Teaching and learning of Indigenous learners
The Case for Change: A review of contemporary research on Indigenous education outcomes
ACER recently called for the establishment of a new and rigorous national research agenda into ways of improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students. The call coincided with the release of a review of Indigenous education research and policy which argues that, despite good intentions and considerable funding in recent years, educational outcomes for Indigenous students remain well behind those of non-Indigenous students.
Policy
National
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP)
National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy
(PDF version: 164 kb, 37 pages), launched in Sydney on 29 March 2000 by the Prime Minister and Dr David Kemp.
Reference Group on Indigenous Education
The reference group will provide a forum for members to share information and to raise and deliberate upon matters relating to Indigenous education.
Australian Directions in Indigenous Education 2005-2008
This paper provides recommendations to focus national effort over the 2005–2008 quadrennium. The recommendations seek to accelerate the pace of change by engaging Indigenous children and young people in learning.
National Strategy for the Education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 1996-2002
MCEETYA (funded through the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Program (IESIP) from the Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA).
The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty First Century
The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century was signed in April 1999. At that meeting the Ministers also made a further commitment to address the issue of unacceptably low learning outcomes for Aboriginal students which exist across the nation.
A model of more culturally inclusive and educationally effective schools
States and territories
Australian Capital Territory
Public
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education
New South Wales
Catholic
Strategic Plan 2003-2005
This is a 45 page document which covers three areas. The relevant area for Indigenous education and the establishment of a policy is located under the heading, 'Educational Leadership', Objectives A4 and Strategies S4.8.) The focus on Indigenous education is located in the NSW Catholic Education Commission 2003 Workplan specifically in Objective S4.8.2: to develop the CEC's position on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Plan that is in the context of the National Aboriginal Education Guidelines.
Public
Aboriginal Education Strategic Policies
Queensland
Partners for Success
Partners for Success is Education Queensland's key strategy for the continuous improvement of education and employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Education Queensland.
South Australia
DECS Aboriginal Strategy 2005-2010
The Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) is committed to a substantial improvement in the educational outcomes of its Aboriginal children and students. The DECS Aboriginal Education Strategy 2005-2010 provides an outline of targets and priority actions for the period.
Tasmania
Aboriginal Education Programs and Projects
The Aboriginal Education Unit manages a number of programs aimed at supporting Aboriginal Students, the provision of more Tasmanian Aboriginal culturally relevant and inclusive curriculum materials and resources, and support for schools and pre-school services to be more culturally sensitive and inclusive learning environments.
Victoria
Koorie Education
The Department of Education & Training has a particular focus on the achievement of appropriate educational outcomes for Koorie people, based on the eight priorities agreed to by the Ministerial Council for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in December 1995.
Western Australia
Aboriginal Education and Training, Participation and Achievement Standards Directorate
A number of key national and state policies provide the framework for Aboriginal education and training in Western Australia. Accelerating progress in Aboriginal education and training is the key priority of the Minister and the Department of Education and Training.
Contextualised teaching and learning
Aboriginal Educational Contexts
This website showcases examples of school-developed context-based teaching and learning projects collaboratively developed by teachers, Aboriginal education workers and local community members.
Contextual teaching and learning: a strategy for improving the educational outcomes for Aboriginal learners
Contextual teaching and learning: a strategy for improving the educational outcomes for Aboriginal learners is a publication designed to support educators of Aboriginal learners, from reception to Year 10, who are looking for inclusive teaching and learning strategies which promote the use of literacy and numeracy as a social tool.
The model for contextual teaching and learning is described and fourteen units of work are provided in literacy and numeracy. These units were developed and implemented by educators around South Australia, in country and metropolitan locations.
Science in Context: schools working with Aboriginal communities
The Science in Context: schools working with Aboriginal communities (SiC) program is a strategic response to the identified need for teachers to utilise appropriate teaching and learning strategies for Aboriginal students in science and to develop curriculum materials that are connected to the lives of Aboriginal students.
An Integrated Kindergarten Mathematics Unit
This unit illustrates how teachers can incorporate Aboriginal contexts across a variety of key learning areas.
The unit provides opportunities for students to investigate integrated mathematics and visual arts activities through exploring Aboriginal lifestyles and perspectives using currently available resources.
Successful teaching and learning/Quality teaching
Aboriginal Education Research and Curriculum Resources
NSW-based but with much wider application.
Australian College of Educators catalog
You must log in as a member or create an account to browse their valuable catalog of publications relevant to indigeous education.
