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It is commonly recognized that there is a strong relationship between a

higher educational attainment and a better life opportunities (Jones, 2009; Wilks
& Wilson, 2015; Bourke, 2000). Those who left the school in Year 10 would have
fewer life, employment and income opportunities than those who obtained the
Bachelor degree in university. This issue can impact more significantly on
Indigenous students due to the fact that attendance and retention rates of
Indigenous students are significantly lower than non-Indigenous students (Jones,
2009). Purdie & Buckley (2010) point out the importance of Indigenous students
remaining in schools in order to achieve adequate levels of education. However,
some challenges that Indigenous students face to complete schooling include
social justice issues such as deficit theory in Aboriginal culture and history,
remote location, racism, as well as teaching pedagogy and curriculum
organisation (Closing the gap, 2017 p. 35; Jones, 2009). This paper will explore
possible teaching practices that teachers can use to best assist Aboriginal
students in everyday classroom setting, and examine the significance of
addressing the Australian Teaching for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)
standard 1.4 and 2.4 in order to close the educational attainment and retention
rate gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous students. The following will
continue to discuss essential components for teaching aboriginal students,
reaching out to their learning needs, increasing retention rate and building
positive relationship with Indigenous students.

Regular school attendance and completing compulsory school years is

one of the essential reasons for ensuring educational success and developing
core skills such as literacy and numeracy for all students (Closing the gap, 2017;
Gray & Beresford, 2008).). While Indigenous students should be entitled to this,
many of Aboriginal students in rural communities face a higher risk of
experiencing social disadvantages and poor access to education (Biddle, Hunter
& Schwab, 2004). Within remote areas, Indigenous students start school already
behind compared to non-Indigenous Australian students due to having a low
proficiency in Standard Australian English (SAE) and growing up in low literacy
home environments (Jones, 2009). It is evident that Indigenous students’
retention rate is significantly lower than those who are non-Indigenous students

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and its gap continues to widen with remoteness (Gray & Beresford, 2008;). NSW
Department of Education (2015) reports that non-rural Aboriginal students’
retention rate is approximately 10% higher than those Aboriginal students in
remote areas. The reasons for this can be argued by a variety of social
disadvantages that Aboriginal students experience such having fewer school
distribution, poor transition from primary to secondary school, limited access to
the Internet and electronic (Biddle et al, 2004).

Current policy that concerns Aboriginal education promotes equality in

education and commits to close the gap between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal
students. Many programs and strategies have been installed to help minimise the
educational gap, however, there is a lack of real progress and improvement
(Hogarth, 2017). As a teacher within Australian educational system, I have
responsibilities to provide the same learning opportunities for both non-
Aboriginal and Aboriginal students. It might be challenging for one teacher alone
to solve the problems for a lack of transportation in remote communities,
however, we could implement something little in our own classroom to motivate
students who made effort to come to the school. Differentiating pedagogy for
Aboriginal students is essential and can take different forms at different levels of
differentiation. By implementing short-term reward system to award a student
who had the most trouble getting to school, it could motivate Aboriginal students
to attend school on a regular basis and make them feel cared and included in a
classroom environment (Murphy, O’Loughlin & Parkin, 2018). In my KLAs,
Mandarin Chinese and English as a second language and dialect (EAL/D), I could
use more printed material than electronic and allocate a binder for each student
so they can keep everything in order. I should also be mindful about their
previous educational experience and differences in lifestyle in order to give an
appropriate help in their learning.

Indigenous culture and history must be respected and included within

Australian education system (Sarra, 2011). While inclusive education for all
students is a vital approach to embrace the diversity exists in Australia, Western
ways of knowing and learning is considered to be ‘normal’ which is reflected on

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curriculum, assessment and pedagogy (Gawaian & Carlson, 2016). Historically,

Australian school system has been operated to assimilate Aboriginal students
into the mainstream culture and considering aboriginal culture and language as
‘inferior’ (Jones, 2009). One good example of this ‘deficit’ model is the lack of
attention and acknowledgement given to Aboriginal English compared to SAE. As
SAE has different dialects and variations within Australia, Aboriginal English
should be recognised as a part of SAE which consists of its own structure that has
been used by its people to communicate. Instead, the use of this English dialect is
considered as inferior to SAE and is not widely accepted within classroom
setting.

Historically, government policy displayed a strong racism toward

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and denial of providing equal education as
the white race until the 1950s (Gray & Beresford, 2008). While the current
educational policy (NSW Department of Education, 2018) promotes life-long
learning and equity education for Aboriginal students, generations of
segregation brought debilitating effects on intergenerational disadvantages.
Within this discourse, Aboriginal students themselves believe that they cannot
succeed academically and belong in the mainstream (Gray & Beresford, 2008).
Developing the concept of their own Aboriginal identity and pride for their
culture, language and people is critical during the adolescence. Thus, when
learning at school reflect no respect to Aboriginal culture and history and
Aboriginal students are told that they do not belong in school, they struggle to
develop a sense of belonging. This issue also leads to other concerning factors
that affect aboriginal students to drop out of school due to experiencing stress,
traumatic experiences and low self-esteem (Jones, 2009).

