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Working With Indigenous Students Assignment

This document discusses strategies for improving engagement among Indigenous students. It argues that creating a positive school culture that encourages Indigenous identity and building relationships between teachers and Indigenous families are important. An example activity described asks students to take on the role of Indigenous journalists reporting on European settlement in their language, allowing for culturally responsive and group learning. Quality teaching that develops engagement and relationships across communities is key to positive learning environments for Indigenous students.

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141 views

Working With Indigenous Students Assignment

This document discusses strategies for improving engagement among Indigenous students. It argues that creating a positive school culture that encourages Indigenous identity and building relationships between teachers and Indigenous families are important. An example activity described asks students to take on the role of Indigenous journalists reporting on European settlement in their language, allowing for culturally responsive and group learning. Quality teaching that develops engagement and relationships across communities is key to positive learning environments for Indigenous students.

Uploaded by

api-314846713
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Caitlin Finn

20153672

Working With Indigenous


Students
Assignment
Caitlin Finn 20153672
ED4132 Working With Indigenous Students
Assignment 1
The following assignment will discuss the importance of building a
learning environment that is based on effective student engagement
for Indigenous Students. I will then provide an example of an in class
activity that would make learning engaging, accessible and culturally
responsive for Indigenous students.

According to The Department of Education and Early Childhood


Development (2009) student engagement and connectedness to
school is a fundamental underlying framework for effective student
learning. While there are many strategies for general student
engagement, strategies will be discussed with a focus on the
Indigenous student. Literature indicates that school-based factors play
a significant role in developing an engaging learning environment for
Indigenous students. In turn, this can have a significant effect on their
attendance and educational outcomes. There are numerous factors
that come together to create this positive learning environment for
Indigenous students.
The main factors that will be a focus in this essay include creating a
positive school culture that encourages a positive sense of Indigenous
student identity and providing teachers with the skills and knowledge
to effectively engage and develop relationships with Indigenous
students and their families. Firstly, motivating indigenous students has
throughout history and at present been a difficult task, but one of the
first and most important task for a teacher and schooling community to
achieve with their Indigenous students. According to McConaghy
(2000), many teachers are concerned that Aboriginal teenagers do not
reach educational levels commensurate with their abilities and it is
essential to understand what these young people expect of themselves
and for themselves. Past and present issues with Indigenous students
and their engagement with education obviously is a consequence from
the dark history of Indigenous people in Australia since the white

ED4132 Working with Indigenous Students

Assignment 1

Caitlin Finn

20153672

settlement. This is a long history and will not be a focus of this


assignment.
It is pivotal that a school community encourages a positive sense of
Indigenous identity. For a long time most Indigenous students regarded
themselves as aliens at school and it seems to be closely bound up
with the process of establishing identity, of becoming part of a group
and of seeking the security of belonging (McConaghy, 2000).
Engagement in and recognition of culture in schools is fundamental to
improving Indigenous engagement, contributing to the positive self
Identity of Indigenous young people and increasing self-esteem among
students (Harrison, 2012). The formation of effective partnerships with
schools, families, communities and Indigenous Elders and developing a
trusting relationship is vital (CTGC, 2015) and one positive result is that
they can together, aim the student in the same direction (McConaghy,
2000). Indigenous parents might be more comfortable sending their
children to school sand interacting with schools that they see to be
culturally inclusive and supportive of their childrens education and
culture (CTGC, 2014). Studies have found if schools, Indigenous
families and communities worked in partnership students receive
better results.
Paul Hughes, an aboriginal educator from south Australia, believes
there is no single aboriginal way of learning although does talk about
recurrent Aboriginal learning strengths to suggest that Aboriginal
students do learn in special ways (Harrison, 2012). Firstly, It is so
pivotal for meaning making in the cross-cultural classroom. Kids should
be encouraged to read for meaning, rather than just reading the words
passively. Research has suggested that many Indigenous students are
not prepared to sit there and wait for the future to come along, so if
these students are going to succeed they must accept that what they
learn to day may be of no immediate value, and that schooling is often
a matter of learning fundamental skills that will be useful later
(Harrison, 2012).
In addition to this way of learning, other effective strategies are
modeling and scaffolding, learning through observation, imitation, trial
and error and group work (Harrison, 2012). Research has found that
Aboriginal children usually work better in groups because they learn
form each other as much as they learn from the teacher and are more
likely to take risks and be more confident within a group (Harrison,
2012). Many Indigenous students are more effective students when
learning through doing rather than theory (Harrison, 2012). The
understanding that learning occurs in the context to which it applies is
why teachers need to treat each school differently, with its students
learning in different contexts.

ED4132 Working with Indigenous Students

Assignment 1

Caitlin Finn

20153672

Now I will provide and example of an activity within the classroom that
adopts some of these mentioned strategies and that is also culturally
responsive, accessible and engaging. The context is a Year 9 History
class learning about European Settlement in Australia and the impacts
on the Indigenous people. Their previous learnings has been the first
European settlements in Australia and the events that occurred during
and after this time. The class is put into groups, chosen by the teacher
and each group is given the Noongar to English dictionary. The task is
to as a group embody the roles of Indigenous journalists at the time of
European settlement and have been witness to events and situations
that occurred during first and following European and Indigenous
contact. The assignment is to come up with a story or event, but
relative to the reality of the time, and then from this story put together
a short news article in Noongar language. They then need to present
this article both in English and in Noongar language to the class in their
groups.
This is an activity that is engaging in and recognizing Aboriginal
culture. It is asking the Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to find
the Indigenous perspectives at the time but present the material in a
way this is formal and with a modern day approach (one that knows
the history). It is learning through doing, involving group work and
allowing Indigenous students to take the risks and form the confidence
that they maybe wouldnt have done in an individual task.
There are clearly multiple, crucial factors that schools can incorporate
to create a school culture where Indigenous students feel welcome,
safe and valued, fostering an environment where Indigenous students
want to learn. Teachers play a large role and have a big responsibility
in creating this engaging and positive learning environment and need
to pay as much attention to the relationships between students as they
do to content and methodology (Harrison, 2012). Teachers need to
encourage Indigenous students independence, and help kids to learn
about themselves through the work they do and the classroom
management style promoted in the classroom (Harrison, 2012). It is
evident though research and experience tat engaged learners are more
likely to stay at school longer and have aspirations to higher levels of
education (Fullarton, 2002). Quality teachers that create engaging
learning that is culturally responsive and accessible, and developing
relationships between the school and the students family and
community are all important factors that work together to create and
maintain effective and positive learning environments for Indigenous
students.

ED4132 Working with Indigenous Students

Assignment 1

Caitlin Finn

20153672

REFERENCES
Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, (2014). Positive learning environments
for Indigenous children and young people, Retrieved from
http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?
id=60129548208.
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Victoria,
(2009). Effective schools are engaging schools: student
engagement policy guidelines: promoting student engagement,
attendance and positive behaviours in Victorian government
schools. Melbourne: DEECD. Retrieved from
<https://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/stuman/wellbe
ing/segpolicy.pdf>.
Fullarton, S. 2 (002). Student engagement with school: individual and
school-level influences. Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth
research report no. 27. Melbourne: Australian Council for
Educational Research. Retrieved from
<http://research.acer.edu.au/lsay_research/31/>.
Harrison, N. (2012). Teaching and learning in Aboriginal education,
South Melbourne, Oxford University Press,
McConaghy, C. (2002). Rethinking Indigenous Education: Culturalism,
Colonialism and the Politics of Knowing, Flaxton, Post Pressed

ED4132 Working with Indigenous Students

Assignment 1

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