Quality Educators Produce Quality Outcomes – Some thoughts on what this means in the context of teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australia’s public education system
Darcel Moyle, Federal Aboriginal Education Officer, Australian Education Union
A report and discussion paper on the outcomes of the AEU’s Annual Indigenous Education Seminar held in Hobart, January, 2004.
Quality Teaching in Curriculum K-12
New South Wales Department of Education and Training
The NSW Quality Teaching Model is based on the latest international and national research. It is able to be applied from K-12 and across all key learning areas. It has been shown to improve the academic outcomes of all students. It respects the work of teachers and provides them with a practical and useful framework for professional dialogue, for planning and redesigning lessons and for reflecting on the quality of what they do in the classroom. In this area can be found a range of information, school ideas, research and resources to support the implementation of the NSW Quality Teaching model in government schools.
Young and Black and Deadly: Strategies for improving outcomes for Indigenous students (Summary only - This paper may be purchased from the Australian College of Educators)
Chris Sarra, Principal of Cherbourg State School
The paper discusses the value of genuinely valuing Aboriginal perspectives about Aboriginal education and changes at the school have been based on the premise that if Aboriginal children could be convinced to subscribe to positive and meaningful Aboriginal beliefs, then the outcomes for these students would be greatly enhanced. His consultations with Elders in the local community greatly assisted in promoting better ‘service’ to the members of the community.
Resources and Teaching Strategies to Support Aboriginal Children’s Numeracy Learning
This literature review focuses on teaching and learning strategies that support the development of numeracy skills in Aboriginal children. The purpose of the paper is to provide a theoretical framework that will inform the development of numeracy materials to support teachers of Aboriginal children in New South Wales primary schools. (Word format).
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Learning (Word document)
Mal McLean, James Cook University
The things which impinge on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ learning are entwined in a complexity of economic, social, historical, cultural, environmental and psychological factors. These factors also effect other students’ achievement in learning, but for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, they act as barriers to achievement of educational success, and are reflected in school retention rates, school completion, and levels of employment.
Aboriginal Perspectives on the early years of learning
This resource provides information and strategies that assist educators in catering for the particular needs of young Aboriginal children.
How We Learn What We Need To Know (PDF document 94 pages long and 2.1mb to download)
A selection of literacy and numeracy case studies from NSW primary schools that have achieved enhanced outcomes for Aboriginal students.
This publication presents case studies of seven NSW primary schools that have developed educational programs and teaching strategies specifically for Aboriginal students. The aim of the case studies project was to identify programs,strategies and processes which,in the opinion of regional Aboriginal Educational consultants and the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group,work effectively with Aboriginal students,and to describe how the programs were developed. Several questions were asked of each school. These were:
- What aspects of your program work well for the Aboriginal students?
- How did the programs evolve?
- How do you communicate with parents and the community?
- What problems do you face?
The selection of the schools for the project was based on advice from Aboriginal Education consultants from five Department of Education and Training districts and suggestions from contacts in the field.
Useful resources for teachers of Indigenous Students
From the Australian Capital Territory.
Successful practice in teaching and learning for Indigenous students
Some teaching practices have been observed as successful in producing quality learning outcomes from Aboriginal students. Included on this page are links to overviews of successful class topics, including examples in English and literacy, Mathematics and numeracy, Society and Environment and Science. The page will be regularly updated.
Some topics have been undertaken by classroom teachers, teaching teams, the Aboriginal Education Team or Aboriginal Education Teacher. All these educators contribute to positive outcomes for Aboriginal learners.
Aboriginal students can succeed: Case studies of ten successful Aboriginal students
Dr Diane J Russell
This exploratory study was designed to extend the literature about factors that have been important in the retention and attainment of a few individual Aboriginal students who have made a successful transition to senior secondary schooling, and to explore how these factors might be related to their Aboriginal identity.
Ten Aboriginal students participated in the research. All lived in regional or rural centres of South Australia, had stayed at school into their post-compulsory years and were achieving a significant degree of success in their studies, despite the failure of the majority of their Aboriginal peers to do likewise. In more specific terms, the study sought to answer the following questions about these 'successful' Aboriginal students:
- What factors influenced their decision to stay at school?
- What factors have been important in their succeeding at school?
- How are these various factors interrelated?
- To what extent have various factors in the lives of individual students fostered their Aboriginal identities?
- How do these students express their Aboriginality and how do others see them expressing it?
- What is the relationship between the Aboriginal identity of the students and their retention and attainment at school?