In this regard to the ‘deficit’ thinking, as a graduate teacher, it is

important that I use specific strategies to increase a sense of belonging and self-
esteem for Aboriginal students. In order to create a classroom culture that is
respectful for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and
languages, Professional Standard 2.4, “promote reconciliation between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians” must be carefully implemented

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(AITSL, 2018). Although there are a variety of strategies schools and teachers
could implement to improve aboriginal students’ learning and retention, none of
them will successfully bring the result if schools does not provide active support
to enrich student identity and belonging (Harrison & Sellwood, 2016). In the
context of my paper, I will limit my responses to specifically in the EAL/D stage 4
classroom environment. When incorporating the Object 8 “identifies, considers
and appreciates cultural expression in texts”(EN4-8D) in the EAL/D syllabus, it
requires students to explore different cultural and social contexts that may be
similar or different to their owns through the studies of various text types (NSW
Education Standards Authority, p18). Learning through the use of narrative is
important tool for all students, especially aboriginal students benefit from this to
make connections to their cultures, land and people through sharing stories (8
ways). EAL/D classroom can certainly utilise one of the Aboriginal dreamtime
story for students to read and write their own version of stories. Students are
able to critically explore key language features and different perspectives about
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ACELT1806). Within a broader sense,
involving with a local aboriginal community or an aboriginal person is highly
encouraged in EAL/D syllabus and can benefit Aboriginal youth to build a
stronger sense of belonging and pride which are the essential components to
their well-being and educational success (Jones, 2008). This way of increasing
awareness and understanding for aboriginal cultures and history within schools
plays significant role in making sure that aboriginal voices are heard and
respected equally to non-Aboriginal students.

Briggs (2017, p42) notes a strong correlation between “students with

attendance issues and who are disengaged, are more likely to leave during Year
11 and therefor fail to complete Year 12” for aboriginal students. Many studies
have shown many differing factors that effect aboriginal students engagement
issues, the most significant ones being a poor relationship and low expectation
from teachers and not recognizing their identity (Jones, 2009; Harrison &
Sellwood, 2016; Gary, 2010). While many educators understand the importance
of these elements to engage disadvantaged and minority students, whether or
not they are taking serious actions should be questioned. In the previous section

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of the paper, intergeneration educational disadvantages and misconception of

‘deficit’ thinking for aboriginal students have been discussed. Similarly, schools
and teachers are influenced by this notion where educational resources and
strategies are allocated for Indigenous students on the basis of a ‘need to catch
up’ (Stronger Smarter Institute, 2014, p3). This concept is perpetuating in
Australian educational policy, hence, leading mainstream Australia to hold some
negative and inaccurate perceptions toward Aboriginal students.

For Aboriginal students to remain engaged and motivated at school, it is

critical that teachers understand Aboriginal ways of learning which essentially
relates their Torres Strait Islander identity (Harrison & Sellwood, 2016).
Learning in classroom should be focused on life-related and life-inspired content
that aboriginal student can foster a sense of belonging in the context (Frank
Mills, oral communication, 2015; Foster, 2003 as cited in Harrison and Sellwood,
2016). In order to create classroom that is positive for Aboriginal students, the
AITSL Professional Standard 1.4 “strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander” has to be considered (AITSL, 2018). In my Chinese class, I could
focus on the outcome LCH4-9U with a topic of greeting and how students should
speak differently to depending on whom they are talking to. Students need to
consider if they are speaking to closed friends, family or other people and
relationship between them (NESA, 2017). Aboriginal students are encouraged to
use their aboriginal language to reflect and make connections to their culture
and identity. As a graduate teacher, I need to be able to build up cultural
competency for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and also teach my
students to build themselves a good cultural competence. The higher individual’s
cultural competency is, the better my students’ ability to understand and value
different ways that indigenous people viewing their worlds and cultures (Purdie
& Buckley, 2010).

Challenging to get rid of the ‘deficit’ thinking is difficult, but plays a crucial
role to help me to plan my teaching and deliver pedagogy in more culturally
responsive ways. All students have differences in many ways, and my job as a
teacher is to appreciate and embrace every single one of them. Rather than

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focusing on how best I could help Aboriginal students fit in my classroom and
school, I should tailor my thoughts to what cultural knowledge and
understanding they may bring to learning space that enrich our cultural
competency. A positive teacher-student relationship and high expectation have
significant impact on Aboriginal students’ retention rate, academic achievement
and engagement (Purdie & Buckley, 2010). Therefore, as a teacher within the
diversity, I have understood that I should create learning environment that is
safe and comfortable for every student to learn.

To sum up, numbers of social justice issues surrounding Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander students’ retention rate and academic performance have
been discussed in this essay, including racism, remote location, deficit theory as
well as poor expectation and engagement from teachers. The current education
policy and understanding of Aboriginal students have been build up on the basis
of intergenerational disadvantages that ‘they cannot succeed’ and ‘they need to
catch up with non-indigenous students’. The important components to create
positive and respectful classroom environment and relationship with Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander consist of establishing a good teacher-student
relationship, a high expectation as well as increasing cultural competency in
individuals. While some issues can not be solved with one teacher’s effort, this
does not mean that teachers can stop taking actions to bring equity education for
Aboriginal students. Being a teacher is simply more than just transmitting
knowledge, but being able to utilise pedagogy to the best to meet the needs of
diverse students and make students feel respected and belonged in classroom.

Reference

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Option 1 Nana Iwasaki 18978005

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