Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
This essay will focus on the key underlying issues regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander students. The essay will target the importance of the inclusion of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students focusing on school disciplinary practices and their effects on
student behaviour. The essay will also explore social factors that contribute to social inequity
and behavioural problems that Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander (ATSI) students face. The
discussion of the different kinds of practices I will take as a future educator will be presented
in this essay which will promote positive, respectful relationships with ATSI students to
reduce punishment and suspension. Such practices will include the inclusion of Aboriginal
games in practical lessons to create a supportive environment for all students. Programs such
as ‘Close the Gap’ and ‘Social and Emotional Learning’ will be explored as a way to
understand what can be done to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students improve
Schools have disciplinary practices that do not always seem to meet the needs of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander students. It is important to understand the needs of ATSI students
before making disciplinary actions. For example, it is seen to be disrespectful in the eyes of
ATSI people to look at someone in the eyes while they are talking. This can be a major factor
in schools as teachers always emphasis the need for eye contact as a show of respect and that
students are paying attention to what is being said. Another example is that for non –
Indigenous people it is disrespectful to talk while someone else is talking. This is seen
differently by indigenous people as they believe that many people can talk at the same time
and they can choose who they want to listen to and respond accordingly. A key disciplinary
practice that is important in the schooling system is to respect one another and what they
bring to school each day. The ‘Close the Gap’ campaign is an effective program which aims
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and improve their health and life expectancy.
Informing them of their statistics raises awareness which allows educators to motivate
students to improve their health and wellbeing. The Close the Gap campaign also focuses on
improving education levels of ATSI people but does not overlook the importance of culture.
Culture plays a vital role in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as their
background. Introducing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into schools can be an
effective tool to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ behaviour, wellbeing
and inclusion within the school environment. Social and Emotional Learning is an approach
which allows students and adults to control their behaviour and attitude in order to acquire
reasonable skills helping them understand the situations that they may find themselves in
Hoffman, D.M. (2009). This will allow students to develop empathy towards each other and
display positive attitudes thus creating a supportive environment for one another. Social and
Emotional learning can create a supportive environment through many programs, such
programs include ‘Respectful Relationships’ by the Victoria State government. This program
aims to educate teachers from government, catholic and independent schools allowing them
The program has a strong emphasis on everyone having respect for each other in order to
have a positive impact during the schooling years of the student and of course the rest of their
lives. This could play a vital role in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student’s
improvement in school as they are being treated with the same respect that non – indigenous
students are being treated with. In saying so, it will allow students to become more engaged
inequity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Problems which occur at home
that are not dealt with can cause many behavioural issues at school. The student may not be
able to express themselves due to their lack of knowledge on behavioural control and will
retaliate in school causing issues between students. It is important to include SEL in school
programs to allow students to manage their problems ensuring social inequity is minimised. If
students do not receive the necessary help in school, they will not be able to improve
academically and socially causing separation between students and teachers. Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students are more likely to suffer from discrimination and isolation in
school due to their inability to connect with others. This can cause social inequity as it
demotivates them to come to school and increase truancy rates. Due to this inability to
connect with others the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are more likely to be
bullied at school and cannot express themselves to their teachers to address the possible
cultural and personal issues. This can hinder the results of the students as they will not want
to participate in school and have a decrease in academic results. Due to being harassed and
bullied the students will feel a sense of rejection in school, possibly causing exclusion and
mental health issues. The students do not know how to express themselves in these situations
and may become disruptive in class. Due to these actions the teachers may punish the
students as they also do not understand what they are going through. In saying so, this can
cause a lack of connection between the students and school causing further behavioural and
social inequity problems. Lack of access to support services can also play a vital role to the
influence of poor behaviour by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Due to being
socioeconomically disadvantaged the students will not know how to further express
importance of culture in class. Activities can be created in class which promote the
between students as they will be able to understand the different perspectives of their
classmates. In doing so, the classroom will have a positive nature and become an easier place
to learn for all students. As a future secondary classroom teacher I will also invite a guest
speaker of Aboriginal decent to speak about the significance of culture and how it has shaped
the way they live. With regards to my key learning area Personal Development Health and
Physical Education (PDHPE) I will introduce aboriginal games in my practical lessons from
the book ‘Yulunga – traditional Indigenous games’. The Yulunga book contains over 100
activities which can be used either as games or skill activities and provides all Australian’s a
chance to discover and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander beliefs and cultures
Sportingschools.gov.au. (2017). Each game has information on how to play the game, which
tribe the game originated from, what it was used for and how the items in each game were
created. For example, ‘Wittchim’ was an activity used in Victoria whereby the locals would
stand in a circle and once nominated, the individual would have to stalk a feather tied to stick
in imitation of what the animal is. The purpose of the game was to acknowledge the different
ways in which each individual would hunt. This specific game will give non-indigenous
students an insight on one of the oldest cultures in the world. Another game that can be used
as a great example is ‘Millim Baeyeetch’ which consisted of two teams with the intention of
keeping the ball away from the other team. The players who do not have the ball will run
around the playing area to give the player with the ball an opportunity to kick the ball to
them. This can be linked to how AFL (Australian Football League) is played today and could
allow students to gain connection between each other. According to the Australian
in schools. Aboriginal female students face 251 short suspensions annually per 1000 students
and 37 long suspensions at the same ratio. Aboriginal male students face 629 short
suspensions annually per 1000 students and 168 long suspensions annually per 1000 students.
