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Assignment 1: Aboriginal Education (Critically Reflective Essay)

Dr Chris Sarra speaks the truth when stating that “there is no place in any educational

jurisdiction for educators with stifled perceptions of who Indigenous students are, or what

they can achieve” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017) as part of the Closing the Gap Report.

This essay will critically reflect on this statement from Chris Sarra with reference to the

Stronger Smarter Institute (SSI) modules. Related research from a number of reputable

sources will be given and strategies for future teachers will be made in regard to improving a

learning environment for all students.

Due to the increasing achievement gap and inequity in school outcomes between indigenous

and non-indigenous students alternative teaching and education measures are being discussed

by stakeholders at all levels of the education system. Education is primarily the responsibility

of both the state and territory governments. The overarching issue of the educational gap that

exists between Indigenous and non-indigenous students has become such a concern that the

Australian Government has created a national policy to drive improvement in education

outcomes. The following statement indicates the aim of this policy: “The National Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander Education Strategy and the Framework for Aboriginal Languages

and Torres Islander Languages commit and support all governments to ensure teachers,

schools and communities build a culturally inclusive school environment for Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander students” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017). Surrounding this policy

is the aim to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school attendance and

performance outcomes by the end of 2018.

Objectives from the Aboriginal Education Policy (2016) such as the 1.6 section (The

department will consult with local Aboriginal communities and support teachers to) directly

links to the targets set by the Stronger Smarter Institute (SSI) modules. This includes the need
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for teachers and other community members to develop high expectations of all Aboriginal

students, motivate Aboriginal students for successful participation, pursue personal

excellence, achieve age appropriate syllabus outcomes and enable Aboriginal students to

achieve age appropriate syllabus outcomes in schools.

It can be identified that numerous levels of government and non-government organisations

are taking action to improve and decrease this gap in education. Different organisations and

councils are reviewing current and past statistics in hope to find an answer. This is noticeable

when analysing statistics from governing bodies and organisations such as the COAG Reform

Council (2013), indicating that Indigenous students perform well below the educational

standards in aspects of school enrolment, year 12 completion, literacy results and attendance.

Similar statistics from Commonwealth of Australia (2017) revealed that in 2016 the overall

attendance rate for Indigenous students was almost 10 percent lower (at 83.4 percent) when

compared to non-indigenous students (at 93.1 percent). This gap increases (24.7 percent)

when comparing students in very remote areas. According to mission Australia (2016) these

rates are affected by a range of issues including intergenerational unemployment, family

violence, health care, housing and mental health issues. This can also be linked with the cycle

of disadvantage (Adaptation of Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and

Indigenous Affairs, 2009) where one factor can create further barriers to access support for a

person, creating a cycle of marginalisation and compounding disadvantage.

Attendance, completion rates, literacy and numeracy are all factors which are noticeable in

this education gap, however, there are other pressing factors which need to be addressed.

These factors or core issues according to the ‘What Works – The Work Program’ include

reducing suspensions, helping schools to use data appropriately and take action to improve

student outcomes and effectively assist schools in using personalised learning plans (PLPs) in

order to improve these student outcomes. For example, research from the What Works – The
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Work Program (NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc and NSW Department of

Education and Training, 2004) indicated that the number of suspensions annually per 1000

students (years 7 to 10) for both male and female Aboriginal students consisted of 880 for

short suspensions and 205 for long suspensions compared with non-Aboriginal students with

250 short suspensions and 54 for long. Individuals such as Dr Chris Sara in collaboration

with campaigns such as the Stronger Smarter Institute and What Works – The Work Program

suggest and educate programs and strategies to implement at all levels for educators. The

programs and strategies will be discussed in the second half of this essay.

Dr Chris Sarra speaks the truth in her statement as teachers or “educators” need to have an

open mind without “stifled perceptions” of who Indigenous students are. As expressed early

on in the unit teachers (myself) may need to unlearn some of their past learnt perceptions and

recognise own privilege and understanding what knowledge is privileged. This needs to be

achieved in order to create teachers who adapt to become engaging and dynamic teachers for

all kinds of learners- especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners. Teachers must

therefore have a growth mindset which can be defined as an intelligence quality that can be

changed and developed as opposed to a fixed mindset which is intelligence as a fixed trait

(Dweck, 2006). Research suggests that students improve in educational performance when

they believe their ability can be improved. This can also be recognised in the self-efficacy

theory (Bandura, 1986), goal theory (Dweck & Leggett, 1988), expectancy-value theory

(Eccles, Adler, Futterman, Goff, Kaczala, Meece, & Midgely, 1983) and attribution theory

(Weiner, 1979) where students have great power in recognising and controlling their

performance in the learning environment.

Sullivan, Johnson, Owens, & Conway (2014) argue that teachers could benefit from

understanding classroom environment and ecology influencing engagement and its impact on

student behaviour. Ecology has traditionally been defined as the density and distribution of
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organisms (Sommer, 1967) but has more recently been defined as the interaction between

people and environment (Sussman, 2012) where the environment created in schools and

classrooms has a major effect on student’s ability to learn, when speaking in educational

terms. Lewthwaite et al (2015) believes that teachers should work more closely to their

surrounding peers (teachers, students and elders) and “at a deeper level drawing into

consideration the need for a responsive pedagogy that shows an understanding of culture in

its many manifestations, especially its history and how history perpetuates and manifests in

the student-teacher interface in classrooms today”. This quote supports Keddie’s (2014) ideas

by easing the transition for students between home life and school. By doing this teachers and

staff members will see more participation in school and higher levels of engagement which

will in turn lessen the educational gap and disadvantage among Indigenous students.

