University of Notre Dame

Fremantle, Australia

EDUC4132

Assignment 1

Reflection on Culturally Responsive Teaching

Elizabeth Gaze

20170839

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Part 1

Even though I attended primary and secondary school with many Aboriginal

Australian students in my small country town and boarding school I have not taught many on

my practicums throughout my university degree. On my very first practicum I had a very shy,

timid year one girl who’s mum was Aboriginal, she was so lovely but very hard to get to

know as she was so introverted, I did get to know her mum very well and she was such an

outgoing, warm woman. On a practicum last year the school I was at had a relationship with

an Aboriginal school located in the Swan Valley, both schools organised a day for their year

3-5 students to come and experience activities held by the other school. It was a day for the

students to meet children from another culture and make new friends, incredibly relevant to

my class as the students had been looking at Aboriginal people as their term theme, this

explored Noongar languages and Aboriginal history. Many of the children in my year four

class had never met an Aboriginal person before so it was so important to have the experience

to break down generalised stereotypes and ideologies of Aboriginal people the students may

have had already, which were not very positive ones. I met some amazing Aboriginal

Students from the other school running my activity, they were very cheeky, playful and

hilarious, keeping to themselves at the beginning of the activity and then moving to sit next to

other students, we made friendship bracelets and it was purely an activity for the students to

meet each other and make new friends.

Reflecting on my own teaching and experiences with Aboriginal students I would say

that according to the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework (2015) also referred to as

(ACSF) continuum I would consider myself to have cultural awareness and moving towards

cultural understanding also referred to in the framework as emerging and developing phases

in teaching. Created by the Department of Education the ACSF is a resource teachers, staff

and schools can use to ensure they are being culturally sensitive and culturally responsive to

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create supportive classroom environments to guarantee confident and successful Aboriginal

learners. As a pre-service teacher and acknowledging my standing now I can further develop

my understanding and therefor my standing in regards to the framework, as I gain more

experience teaching students and engaging with more Aboriginal students my knowledge and

understanding will move to more proficient understanding and will continue to grow and

develop as I gain more experience in my teaching career.

The framework keeps you conscious and accountable when it comes to teaching

Aboriginal students and content involving Aboriginal students, ensuring that the best possible

learning environment is being created for all students to strive.

Part 2

As stated in part one, my understanding and proficiency in regards to the ACSF will

continue to develop as I gain more knowledge and understanding, keeping myself

accountable for my own lack of knowledge about certain topics and issues that may be

brought up in my classroom in regards to teaching Aboriginal students and content.

One thing I did find on my previous practicum was even though I did not have any

Aboriginal students in my class, while discussing Aboriginal history and Noongar languages

with the students I was always very self-aware of using the correct terms and ensuring that I

had done as much research into what I was teaching as to not accidently with my own

ignorance say the wrong thing.

The first step to teaching Aboriginal students and implement into ones classroom is to

understand cultural needs such as the fact that Aboriginal students may be less likely to

answer question in large groups and avoid eye contact, as storytelling is a huge part of their

culture traditionally not questioning and answering. Using small group activities, ‘hands on’

activities and visual cues to explore ideas in the classroom will ensure that these students can

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process the information visually as well as being a part of the discussion in a comfortable

way (Korff, 2020).

Relating examples back to the local community or environment is another key to

successful teaching of Aboriginal students, keeping relationships between the school and

local Indigenous community active, it is a fact that students enjoy and engage more with

subjects they are connected to or genuinely interested in. Using local history and context for

educating students will make them more interested, possibly boost class participation and the

desire to come to school and learn (Korff, 2020).

Creating a culturally responsive classroom not only includes teaching to a more

inclusive standard but ensuring that the classroom environment promotes diversity, respect

and trust. Through activities such as having elders from the community come and be a part of

the learning journey and share their stories and having children mark on a map of Australia

where their family group may be from and exploring stories from those areas (Korff, 2020).

There are many resources to be found with the intent to follow the direction of the

ACSF and hold teachers and schools accountable when it comes to teaching and furthering

the education of Aboriginal students it can be very overwhelming. One interesting resource

includes the Narragunnawali website, a production of Reconciliation Australia the website

has a collection of culturally aware resources for primary to secondary schooling, these

resources include different learning areas and their links to the curriculum with some

interesting activities targeting cultural diversity, as well as professional development for

staff.

There are so many interesting tools and resources being used in classrooms today that

are benefitting the education of Aboriginal students, the ACSF keeps teachers accountable

and constantly referring back to the key points on the continuum, relationships, leadership,

teaching, learning environment and resources, all these tools together will help create a

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culturally responsive classroom that all students and especially Aboriginal students can strive

and achieve education goals in. The teacher is constantly further developing their own skills,

knowledge and understanding to ensure they are doing all Aboriginal students justice in the

classroom with engaging, interesting and educative learning experiences.

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References

Department of Education. (2015). Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework. Department of

Education: Western Australia. Retrieved from

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/policies/detcms/policy-planning-and-

accountability/policies-framework/strategic-documents/aboriginal-cultural-standards-

framework- .en?cat-id=3457058

Korff, J. (2020). Ways of teaching & engaging Aboriginal students. Retrieved from

https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/education/teaching-aboriginal-

students

Reconciliation Australia. (2020). Curriculum Resources. Retrieved from

https://www.narragunnawali.org.au/curriculum-resources