For the purpose of this essay, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be included, but term

Aboriginal will be used throughout. This essay will discuss the key issues teachers need to consider
for working successfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and the different ways to
implement these strategies into the curriculum. contemporary and historical issues will be considered,
such as self-determination, community engagement and racism will be considered when discussing
the incorporation of Aboriginal Studies in Australian schools. Websites such as Closing the Gap, what
works, Respect, reconciliation, relationships, and the Australian Curriculum will be used to find
issues present in Aboriginal education, as well as articles and papers written by prominent members
of the Aboriginal community who have experience with different teaching techniques that are best
suited for Aboriginal students.

Aboriginal youths have inherited a long and proud history of culture, courage and resilience.
However, today they also experience some of the highest levels of disadvantage in the developed
world. Their disadvantage is directly linked to discrimination, oppression, and dispossession imposed
upon Aboriginal Australians. Some of the most prominent differences between Aboriginal and non-
Indigenous youth exists in education (Australians Together, 2017). Many aspects make up the overall
lack of proper education effecting Aboriginal students across Australia, with early disengagement
being the most prominent problem. Absenteeism among Aboriginal students is marker higher than
among non-Indigenous students, with the main factors contributing to school non-attendance and
completion rates relating to a failure of fully engaged parents, carers and the community. This can be
because of a range of problems, such as; ongoing socioeconomic disadvantage, health problems, and
lack of recognition by schools of Aboriginal culture and history (Australians Together, 2017).
According to a 2011 study, one in four Aboriginal students completed Year 12, opposed to the 52%
on non-Indigenous students. The same study showed that 23% of young Aboriginal students aged 15-
24 years left school at Years 9 or below, compared with the 4% of non-Indigenous students. Other
barriers Aboriginal students may face include inappropriate teaching materials, lack of Aboriginal role
models, inappropriate contexts, poverty, lack of connection to the community, uneducated parents and
their bad memories of school, and disengaged teachers. When teaching about community and history,
especially the Aboriginal history to Aboriginal students, context is key. By relating the history, and
most other subjects back to the students specifically, they become more engaged and willing to learn.
Having an engaging and willing teacher is also crucial, as they are more willing to connect the
learning are to an aspect of the student life in which they can relate to. The lack of relatable role
models is also a downfall in the Australian Curriculum. Aboriginal students may find it difficult to
identify with non-Indigenous teachers. As only 0.7% of Australia’s teaching population identifies as
Aboriginal, a wide range of cultural perspective is lacking in schools. Uneducated parents, as a result
of the Stolen Generation is an issue still facing todays Aboriginal youths. Parents who did not receive
a full education may not see the full benefit of their children receiving a proper education, or not see
the importance of western education as there is a lack of cultural connection. Bad memories of school
may also effect the parent’s opinions on schooling, as it was not uncommon for Aboriginal students to
not be taught about their own culture, face racism and discrimination, and be unable to speak their
native language at school (Creative Spirits, 2017). Overall, there are many issue that Aboriginal
students face which all impact the lower education outcomes in bother rural and metropolitan schools
across Australia, and which teachers must consider when planning the school curriculum to ensure all
Aboriginal students receive the best education possible.

