Literature Review

Resources and Teaching Strategies to Support Aboriginal Children’s Numeracy Learning

A review of the literature

Tracey Frigo

June 1999

This project was commissioned by the Office of the Board of Studies NSW. The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of the Board of Studies NSW.

Resources and teaching strategies to support Aboriginal children’s numeracy learning

Contents

Contents...... i

Acknowledgements

Overview

Introduction

Structure......

Context......

Barriers to achievement

Cultural frameworks

Engaging in the language of mathematics

Contextualising mathematics

Teaching Aboriginal children

Aboriginal children in the mathematics classroom

Numeracy resources and programs to support teachers of

Indigenous students

New South Wales......

Northern Territory......

Queensland......

South Australia......

Tasmania......

Victoria......

Western Australia......

Summary

Annotated Bibliography

Acknowledgements

This review of Research into K-6 Aboriginal Numeracy in NSW was commissioned by the New South Wales Board of Studies.

The research for this review was undertaken in consultation with Dr Margaret Valadian and Natascha MacNamara from the Centre for Indigenous Development, Education and Research at the University of Wollongong. Their knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal education issues is based on a wealth of expertise and experience. I thank them for their input into this project and their ongoing support for ACER research which aims to improve learning outcomes for Indigenous students.

Thanks also to my ACER colleagues Graeme Withers and Dr Sue Fullarton for their valued comments on early drafts and proofreading of the final report.

1

Literature Review

Resources and teaching strategies to support Aboriginal children’s numeracy learning

Tracey Frigo

Overview

The themes that emerged from the literature on numeracy development and Aboriginal students are consistent with a wider body of research pertaining to effective teaching and learning strategies for Aboriginal children in general and effective strategies to enhance numeracy learning for all children, particularly those who do not come from a home background which already reflects what happens in school.

The following factors emerged as key considerations for the development of numeracy materials for Aboriginal primary school students in New South Wales:

The teaching strategies suggested for numeracy activities should:

  • reinforce that teachers’ beliefs and understanding of their pedagogical practice is essential for effective numeracy teaching;
  • equip teachers with a range of teaching strategies to reflect the diverse learning needs and ways of learning of their Aboriginal students;
  • provide a supportive environment in which Aboriginal students feel confident as learners and risk-takers;
  • recognise that mathematics classes are essentially a linguistic exercise and a very complex one for Aboriginal students given their diverse backgrounds and language needs;
  • encourage the provision of positive, non-threatening, language-rich environments in mathematics classrooms; and
  • support parents and communities in becoming or being further involved in their children’s learning.

The content of numeracy materials should:

  • value Aboriginal students’ diverse cultural and linguistic heritages;
  • make explicit the difference between Western mathematics and Aboriginal mathematics, and value both equally ;
  • make explicit the link between community, home and school mathematics;
  • provide realistic and real-life classroom contexts for mathematics activities;
  • be developed in consultation with local communities and Aboriginal education workers; and
  • be open to and encourage modifications of content and pedagogy to reflect particular students’ interests and learning needs;

If these resources are to be used effectively in classrooms they should:

  • encourage teachers to become aware fully of the complexity of the cultural and social contexts in which Aboriginal students learn mathematics;
  • encourage teachers to explore and use the particular contexts, especially numeracy ones, for their Aboriginal students;
  • encourage teachers to identify the particular learning needs and preferred ways of learning of each of their Aboriginal students;
  • invite teachers to reflect on their practice and to identify and build on what works for their Aboriginal students; and
  • reinforce the critical relationship between high teacher expectations, a positive classroom climate and student achievement.

Introduction

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.

The report of the Numeracy Education Strategy Development Conference, Numeracy = Everyone's Business (DEETYA, 1997) provided the following description of numeracy to inform work in numeracy education:

To be numerate is to use mathematics effectively to meet the general demands of life at home, in paid work, and for participation in community and civic life.

In school education, numeracy is a fundamental component of learning, performance, discourse and critique across all areas of the curriculum. It involves the disposition to use, in context, a combination of:

  • underpinning mathematical concepts and skills from across the discipline (numerical, spatial, graphical, statistical and algebraic);
  • mathematical thinking and strategies;
  • general thinking skills; and
  • grounded appreciation of context. (p.15)

Although ‘numeracy’ may be defined more broadly than ‘school mathematics’ much of the literature focuses on the teaching and learning of numeracy in the key learning area of mathematics. The research on Aboriginal children learning mathematics is part of a wider body of literature concerned with general teaching and learning strategies which enhance educational outcomes for Aboriginal children. This more general research will be briefly referred to in the review to provide a broader picture of issues relating to effective teaching programs and resources for Aboriginal children.

