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Activity 1: Exploring values

Activity 2:Culture of respect

Activity 3:What worked for me

Activity 4:What a culture of respect looks and feels like for staff

Activity 5:Analysing the issues: Checkpoints for improving the level of student success

Activity 6:Student engagement

Activity 7:Aboriginal English

Activity 8:Numeracy

Activity 9:Understanding the timeline

Activity 10:Reviewing and planning

Activity 1a is suitable for any individuals and groups within a school community. Activity 1b is specifically for principals and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education workers to undertake together.

Images of reconciliation, linked to below, is an excellent resource that can be used in both activities. Images of Reconciliation is a joint Dare to LeadandReconciliation Australia publication.

Activity 1a

This Activity can be done alone but preferably working with groups from the school community.

  1. Give each group working on this exercise on values a few photos or cuttings from magazines that depict a range of issues including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander images. In some circumstances it may be culturally inappropriate to use photos of dead people.
  1. In silence, the members of the group choose a photo which represents their beliefs about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
  1. Each member of the group explains to the others why they have chosen that photo and the value it represents.
  1. The group then chooses three values they agree on in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.
  1. The total group share their values in some way, such as writing them down displaying them around the room.
  1. The group discusses these values and how they affect the way professionals behave in delivering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

Activity 1b

The second Activity is specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education workers and principals to undertake together. It will be most productive if you have already completed Activity 1a together.

You will need to download the document Partnership activities - Shared vision. Same goals, same direction from

  • Discuss your expectations for the Aboriginal orTorres Strait Islander students in your school and write on the document what you think in each key area.
  • Keep a copy of the completed sheet in a prominent place and make a commitment to monitoryour progress against your goals.
  • Use what has been written to start a conversation:
  • Do we share the same expectations for our Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students?
  • Do we fully (and individually) understand the challenges to meeting these expectations?
  • How can we use our own partnership to share our expectations with others and gain their support for, and commitment to, these goalsand expectations?
  • Finish by making some notes about possible future actions.

This activity can be done individually, but it will be more productive if done with the leadership team or another appropriate group within the school.

  1. Use the following tool to assess what is currently happening in your school. What components would you leave out? What others would you include?
  1. Identify strategies that would address the particular componentsof your school culture.

Components of a culture that respects and has high expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (and, with some adjustments, all students):

Component / Where present in school / Strategies to introduce
Respect for cultural heritage
Implementing literacy programs - Standard English is often a second language –while showing respect for Aboriginal English
Recognition of personal identity
Inclusiveness (ie a sense of belonging to the school community and seeing it as a ‘safe’ place physically and spiritually)
Cultural perspectives included in school curricula
Quality home/school/community partnerships
Individual learning and support programs to ensure wellbeing (eg basic needs as well as emotional, physical and spiritual needs are met, ie ‘holistic’ individual case management approach)
High levels of expectations, encouragement and monitoring
High levels of attendance, engagement and participation (all alternatives to suspension explored)
Relevant pedagogy employed
Access to all programs/learning opportunities
Quality relationships with staff and other students
Presence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff
members
Support needed by staff members to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

This is the record of an address to a group of school leaders by an Aboriginal student after she successfully completed Year 12.It is well worth sharing with colleagues at school.

Na Marni

Yellani inni mar condie

Ninna Kaurna yurta ya wondi

What I just said was welcome everybody it is good to be here with you all on Kaurna Land.

I pay my respects to the Elders, past and present.

I am going to talk about my journey and what helped and what didn’t help me towards achieving my SACE.Many ideas did come quickly to me as I was planning a similar talk that I presented to high school teachers a short while ago.

To help me organise my thoughts I made lists about:

  • Personal needs
  • Personal interactions with relevant adults
  • Helpful teaching practices
  • School structures

And hopefully I will be able to highlight the importance of the links that exist between these things.

Because I know that it was harder for my family than many other families. I didn’t want people to pity me because we didn’t have excess money but at the same time I didn’t want them to judge me for it. I know it is stating the obvious but it is not easy to stay focussed, calm and have energy if you are not feeling well because of lack of food and sleep.

