways it doesn’t just have to be through curriculum and lessons. It can be brought in
through doing visual displays such as flying the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags inside
the school, showing displays and posters around the school and classroom. Teachers can also
bring the visual displays and flags into a classroom lesson so the children can gain a better
understanding of why they are there which will give them a greater purpose. An example would be
to teach the students the meanings behind the flags and what they look like. Such as the
Aboriginal flag represents the black being the Aboriginal people, the red being the earth and the
relation to the land and the yellow represents the sun whereas the Torres Strait Islander flag is
very different in looks as its meaning (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Islander
Studies, 2015). The Torres Strait Islander flag consist of two green lines which represent the land
of Australia and Papua New Guinea, blue in the middle which represents the water of the Torres
Strait Island waters, the two black lines are the people of the Torres Strait, the central symbol is
identified with the Dhari, the five pointed star represents the five major Island groups of the Torres
Strait and lastly the white represents peace (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Islander
Studies, 2015).
Other than just having visual displays around the school to bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander studies and culture into the school they are other ways to show acknowledgement to
Indigenous Australians. Acknowledgement to country is an important way to show respect to and
is a positive thing to have in schools. Additional ways to bring the culture into the school would be

April Perkins
ID: 110170590
to celebrate important dates such as National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day,
National Sorry Day, NAIDOC week, National Reconciliation Week and many more which
acknowledge and show respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
(Communityservices.act.gov.au, 2015). Teaching children about these important dates broadens
their knowledge on the world around them and lets them experience a different culture. When
showing displays or supporting important dates or events in the school it is important that the
children understand why they are there or they have no meaning to the children and become
irrelevant as they are just things to them. There are many resources that help teachers plan for
these events such as Reconciliation Australia which have a number of different resources and
ways to bring reconciliation into the school, classroom and community. Some ideas that could be
useful in a school are giving the students to opportunity to create their own reconciliation poster to
be shown around the school, creating poems about reconciliation and many more ideas to help
bring the culture into the school (Reconciliation.org.au, 2015).

When teaching students about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies just like any other
subject you want the children to be engaged and excited to learn. When teaching it is important to
understand the content you are teaching, general teaching strategies, the curriculum, subject
knowledge, backgrounds of learners, the setting of which you are teaching and some end goals or
purpose for what is being taught (Margretts, Woolfolk 2013). Each aspect is very important when
teaching a children to teach efficiently with reason behind it. As stated it is important to know your
learners where they come from, who they are, their interests, how they learn, etc. as it will give
you a better idea of strategies to use and what to teach in a correct way to ensure all learners are
benefiting from the class. Knowing the children’s interests will make it easier to keep them
engaged during lesson times and hopefully easier for them to learn. In the classroom there will be
a diverse range of children who come from all different kinds of backgrounds with their own
experiences. When teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies in the classroom there
may be students in the class that are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children which already
know a lot about their culture and have their own experiences to share with the class. This would
make a great opportunity to bring in family members to maybe do cooking, art or tell stories to the
class. On the other side of the spectrum there could be students that have just moved to Australia
and have very limited or no knowledge about the Indigenous Australians which will impact the way
the teacher teaches again. Those examples show why it is important to know your students to
understand where they are, what they know and the best ways to teach them. Pairing or grouping
students strategically could be very useful so the children can scaffold each other’s learning also
with assistance from the teacher.
Teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children or any student it is important to build
positive relationships with the not only the students but also the parents and caregivers within the
school. By forming these relationships the children can feel safer and like they belong but also the
parents get the opportunity to feel welcomed into the school and involved in their child’s learning.
When teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children it is important to follow the National
Teaching Standards to be prepared and ready to teach them efficiently. Standard 1.4- ‘Strategies
for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students’ and standard 2.4- ‘ Understand and
respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous
and non-Indigenous Australians’ are very important to know as they are key points when teaching
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (Aitsl.edu.au, 2015). Getting to know families and
students that are Indigenous Australians are necessary to get to know them better and to gain
more knowledge of their culture.

April Perkins
ID: 110170590
To conclude Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies in schools and all around Australia is
very important as it is a major part of the history in Australia. When teaching Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander studies in schools it is important to think about relevance and appropriateness for
the age group being taught. There are a number of ways to teach it in within the Australian
Curriculum which were spoken about above through English and Geography examples. Also
different techniques are useful when teaching students about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
studies such as building relationships, group work, visuals, etc. Teachers also have many
available sources to ensure they are aware of events and special days in the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders calendar to educate the children on.

April Perkins
ID: 110170590
References

Acara.edu.au, (2015). About us | ACARA. [online] Available at:

http://www.acara.edu.au/about_us/about_us.html [Accessed 17 Sep. 2015].

Aitsl.edu.au, (2015). Standards | Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. [online]
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Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Islander Studies, (2015). Aboriginal flag. [online]
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Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Islander Studies, (2015). Torres Strait Islander flag.
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Communityservices.act.gov.au, (2015). Significant Dates - Community Services. [online] Available

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Margretts, K, Woolfolk, A 2013, Educational Psychology, 3rd edn, Pearson Australia, Frenchs
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Price K 2012, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in the classroom’, K Price (ed.),
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 151-
163

Reconciliation.org.au, (2015). Reconciliation Australia | Resources. [online] Available at:

https://www.reconciliation.org.au/resources/ [Accessed 17 Sep. 2015].

April Perkins
ID: 110170590