Successful strategies for education of Aboriginal children and students
Including working with Aboriginal learners, valuing diversity of learners, career and further study options for learners, valuing home languages, explicit contextual teaching strategies, addressing hearing loss, attendance and retention.
Dare to Lead: making the difference
Dare to Lead: taking it on is an initiative of the profession and specifically of the Australian Principals Associations Professional Development Council (APAPDC) acting on behalf of it members and their associations.
The most important purpose of the Coalition's work is to support improved mainstream educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and to increase the pace at which the goal of producing equivalence between outcomes for Indigenous students with those of the rest of the Australian student population is reached.
What Works: The Work Program
Improving outcomes for Indigenous students
The Work Program is a professional development package which comprises three parts: a Guidebook, a Workbook and a CD-ROM. The package was developed under the What Works project which was undertaken during 2000-2001 to focus on initiating change in teaching practices at the school level and to markedly accelerate the achievement of educational equality for Indigenous students over the next few years. The Australian Curriculum Studies Association, one of the consortium partners for the What Works project, is managing the package on their website, in conjunction with a teacher discussion forum.
Learning Lessons
The review carried out the most exhaustive consultation with Northern Territory schools. The review visited 25% of all schools in the Northern Territory with significant numbers of Indigenous students. The review received 106 formal submissions, held public hearings in Darwin, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, visited 44 schools and conducted 126 interviews and attended 40 forums with a wide range of interested individuals and organisations.
Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme
The AGQTP consists of State and Territory professional development projects and strategic national projects into teacher quality issues. The Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme implements the Teachers for the 21st Century initiative. This site is an information exchange for the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme, particularly best practice in teacher professional development.
National Quality Schooling Framework
The National Quality Schooling Framework (NQSF) website is an Australian Government-funded initiative to help educators implement innovative and evidence-based projects to improve student learning outcomes.
The NQSF will walk you through the questions, success criteria, tools and processes you can use for school improvement and innovation. It offers informative, practical resources and online support to help you RESEARCH, PLAN, DO, and REPORT.
One of the most exciting features of the NQSF website is that it provides access to an interactive professional learning environment. Through the use of teletutorials and online forums you can share your experiences with others and build helpful professional networks.
National Quality Teacher Information Exchange Project
National Curriculum Services, in partnership with the Australian Curriculum Studies Association and the Australian Council for Computers in Education, is responsible for the conduct of this project which will facilitate information exchange between the states and territories about both national and state based QTP projects. This will be achieved through workshops, newsletters and the establishment of a website which will disseminate the results of research projects and other activities occurring through Teachers for the 21st Century.
An Ethic of Care: Effective Programmes for Beginning Teachers (PDF file)
The Education Department of Tasmania, in collaboration with the University of Tasmania and a private training consultancy, Learning Works Pty Ltd, is investigating effective programmes which support beginning teachers in the transition between pre-service training and initial appointment to schools. The project will identify how well prepared beginning teachers are for the transition to the classroom, whether current needs are being met and ways preparation of, and support for, beginning teachers may be improved.
Leaders Lead Project
This project is jointly funded through the Quality Teacher Programme and the Quality Outcomes Programme. It is intended to provide continued support for the Australian Principals Associations Professional Development Council (APAPDC) to provide professional development for school principals with a focus on innovations in teaching and learning and the impact of these innovations on student learning outcomes.
Recognition of Quality Teachers — Innovation and Excellence Awards
The Australian Scholarships Group’s (ASG) National Excellence in Teaching Awards (NEiTA) Foundation has been commissioned to facilitate Inaugural Australian Teachers Prizes for Excellence, the first of which were presented in April 2001. The Commonwealth’s partnership with ASG and the NEiTA Foundation continued for a new round of joint teaching awards in 2001–2002. Regional awards were presented in October 2001 and National awards were presented in March 2002. The new round included Commonwealth awards to preschool teachers and in three broad special categories for primary and secondary teachers (enterprise and career education; maths, science and information and communication technology; and rural and remote and Indigenous education).
National Conference on Quality Teaching
The Australian College of Education, the Australian Curriculum Studies Association, the Curriculum Corporation and National Curriculum Services were commissioned to conduct a two day conference in July 2001 which brought together over 250 practising teachers and related professionals from around Australia to share their research, knowledge and experiences in innovation and best practice in relation to improving student learning outcomes. In recognition of the importance of the teacher voice, and to ensure significant teacher representation, the Commonwealth funded 100 practising teachers to attend the conference.