For these reasons I was very appreciative of the lunches that were given to me at school and by my ‘mentor’. I also, at times, needed a place to doze which is why the school counsellor sometimes found me asleep on the couch outside of her office.

But it wasn’t always due to a lack of sleep but also depression and anxiety and in some cases even body growth could cause teenagers to require more sleep than the norm.The most important part was that the giving was received ‘without shame’, as these people understood that at times families simply do not have enough money to meet everyone’s needs and that sleep is not always possible in acrowded house and where young children also live.No one was blamed and this made it OK to seek support.

The way that adults interacted with me varied greatly, and looking back, those that I was able to trust and feel comfortable with and wanted to work with had the following qualities:

  • Knowledge about and respect for my Cultural background.
  • Did not judge me for the poor choices I sometimes made regarding my behaviour i.e., they read my moods and did not come down heavy on me but remained calm and then addressed the issue.
  • They believed that I could achieve for example, had high expectations of me and encouraged me to ‘keep going’. This also gave me an insight of my own abilities.I now have a clear understanding that teachers who do not expect Aboriginal students to achieve are actually showing racist behaviour
  • Helped me to develop routines and organisational skillsfor instance, working out time lines for getting work done, creating check lists of materials and resources that I needed.I was disorganised and this wasted a lot of time and in the early part of my studies this too led to feeling frustrated but the more I practised organisational skills the easier it was for me to be organised.
  • Those adults who I felt positive about acknowledged that, like many Aboriginal people, there were factors of disadvantage that I had to overcome, for example, the money wasn’t always available for the compulsory trips, or, when I was in need I was given a multi-trip to travel to and from school, and sometimes even money for the materials required for projects etc. And they provided this support without making me feel shame, about being disadvantaged in this way.

As you can see I have focussed on the positive aspects of What worked for me and it is easy to see the reverse as not being helpful e.g.

  • Any public correction – the shame factor being put on the spot or singled out, which could easily result in violent behaviour as this is an insult.
  • There is a big difference between being toldwhat to do and having something explained to you.
  • Drawing attention to being late – just meant I would not go at all – once again the shame factor.
  • Not recognising my Cultural identity and what is important to me and at times of more importance than school expectations e.g. family needs and Celebrations, funerals.
  • Negative comments about my family not providing everything I needed.
  • Being disciplined for not having the correct uniform was irrelevant on my behalf because that wasn’t one of my priorities, as I was more worried about my home situation etc.

To summarise:

I worked well for those I respected because they respected me and I wanted to do well because they cared about me and believed in me.

This became a driving force with me at the end and made me very determined to be successful.

I can’t talk about my SACE journey without giving attention to my studies but as I said earlier this is very closely tied with the quality of the relationships that I shared with special adults.

There certainly were school structures that were very important in supporting me in my studies and as a person.These included:

  • Working with the School Counsellor who often had to act on my behalf with other staff to negotiate extensions etc when my life was not running smoothly. Having flexibility with deadlines was important – it showed me that peoplecared and this in turn made me want to do the ‘right thing’. It also showed they genuinely cared and they knew there was always a valid reason behind my actions, and not having to explain my situation to ALL my teachers made it a lot easier on my part. I know that without the counsellor’s influence my story would not have reached the successful ending.She was willing to ‘be there for me’ and not just within the school setting.
  • Receiving support from the Aboriginal Education Worker who was a positive role model for me because she was young and had a fresh understanding of what was required of me as a student.
  • The existence of the tutoring scheme.An extremely important part of ‘keeping me on track’. It is a shame that this support is not ‘up and going’ earlier in the SACE program because by the end of term one I had already started ‘to fall off the rails’ and get behind:
  • When you are the first person in your family to complete high school it is impossible for family members to provide much practical support because it is something that they had not experienced and the tutor/mentor person ‘fills this gap’ and can provide lots of encouraging suggestions on how to go about doing some of the work.
  • I also know that it was very important for me that my tutor would not do the work for me but rather would ‘drag my ideas out’ and then through questioning get me to build up upon initial ideas.
  • I think I was lucky in that my mentor, with whom I have a good relationship and who works inAboriginal Education, also became my tutor.
  • Because I did not always have access at home to computers and the internet and indeed to other people with computer skills, this is why it was really important for me to be able to work at school and ask for extra help.