The literature on the development of numeracy skills in Aboriginal children is not vast. Much of the research relating to Aboriginal children and mathematics has been conducted in geographically remote areas of Australia. However it should be recognised that the great majority of New South Wales Aboriginal people live in areas that are classified as urban (29%) or other urban (67%; in areas with a population cluster of 1000 or more people). While it is important to be mindful of the diversity of circumstances in which Aboriginal students live (traditional and non-traditional communities or dispersed) there are many general themes which emerge in the literature (for example, identifying the mathematics that exists in the child’s home environment) that can be applied to both urban and rural Aboriginal children.

The search of literature was undertaken using the facilities of the Cunningham Library at ACER, the Australian Education Index and the Internet. It was decided to limit the search to books and articles written over the last 10 years and to focus on empirically based research and work by practitioners rather than on the theoretical literature. It was thought that this scope would be the most relevant for informing discussions about the development of numeracy resources for NSW Aboriginal students.

Structure

Although the body of research reviewed for this paper is relatively small, a number of key themes consistently emerged to inform a framework for the development of numeracy resources for Aboriginal children. These come under the broad headings of:

  • teaching Aboriginal students;
  • cultural frameworks;
  • engaging in the language of mathematics; and
  • contextualising mathematics.

In addition to the research literature, reference is made to numeracy programs and resources currently being used in schools that focus on Aboriginal students. In most cases there is little empirical evidence regarding their effectiveness.

An annotated bibliography is included so that particular references and resources may be assessed for their usefulness in more directly supporting the development of the resource materials.

Context

The context for this review is the continued focus of both Federal and State Governments on improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students along with a growing focus on improving numeracy skills for all children.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP) (Commonwealth of Australia, 1989) articulated that the long-term goal for schools should be 'to enable Aboriginal attainment of skills to the same standard as other Australian students throughout the compulsory schooling years' (p.15).

Successive Commonwealth, State and Territory government policies have consistently called for the implementation of culturally appropriate curricula, pedagogy, assessment and reporting practices to improve literacy and numeracy achievement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The National Strategy for the Education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 1996-2002 (MCEETYA, 1995) called for the:

  • cultural evaluation of mainstream literacy and numeracy programs including a determination of their appropriateness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and, where necessary, the development of new approaches;
  • introduction of technology and technology information to assist the development of literacy and numeracy skills;
  • identification and utilisation of computer software packages that can assist achievement in educational outcomes in the key learning areas; and
  • development of high quality curriculum and resource materials which include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the identified key learning areas. (p. 55-56)

The New South Wales Department of School Education’s Aboriginal Education Policy (1996) outlined a set of strategies designed to improve the literacy and numeracy achievement of Aboriginal students:

  • targeting resources on transition to school and early literacy programs;
  • preparing Reading Recovery teachers to work with Aboriginal students and communities;
  • accepting and valuing Aboriginal English and developing teaching programs which use it as a teaching tool;
  • providing intensive literacy and numeracy programs with accompanying resources including Aboriginal content and perspectives for use at all stages of schooling; and
  • researching appropriate methodology and content across all key learning areas. (p. 10)

Although some improvements have been achieved, it is clear that a substantial gap continues to exist between educational outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

The National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (1995) reviewed the extent to which inequality for Indigenous people in terms of educational outcomes continued to exit. Based on an analysis of results of the range of state assessment programs in literacy and numeracy a Discussion Paper for The National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (1994) reported that:

  • about one in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students achieve at levels above the average for students as a whole;
  • overall, the literacy and numeracy achievement of about 45% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is lower than one standard deviation below the mean achievement level of other Australian students;
  • the differences between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and other Australian students in literacy and numeracy achievement are smaller in urban areas and greater in rural (including remote) locations;
  • in urban locations, about 27% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students achieve at levels above the average for students in urban locations as a whole; in rural (non-town) locations about 20% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students achieve above the average for students in rural (non-town) locations as a whole; and
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls consistently record higher achievements in literacy than boys, but there is little difference in the achievements of girls and boys in numeracy. These gender patterns are similar to those for all Australian primary school students. (pp. 23-24)

Barriers to achievement

The reasons for poor educational outcomes for Aboriginal children as a group are many and complex. Aboriginality is not in itself a reason to expect poor educational outcomes. However Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as a group have the highest degree of overlap with other educationally disadvantaged groups, such as those with low literacy and numeracy skills, the long term unemployed, those in custody, and those living in rural and isolated areas. Poor educational outcomes may also be related to poverty and to the covert discrimination and racism experienced by many Aboriginal children, ranging from low teacher expectations to peer harassment(Adams, 1998).