Engagement, attendance, and participation all have major roles in the improvement of Aboriginal
students learning outcomes, and need to be monitored and catered for by teachers to ensure all
students are fully immersed constructively and enthusiastically in the developmental experiences and
products that schooling provides (What Works, 2017). Engagement in education and learning is
crucial to academic achievement and providing students with the understanding, knowledge, skills,
and confidence to move on into training, employment, and higher education. This is because engaged
learners hold a sense of belonging and self-worth, and are able to develop skills in learning,
participate fully and communicate appropriately (What Works, 2017). As engagement is of such
fundamental importance to the overall learning outcome, using bother interesting and challenging
learning material needs to be utilized in schools to keep engagement and productivity amongst
student’s high. as Australian’s Together (2017) has shown, contextual learning is key to keeping
student engagement high. Aboriginal students relate better to a curriculum in which they can view
their own cultures and history in. Teachers must keep this in mind when planning lessons, and remain
acutely aware of the outcomes of their culturally inclusive teaching methods. As required by the
Australian Curriculum, all teachers must create a curriculum in which the students must see
themselves, their identities, and their cultures reflected in which allows full participation, and the
student’s self-esteem to be built, and that the curriculum priority is designed for all students to engage
in reconciliation, respect, and recognition of the Aboriginal culture (ACARA, 2016). Through the
inclusion of meaningful and contextual teaching and learning, both curriculum standards are met.
Attendance in schools is recognised as a key element to excelling in learning outcomes, but is also
one of the major problems facing Aboriginal students in schools. A report conducted by Closing the
Gap (2016) saw the overall attendance rate for Indigenous students nationally was 83.4% compared
with 93.1% for non-Indigenous students. Although an improvement of attendance has been seen in
comparison to previous years, the attendance rate has only improved by less than 1%. Because of this,
it is a goal of the Closing the Gap project (2007) to ‘recognise the critical importance of school
attendance, both government and non-government education authorities will continue to work with
communities and families to encourage and support children going to school regularly’. According the
What Works (2017), There is a very strong correlation between students’ achievement and attendance
levels. Poor attendance can be attributed to many different factors, and all must be considered by a
teacher if they are facing attendance problem from their Aboriginal students. Ensuring that the teacher
knows what is going on, to correct attendance issues. Find out what is really going on. Don’t make
assumptions. Get skilled and knowledgeable help (often available from an Indigenous education
worker if present). Don’t take an aggressive stance, with punishment as the first resort. Think about
what the problem really is (What Works, 2017). Participation is the final element to an improvement
in Aboriginal Education. Participation does not only mean active engagement in school work, but
taking part in decisions regarding learning and the whole school environment. By empowerment
students to allow them to be involved in making real decisions with respect to the learning process
through planning of the learning context in collaboration with teaching staff students feel a real
connection with the school and are more compelled to engage in their education. What Works (2017)
states ‘A whole-school approach based on a commitment to providing successful learning experiences
and outcomes for all students’. Participation is not only limited to the learning institution and the
student, but can also be extended to the wider community, through creating connection with parents
and guardians of Aboriginal student, the school becomes a friendly and familiar environment which is
inclusive and welcoming to their cultures. With both a welcoming environment, and an encouraging
home support system, the students will feel more inclined to fully participate in their education.
Therefore, there are three key elements teachers must focus on to ensure that their Aboriginal students
receive the most beneficial education available. The combination of attendance, engagement, and
participation are all interrelated and dependant on each other to all work to benefit the students. To
begin, the students must first attend school on a regular basis and feel that their attendance is
beneficial to themselves. This can be done by teachers allowing active participation with designing
the curriculum and encouraging the community to be involved in the school, as well as providing
school work that directly relates to the students and their culture and histories.

