Aboriginal and Torres Strait Perspectives for Australian Curriculum

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

histories and culturesNuriootpa High School

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/CrossCurriculumPriorities/Aboriginal-and-Torres-Strait-Islander-histories-and-cultures.

New DECD PolicyCurriculum, Pedagogy, Assessment and Reporting Policy for Reception–Year 10

This policy is available at http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/teachingandlearning/pages/Yearsr10/curric/

Is it important?NHS doesn’t have many Indigenous students but

– Indigenous students often suffer from low self-esteem– We have a social responsibility and a moral obligation

to help promote awareness of Indigenous perspectives in an inclusive and sensitive manner

“As a nation Australia values the central role of education in building a democratic, equitable and just society— a society that is prosperous, cohesiveand culturally diverse, and that values Australia’s Indigenous cultures as a keypart of the nation’s history, present and future.”

Melbourne Declaration

“93% of the references to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures perspective are in the History curriculum”

Is this a problem?•Is the focus too narrow? What aspects of Indigenous Culture have been ignored?•Is this marginalisation? Do we really have a cross-curricula priority here?

Professor Peter Buckskin, Dean: Indigenous Scholarship,Engagement, and Research, University of South Australia

Some missing content

Issues Location Total

Citizenship Rights Yr6 2

Mabo Yr3, Yr10 2

Reconciliation Yr3, Yr 10 2

Land Rights 0

Human Rights 0

Social Justice 0

Employment Yr8 1

Aboriginal Rights Yr6, Yr10 5

Civil Rights Yr 10 4

Self Determination 0

Stolen Generation Yr6, Yr9, Yr10 4

Deaths in Custody 0

Aboriginal activism Yr6, Yr10 4

Some missing depth

K-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 Total

Remembering 15 13 5 13 2 48

Understanding 5 9 5 7 2 29

Applying 0 8 0 2 0 10

Analysing 1 5 2 4 6 18

Evaluating 0 0 0 4 0 4

Creating 0 0 0 3 0 3

Total 22 35 12 33 10 112

Cognitive Requirements of the Content

Assuming that we think this is a problem, where do we look for suggestions about how to fix it?

http://www.teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au/Illustrations/Details/IOP00136

http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au

Some other links

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in schools http://deta.qld.gov.au/indigenous/pdfs/eatsips_2011.pdf

Reconciliation Australiahttp://www.reconciliation.org.au/home/latest/aboriginal-perspectives-in-schools-q-a

Framework for Embedding Koorie Cultures, Histories and Perspectives in Victorian Schools http://vaeai.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/000234_caba.pdf

Some questions for you to ponder.– How can we treat Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander perspectives with integrity?– How should we teach students about

diversity? (try Googling ‘Culturally Responsive Curriculum’)

– Is the ATSI content in your Learning Area deep and engaging or just tokenistic? Can you fix that?

And now, over to Penny for the next CCP …

Asia and Australia's Engagement with Asia

What kind of Asian are you?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWynJkN5HbQ