As well, many Aboriginal children experience health problems (especially hearing loss resulting from otitis media), many are ESL learners or speak a non-standard dialect at home or have parents with low literacy levels. These children experience an education with predominantly non-Aboriginal teachers who are not adequately trained to meet their needs and in a learning setting which is not culturally appropriate (Batten, Frigo, Hughes and McNamara, 1998).

Munns and Connelly (1996) linked the poor educational achievement of Aboriginal students in a Sydney inner-city primary school to a mismatch between the culture of the home and the culture of the school. The students’ behaviour at school was characterised by lack of risk-taking in the classroom, fear of being shamed and refusal to work which often resulted in absence or suspension from school.

Indigenous children who live in rural and remote areas may experience additional barriers to successful learning at school. The literature review carried out as part of the Desert Schools projectidentified a number of key issues in the educational disadvantage experienced by Indigenous people in remote schools including, culturally inappropriate teaching strategies and forms of assessment, the relevance of school, teacher training, teacher expectations, student motivation, student-teacher relationships, language issues, attendance, housing, health, substance abuse and community funding resources (National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia (NLLIA), 1996):

In some instances, there was a lack of seriousness and rigour in the teaching of English and other curriculum areas. This appeared to result from a tendency in some schools to seek to improve attendance by an emphasis on entertainment, without students achieving sufficient satisfaction or real outcomes from their learning achievements … Experienced and confident teachers took their students out of the formal school setting and tried to relate their learning to collaborative tasks in the community context, thereby bringing meaning and a shared purpose to the activity. (p.338)

It is known that recurrent mild to moderate hearing loss can result in a range of communication and linguistic problems which are likely to affect the development of literacy skills and subsequently of numeracy skills. The incidence of educationally significant hearing loss is found to be particularly widespread in Indigenous communities. In many instances, teachers are not aware of the incidence of hearing problems in the classroom as other behaviours may mask hearing loss. The effect of hearing problems can be severely exacerbated if the child also comes from a non-English speaking background (Nienhuys and Burnip, 1988).

Cultural frameworks

Mathematics education is embedded in cultural frameworks. The predominant framework in Australia is Western, and there are many differences between this and the framework in which Aboriginal mathematics is embedded. Bishop (1994) argues that it is important to distinguish between Western mathematics and Aboriginal mathematics and to recognise that the learning of mathematics is essentially an enculturation process. Mathematics is a socially constructed way of knowing.

In the context of describing the dichotomy between Western and Aboriginal mathematical schema, Cooke defines of three kinds of mathematics:

  • Western Mathematics. Mathematics is a Western schema for ordering, patterning, relating and operating on, quantities based in a European system of logic, where this schema is applied in ordering social activity and in seeking to understand, explain and define the structure and behaviour of whatever exists.
  • Pan-cultural mathematics. Mathematics is the manifestation of a universal human cognitive characteristic reflected in the behaviour of people as they locate in time, space and society. The categorisation of any given behaviour or linguistic item as Mathematical in quality, is based on the presence of a clear conceptual link with Western Mathematical notions.
  • Mathematics as a cultural schema. Mathematics is a culture’s system for encoding, interpreting and organising the patterns and relationships emerging from the human experience of physical, spiritual and social phenomena. (in Jones et al., 1995, p. 25)

This type of model makes it possible to overcome what Stanton refers to as a ‘preoccupation with Piagetian development stages and the blind following of primary school concept development and technique master traditions’, which ultimately ranks Western mathematical thinking as superior to other world views (in Jones et al., 1995, p. 15). As an illustration of these differences, Mandawuy Yunnipingnu explained some of the Yolngu learning methods and their mathematics:

It is different in that it is centred on kinship; centred on a system that is governed in a social sense - how we relate to each other and how things are run; everyday normal sort of things. We learn and abide by the kinship system and it can be applied to Western areas where Yolngu people have traditionally had trouble grasping concepts, such as mathematics and the sciences. In mathematics you have recursive processes and even though it is an ongoing thing it keeps on coming back - similar in that after 10 you keep on counting from one to the next ten. By applying the recurring themes of our kinship system. This is an area to which Aboriginal students can be linked. There are similarities which can help us grasp the concepts of mathematics and ultimately enable Yolgnu people to function in a contemporary world. (Potter, 1994, p.3)

The National Statement on Mathematics (Australian Education Council, 1991) recognised the cultural limitations of the mathematics curriculum which:

has tended to emphasise values and concerns which are more middle class than working class, and to draw on experiences which are more relevant to children of Anglo-Celtic descent than those of Aboriginal descent or those from non-English-speaking backgrounds ... Cultural appreciation of mathematics should include an understanding of the richness of mathematical ideas which were part of Australian society before the arrival of Europeans. (p. 15)