Paragraph 3: 800 words

In order for a teacher to assist their Aboriginal students face the barriers that may be present and
preventing the students from receiving a meaningful education, teachers must first understand the
barriers in place, and implement strategies to overcome these common setbacks that Aboriginal
students face. It has been established that there are three main barriers; engagement, participation, and
attendance. And each are interrelated with the other two, and when properly addressed, will provide
an opportunity for a fair education. Engagement problems are often related to the content being
taught. Contextual teaching is key to keeping students engaged and eager to learn. According to
Respect, Relationships, Reconciliation (2017), in order to grab and maintain students’ attention and
ensure engagement, lessons need to start off by discussing prior knowledge, generate expectations and
set an aim. The lesson end with a feed/back session and the teacher must ensure students have
understood the task. Sidebars are useful to alter tasks if students are becoming disengaged, and allows
the teacher to move the task to something that interests the students better. Keeping this lesson
structure in mind, teacher must also provide relatable content. In accordance to the Australian
Curriculum, the content provided must be relatable and enable the Aboriginal students to view a
reflection of themselves, their culture, and their history through the assigned work (ACARA, 2016).
By using examples and tasks that relate directly to the aboriginal students’ lives, they will be more
inclined to engage in the work. Using prominent Aboriginal education topics such as reconciliation as
a basis for other learning areas, such as English, art, humanities, and technologies, a relatable and
engaging topic is used to introduce other curriculum areas and is therefore more appealing to
Aboriginal students. Another tactic to ensure the students engagement is to invite role models they
will connect with into the school. This community partnership allows for local Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander perspectives to be incorporated into the curriculum, and provide as an interesting topic
of the Aboriginal students to engage in (Respect, Relationships, Reconciliation, 2017). Participation
can take many forms; for students, participation in classroom activities and school work is necessary
for learning. But students also benefit from the opportunity to participate in planning their own
curriculum and assist with other school related programs (What Works, 2017). Participation can also
relate to parents and the wider community. Price (2012) describes the Parent School Partnership
Initiative (PSPI) as a means of connecting schools with parents and caregivers of Aboriginal students,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and organisations. This program displays the
benefits of having a whole community participate in the schooling experience to help introduce a new
perspective of Aboriginal culture and history, as well as helping to instil a sense of pride and
belonging in to the Aboriginal students, while also providing all students the opportunity to learn
about another culture. Teachers must keep action like this in mind and remember the importance of
contextual learning and the effect that it can have on the participation of students. With a fun and
engaging curriculum, the students will strive to participate in all aspects of their schooling, and will
also lead to an increase of attendance, as schools are viewed as a fun, community orientated, and
culturally aware place where students will want to learn. Attendance is the final aspect in which
teachers must strategies to raise, especially for their Aboriginal students. The importance of
attendance in correlation to academic achievement has been proven, as well as the decreased numbers
of Aboriginal students attending schools. There are many factors influencing attendance, many of
which are out of control of the teacher. Because of this, teachers must ensure that school is seen as a
safe and rewarding experience to encourage their students to want to return every day. Buckskin
(2012) stresses the importance of teachers having an understanding the student’s cultures in order to
build and maintain effective relationships with the learners, and has said ‘Every child deserves
teachers who will apply such understanding and skill from the very start and throughout the child’s
educational journey. This involves getting to know students and their cultures better, and is the basis
for Individual Learning Programs’. This is one strategy to encourage attendance in schools, another is
a combination of the other key barriers present; engagement, and participation. When students
participate fully in the school experience, and engage fully in all aspects of their learning, school
attendance rises as the students find school a fun and rewarding experience.

There are many key issues teachers must consider in order to work successfully with Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students, the main 3 being attendance, engagement, and participation. These key
issues can be linked to an improvement in academic performance and better learning outcomes. By
teachers implementing strategies to increase theses three issues, education will become an accessible
and successful experience, and struggling students will begin to see school as a safe, and fulfilling
environment when both they, and their culture is respected, and used as a base for all other learning.
Word Count: 2335

Reference List

Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2016, Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, viewed 14 September 2017,

<https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities/aboriginal-

and-torres-strait-islander-histories-and-cultures/>

Australians Together, 2017, Growing up Indigenous: Indigenous youths, viewed 13 September 2017

<http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/growing-up-indigenous-indigenous-youth>

Buckskin. P, 2012, A brief History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in Australia,

Chapter 11, Engaging Indigenous Students.

Closing the Gap, 2007, Chapter Three: Education, Australian Government, viewed 14 September

2017, <http://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/education>

Creative Spirits, 2017, Barriers to Aboriginal Education, viewed 13 September 2017

<https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/education/barriers-to-aboriginal-education>

Price. K, 2012, A brief history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in Australia, Chapter

1, The Parent School Partnership Initiative (PSPI).

Respect, Relationships, Reconciliation, 2017, engaging students, viewed 14 September 2017,

<http://rrr.edu.au/unit/module-2/topic-3/engaging-students/>

What Works, 2017, The Work Program: Core Issue 5, Student Engagement, viewed 14 September

2017, <http://www.whatworks.edu.au/upload/1250830979818_file_5Engagement.pdf>