Teachers can work with the students to create and modify activities to suit their needs,

therefore creating an engaging positive environment. As Abdi (2014) noted “teachers should

make concentrated efforts to teach in a multi-style fashion that both reaches the greatest

extent of students in a given class and challenges all students to grow as learners”. According

to the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs

(2011) a safe schooling environment is considered “a safe and supportive school, the risk

from all types of harm is minimised, diversity is valued, and all members of the school

community feel respected and included and can be confident that they will receive support in

the face of any threats to their safety or wellbeing”. This factor can sometimes be the sole

responsibility of the teacher and part of the reason why Dr Chris Sara places so much

emphasis on teacher perceptions as the teacher directly influences the learning environment.

In order to achieve this safe engaging positive environment teachers must develop strategies

such as those proposed in the What Works – The Work Program (NSW Aboriginal Education

Consultative Group Inc and NSW Department of Education and Training, 2004) introduced
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earlier on in the essay. This program interrelates closely with that of the Stronger Smarter

Institute (SSI) (2017) in its set values, goals and strategies. For example, as part of the core

issue two, in reducing suspensions, the What Works program aims to cut down the overall

number of suspensions and in particular statistics associated with Indigenous students as it is

clear that Indigenous students have a much higher rate of suspensions compared with non-

Indigenous students. Strategies involved in preventing suspensions for students include using

specialised regional staff, such as Aboriginal Education Consultants and Aboriginal

Community Liaison Officers to work with families to help resolve issues. High expectation

relationships, students encouraged to develop personal goals and targets and all levels of staff

being provided with the opportunity to participate in training as part of the school planned

approach for example mind matters and SSI.

Throughout related research and teacher training programs there is one term that keeps

coming to fruition and that is ‘high expectations’ and ‘high expectation relationships’. This

term is discussed in the SSI philosophy which “honours a positive sense of cultural identity,

and acknowledges and embraces positive community leadership, enabling innovative and

dynamic approaches and processes that are anchored by high expectations relationships. High

expectations relationships honour the humanity of others, and in so doing, acknowledge one’s

strengths, capacity and human right to emancipatory opportunity” (Stronger Smarter Institute,

2017). In summary the SSI works to directly improve educational outcomes and

environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Throughout the journey exploring the two-part module (main part and meta-strategies)

course, the SSI approach effectively addresses key issues concerning Aboriginal students’

achievement. Part one of the approach gives insight to the main aims and philosophy of SSI,

part two covers all aspects of school cultures and influences on them and if negative school

culture exists part three introduces strategies for change. The meta-strategies encompass
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encouraging positive student identity, embracing positive Indigenous leadership, instilling

high expectations leadership and the concluding strategy is based on whole school

approaches and innovative school models. Specifically, the SSI identifies the stigmatisation

that can surround Indigenous students and creates situations and strategies to effectively

disperse these negative connotations.

A great example of this is introduced in the meta-strategy one (positive student identity)

which recognises that schools should be places where identity is nurtured and embraced to

improve students' self-esteem and enhance their learning capacity, and educators assert a

belief in the capacity and worth of Indigenous children as capable learners. Dr Chris Sara

then compares a student he met as a counsellor in Cairns who according to teachers of that

school “had no self-esteem and was disengaged but said he liked going to school” however

Dr Chris Sara explained that at night this student would dress in full Island warrior gear who

“danced with pride” and showed no lack of self-esteem in that environment. This is where

future teachers need to extensively improve not only their pedagogy to bridge the gap

between home and school life but also improve their outlook in this situation as Dr Chris Sara

clearly pointed out that the teacher’s views were wrong, and the student had no problems

with self-esteem.

As a pre-service teacher it is our responsibility to take action to minimise “stifled perceptions

of who Indigenous students are” and enforce strategies to reduce the educational gap that still

exists. Teachers must focus and adequately achieve points 1.4 (Strategies for teaching

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students) and 2.4 (Understand and respect Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-

Indigenous Australians) according to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

(AITSL, 2011). Teachers for example with a key learning area of PD/H/PE can introduce

games from the Yulunga traditional Indigenous games (Australian Sports Commission, 2008)
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to make this connection. The games introduced in this source makes connection to land and

histories. For example, “the game boogalah was a ball game played by both genders of the

Juwalarai people in New South Wales. A ball (boogalah) was made of sewn-up kangaroo

skin. In playing the game all of one Dhé, or totem, were team-mates”. Not only does this

game provide specific information linking to the AITSL standards but it also gives an

opportunity for elders of that specific peoples to introduce these games that were traditionally

played and are still sometimes played in the community.

Unfortunately, in today’s society there are still teachers who have “stifled perceptions of who

Indigenous students are, or what they can achieve” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017). It is

the responsibility of all educators and educational organisations to change this concept which

so heavily impacts on the educational gap that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous

students. Educators must first reflect on their pedagogy and if needed, change aspects of their

teaching methods to suit the needs of every student. In order to do this, educators may access

training programs such as SSI and conduct the modules which effectively creates an

awareness of the problem that exists and introduces strategies to overcome these problems.

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