This ratio is far greater than non – Indigenous students where non – Aboriginal female
students face 62 short suspensions annually per 1000 students, and 11 long suspensions at the
same ratio. Non - Aboriginal male students face 188 short suspensions per 1000 students and
43 long suspensions at the same ratio. Suspension can occur for many different reasons with
the intention of moving threat away from the school to maintain a safe environment for
students. In saying so, is suspension a vital tool in creating a better environment? It has been
made evident that suspension is a tool that is overly used by teachers in order to remove
disruptive student instead of focusing on the issues at hand. Suspension can also be seen as a
holiday by students meaning that students receive extra days off during the schooling year.
Failure to meet student’s needs can result in student suspension. The school’s disciplinary
policies are magnificently influenced by the teachers and their beliefs causing a bias result. It
is important for teachers to hold meetings with executives at the school in order to examine
student behaviour. By doing so, teachers are able to reflect and examine which strategies may
In summation, it has been made evident that there are key underlying factors which influence
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander students’ inclusion in school. It is also evident that there
are many support groups which help students deal with these factors. Such support groups
include the close the gap campaign and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs. These
programs aim to minimise the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and
non-Indigenous students and have proven to be effective. It has also been made evident that
students learn through different methods and cannot be treated the same. By educating
teachers on different methods of practice, it allows them to create diverse approaches towards
teaching. This will allow teachers to make informative decisions during class and have an
understanding on each student rather than having a bias approach. This essay also explains
the importance of education and the importance of minimising suspension in school. There
are many strategies that could be used as a future teacher to encourage learning and create a
supportive environment for all students. By introducing culture into classes it gives students
an insight on one another allowing them to create a relationship between each other. When
considering my key learning area, as a future educator it is important not to assume that
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are ‘problems’ to be fixed, but rather to create a
relationship with the students and their community to work towards a common goal; the
Carson, B., Dunbar, T., Chenhall, R.D., & Bailie, R. (2007). Social determinants of
http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/health_indigenous/indigenous
reform/national-agreement_sept_12.pdf
Department of Families Housing Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2009) Closing
Commonwealth of Australia
Kelly, K., Dudgeon, P., Graham, G., & Glaskin, B. (2010). Living on the edge: social and
emotional wellbeing and risk and protective factors for serious psychological distress
among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Discussion Paper No. 10.
Dix, K.L., Slee, P.T., Lawson, M.J., & Keeves, J.P. (2012). Implementation quality of
wholeschool mental health promotion and students’ academic performance. Child and
strategies to strengthen the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres
Australia: Closing the Gap Clearinghouse Issues Paper No. 12. Retrieved from
http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Our_publications/201
4/ctgc_ ip12.pdf
Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., & Schellinger, K.B. (2011). The
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/health/mentalhealth/Pages/socialemo
trends in the United States. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), pp. 533–556
Humphrey, N. (2013). Social and emotional learning: a critical appraisal. London, UK: Sage.
NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc and NSW Department of Education and
20 Dec. 2017].