When thinking about my academic achievement I can identify some key points.

  • One turning point being, my ability to switch from using my Aboriginal English in my written work to Standard English.Through my tutor recognising and knowing about Aboriginal English, which is when you write how you talk, she was able to show me how to switch ‘codes’ ie to use prepositions, to link ideas and to make complex sentences and to understand the difference between the structure of the two languages. As this was done with respect for my first language I was able to quickly adapt and my grades immediately moved from B’s to A’s. My teachers had always told me that I had good ideas and it was great to see the result.I can now switch codes to suit the occasion.
  • Another thing I learned about my own learning was that I did best when I wasn’t just told how to do something but given a model of what was considered appropriate. I did not want to copy the work I just wanted to be confident of what to do.So tutors and teachers who understood this and provided models for me to examine made me more confident and thus more direct in the way I tackled my studies.
  • I also appreciated being helped in editing my rough drafts and to be able to ‘talk through and bounce ideas’ with my teachers and tutor.
  • I really became frustrated if I was ‘talked at’ instead of being listened to.Just made me turn off, as I now know I had a huge issue with “Authority Figures”, there is a big difference between being told what to do and having something explained to you in order to complete a task.
  • It may seem a small thing but it was quite powerful in helping me, in the early stages, to get organised. My tutor would ring me every morning to wake me up and would keep on talking to me until she was sure that I was ‘fully awake’. I would have felt great guilt if I had not dragged myself out of bed and got on with the rest of my day, as my tutor showed much support by getting me up.

I think I surprised a lot of people by getting my SACE and for the change in work patterns and especially for the determination I showed in the last ‘stretch’.

I had set my goals and I knew that I needed a lot of practical support to achieve them. Eg a quiet place to work away from the young noisy ones in the family, access to some-one who could be on hand to help edit work and of course access to a computer and the internet until all hours of the night.

I was now chasing my goalsand I want to acknowledge the great help it was for me to ‘move in’ with my mentor and her partner for a while, who spoilt me and encouraged me to ‘keep up the pace’ necessary to make up for the time I had not used effectively earlier in the year. Also gave me insight into what could be mine if I work hard enough.

I had grown so much and now was prepared to work 11+ hours a day to get my SACE.

My success now becomes the measuring stick for my younger siblings:they now know that it is possible to achieve anything you put your mind to! And I will be able to help them.

My journey was not an easy one and I hope that those who supported and encouraged me know how much it all means.

You might like to consider how you support your staff who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. You may also like to consider how these elements apply to the way you work with staff who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.

Staff members feel personally and professionally valued when they are respected for who they are and for their contributions to the wellbeing of the school community.

Staff who feel valued know that leaders and colleagues: / How can you make the most of opportunities? Identify what you can do generally and for particular staff members.
Recognise and appreciate their skills
Value involvement and participation in
decision-making
Appreciate honest requests for help
Provide realistic challenges and relevant support
Encourage risk taking and innovation in a non-blaming environment
Provide constructive and appreciative feedback.
Staff members who feel safe and valued will: / How will you enable this to happen?
Seek opportunities to engage in learning that is relevant to their specific needs, eg cultural tours
Acknowledge the worth of peer support, eg mentoring
Reflect upon their achievements and identify new goals for continued learning
Strive to achieve school goals, which are not only clear to them but also provide a sense of direction
Willingly share their expertise with colleagues.
Leaders foster respect by understanding the needs of the staff regarding: / Leaders do this by:
What values staff members hold about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
Professional learning opportunities to understand and commit to their responsibilities as teachers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
The resources and support they require
Providing appropriate mentors
Learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Leaders foster respect by being explicit about: / Leaders do this by:
Appropriate social behaviour, eg no racist/ sexist jokes permitted
Expectations and responsibilities
Information to be shared.
Leaders foster respect by building team spirit by: / Leaders do this by:
Treating the wellbeing of the staff as core business
Creating situations that encourage people to enjoy working as a team, such as celebrations and rituals (not always serious).

Below is a checklist to help you and your staff analyse and plan strategies to improve instruction of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Alternatively, you can use the Dare to Lead, School review checklist: