Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education

Assignment 2: Essay - What are some of the key issues teachers need to consider for working
successfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?

Aboriginal children grow up immersed in their own culture, experiences and language and through
this they are able to construct their own identity and understanding of the world. This sense of self
gets interrupted when Indigenous students start school as they are presented a different set of
beliefs, experiences, language and processes that are very different from their own (Beresford, 2012,
pg152). In contemporary society the population of Indigenous students attending school is
significantly higher compared to recent years. Preschool numbers are up 18%, Primary 60.7% and
Secondary 57.8% (Gunstone, 2013, p.77) It is becoming more important than ever that teachers are
able to recognise and respect the different culture and understand that if it is mistreated and
disrespected it will be harmful to the well-being of the students and the community.

This essay will endeavour to discuss issues that teachers need to consider to be able to successfully
work with Aboriginal students. The main purpose is to explore Aboriginal educational disadvantages
that results in significantly lower learning outcomes compared to their non-Aboriginal peers. The
factors that influences an Aboriginal child’s ability and wiliness to learn include their behaviour,
location, school attendance, trauma and ongoing experiences of racism. Teachers need to have
extensive knowledge on these different factors as well has how to implement teaching strategies that
will allow the students to overcome difficulties and continue to learn to their full potential.

Significantly lower outcomes are very common within Indigenous students. Like any other child, they
learn at different paces, they have different abilities and willingness to learn although it is evident that
major factors contribute towards lower levels of academic achievement within Aboriginal children.
Some teachers argue that these low levelled outcomes are due to the children not wanting to learn
and many teachers find themselves becoming frustrated with the children’s lack of progress
(Harrison, 2011, p.5). Harrison claims that he has witnessed some Aboriginal children that have been
going to school “for ten years or more and they still [cannot] read and write,” although he strongly
states that all Aboriginal students want to learn, otherwise they wouldn’t attend school! (2011, p.5).
Figure 1 (Biddle, 2012 p.8) from the 2011 Census, makes it evident that the average achievement
outcomes for Aboriginal students are significantly below the results of non-Aboriginal students within
the recorded learning areas; mathematics, reading and science (Biddle, 2012 p.8). This large
difference within the average scores between the two groups of students was “estimated to be
equivalent to approximately two full years of schooling” (Biddle, 2012 p.1). Ideally, more has to be
done by teachers, parents and the community to ensure that Aboriginal students do not continue to
have significantly lower educational outcomes but the other factors that contribute to this must be
accounted for.
Figure 1:

Vyanah Lethbridge
Words: 2430
 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education
Assignment 2: Essay - What are some of the key issues teachers need to consider for working
successfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?

Different cultural families have different ways of bringing up their children. Aboriginal children often
have different behaviours towards learning and their schooling compared to non-Aboriginal children.
This different upbringing is shown within the way that the students think, behave and talk whilst at
school, it is also reflected in the effort and approach they take to their school work. It is discovered
that Aboriginal students “rarely attack their school work with a passion” (Harrison 2001, p.11) instead
they will commonly work at it slowly and carefully while observing others doing it. Aboriginal children
may not follow the same rules of communication and politeness that their peers follow (Harrison,
2011, p.11). Aboriginal student’s behaviour and lack of interest in learning is not always a result of
how the teacher teaches. It is found that sometimes their behaviour has more to do with the
arguments at home that are subsequently bought to school (Harrison, 2011, p.5). Behaviours
presented by the Aboriginal students is shown to affect their motivation and willingness to complete
their school work.

After seeing the unsettling comparison in Figure 1 it is important to consider ways to improve the
educational outcomes of these Indigenous students. Strategies need to be implemented by teachers,
schools, families and the wider community for it to be of any benefit to the Indigenous children. It has
been discovered that the Government has recently put into place a ‘closing the gap’ scheme which
endeavours to help Indigenous students reach the same level of education as non-Indigenous
students. One of the main goals presented is to “halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy
achievements [between all] children within a decade” (Biddle, 2012 p.1). Teachers play an important
role in applying the scheme but having knowledge of a range implementation strategies and how
Indigenous students learn best will better improve the ‘gap’. Teachers must recognise that Aboriginal
students learn in different ways and not necessarily at the same pace as non-Aboriginal students
(Harrison, 2011, p.9). Behrendt makes it clear that Aboriginal people work best in a communal, oral
manner compared to non-Aboriginal people of which would rather work individually, (1995, p.18)
therefore grouping tables together, planning group activities and designating more time to whole
class discussions will engage the students in a more social and shared environment where they feel
comfortable to work together, learn and solve problems. Teachers must continue to introduce new
contemporary and creative learning tasks as well as modify their own strategies to teach Aboriginal
students.

Location is a huge factor when looking at the education outcomes and opportunities of Indigenous
children. In today’s society majority of the Indigenous population live in urbanised areas, although
there is a much higher percentage of Indigenous people living in remote areas compared to non-
Indigenous. Figure 2 (Biddle, 2012 p.3) shows the percentage of Indigenous population around
Australia that is aged between 5 -19. It specifically shows that there is 50% or more Aboriginal
children then non-Aboriginal children throughout the whole of the Northern Territory and Northern
remote regions of Australia (Biddle, 2012 p.3). Surprisingly, the proportion of Indigenous populations
aged between 5 -19 are the highest in eastern urban areas such as Brisbane (10%), NSW (10%) and
Sydney (9.2%) (Biddle, 2012 p.3). Gunstone explains that the levels of education vary depending on
the location and that “for Indigenous persons, the likelihood of having a school qualification declined
with increasing geographic remoteness” (2013, p.78) as there are less opportunities and obligations
to attend school. The 2011 Census also agrees stating that “an attachment to remote living is what is
holding back Indigenous education and that Indigenous people should be encouraged to move to
more urban parts of the country” (Biddle, 2012 p.5). Therefore, location of Aboriginal students can be
a huge disadvantage towards their schooling opportunities and outcomes.

Vyanah Lethbridge
Words: 2430
 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education
Assignment 2: Essay - What are some of the key issues teachers need to consider for working
successfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?

Location is strongly correlated with school attendance. When the geographic remoteness increases
the school attendance decreases, but that doesn’t mean that the Indigenous students in urbanised
reigns also do not have a substantial amount of days away from school. Unfortunately, school
attendance plays a huge role in the low levels of academic achievements within Aboriginal students.
Even though the number of Aboriginal students enrolled in schools is increasing their number of days
attending is significantly lower than their non-Aboriginal peers. Gunstone asserts that on average,
Aboriginal students do not attend school at least one day every week, this is compared to non-
Aboriginal students who, on average only misses 3 days a term (2013, p.78). Overall, this low level of
attendance equivalents to missing out on more than a year of both Primary and Secondary school
(Gunstone, 2013, p.78). This high rate of nonattendance is deemed to be a key factor in the lower
academic achievements of Aboriginal students (Gunstone, 2013, p.78). Poor attendance among
Aboriginal students is a major issue that teachers need to be aware of and is a primary cause of below
average educational outcomes.

Another important role of a teacher is to encourage students to attend school. It is important to keep
in mind that no matter the location or the culture there is always techniques that teachers can use to
ensure their students attend school regularly. Firstly, get parents on board; explain the importance of
their children’s schooling and education in contemporary society and how important it is for the
children to have unconditional support. Beresford states that the easiest way to get the Indigenous
students involved is to “tap into [their] natural abilities to learn and to convince them that they have
control over their own learning” (2012. Pg170). Ensure that the classroom is an inviting, positive and
inclusive space where every students feels welcome. Make them want to come! Enjoy fun and
interactive ways of learning together with an abundance of positive feedback. Lastly, make the
activities inclusive to their culture, it is known within the Indigenous culture that the Elders pass down
important and sacred knowledge through generations, so encourage Elders to come in time to time to
help inform students. There are many ways for teachers to encourage Aboriginal students to attend
school, or course it doesn’t always happen but it is important to attempt.

It is not just geographic remoteness that disengages Indigenous children from attending school.
Factors such as trauma also play a huge role in the child’s willingness to attend school and of course
this effects their ability to have an adequate education. Traumatic experiences put into place by
European’s in an attempt to eliminate the Aboriginal race was the “forced removal of Aboriginal
children from their parents and the relocation of Aboriginal people from their home reserves.”
(Harrison, 2011, p.8). Even though these events never directly impacted the Aboriginal students of
today, the psychological impact of the trauma experienced by loved ones is passed through
generations and is found to still be present in some children today. According to Zembylas this
transgenerational transition is a result of the lack of Aboriginal mourning of which is the groups were
incapable “to mourn losses of people, land, or prestige” furthermore this transition indicates failure
to reverse the effects inflicted by the Europeans (2007, p.211 ). Beresford identifies that this ongoing
trauma often results in behavioural and absence issues within schools (2012, p.158). Research suggest
that ongoing trauma is also due to the governments failed attempts at reconciliation and inability to
recognise the importance of the history between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Gunstone
states that “rather than dealing with the legacies of this history, governments instead generally failed
to recognise and address this history” (2008, p.80). This trauma passed through generations of
Indigenous people is yet another factor that effects their willingness to attend school.

Vyanah Lethbridge
Words: 2430
 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education
Assignment 2: Essay - What are some of the key issues teachers need to consider for working
successfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?
Figure 2:

Another traumatic aspect evident within the everyday life of Aboriginal children is the ongoing
experiences of racism at school. Racism is another aspect that restricts Aboriginal student’s
willingness and enthusiasm towards learning and attending school. Racism in this circumstance is
known as discrimination against ones race and is most commonly found within cross-cultural
classrooms and school yards. Studies show that 93 per cent of Aboriginal students living in urban
areas experience racism, two thirds of these stated that they experience it frequently (Beresford,
2012, p.158). Surprisingly, this racism reported was not only performed by fellow students but also by
teachers and administrative staff (Beresford, 2012, p.158). Beresford explains that because of these
experiences of racism, Aboriginal children become mistrusting of non-Aboriginal people and do not
feel overly comfortable being in a school where the majority is non-Aboriginal people (2012. Pg158).
Sadly as racism is an ongoing occurrence in most schools around Australia many families find
themselves unable to cope and parents discourage their own children from attending.

Vyanah Lethbridge
Words: 2430
 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education
Assignment 2: Essay - What are some of the key issues teachers need to consider for working
successfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?

Teachers can implement different strategies and ideas into their classroom to help ease the pain of
trauma and reduce the ongoing racism toward Aboriginal students. Firstly, teachers should address
the constant trauma, get all children aware of the history of the Aboriginal culture and allow for a
discussion which encourages students to talk about their thoughts and feelings towards the matter.
When dealing with racism, many schools already have in place a no bullying policy but that doesn’t
mean that it doesn’t occur. Teachers not only need to know how to control bullying and racism when
it happening but teachers need to have prevention strategies in place to try to minimise the potential
of it happening within their classrooms. A teacher’s main job when working in a cross-cultural setting
is to use the way they teach, talk and act in front of the children to unite the different cultures
(Harrison, 2011, p.9). Zembylas suggest that for teacher to be able to adequately improvement the
peace education goals teachers must be able to apply critical components, these being empathy and
reconciliation within the curriculum and their own pedagogy (2007 p.209) If we are successfully able
to minimize racism within our classrooms we may be able to see an increase in attendance levels and
an increase in academic outcomes within Aboriginal students.

It has been made evident that Aboriginal students have an educational disadvantage compared to
their non-Aboriginal peers. This disadvantage results in them having a significantly lower academic
outcome, which is influenced majorly by the child’s behaviour, geographic location, school
attendance, transgenerational transition of trauma and ongoing experiences of racism. Price enforces
that “quality education is good for our economy, good for our community and good for individuals”
(Price, 2012, p.166) without quality education it disadvantages all Australians, especially Aboriginals
and forces them to live on the broader of the nation’s economic and social life (Price, 2012, p.166).
Therefore teachers have such an important role to play in the education of these children to allow
them to have a successful education that allows them to have a fulfilling life. A variety of teaching
strategies will need to be implemented to ensure that the Aboriginal disadvantages do not affect the
learning outcomes of the students.

Vyanah Lethbridge
Words: 2430
 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education
Assignment 2: Essay - What are some of the key issues teachers need to consider for working
successfully with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?

Reference List:
Behrendt, L. (1995). Aboriginal dispute resolution: a step towards self-determination and community
autonomy. 1st ed. NSW: Federation Press, pp.12-16.

Beresford, Q. (2012). Reform and resisance in aboriginal education. 1st ed. Crawley, W.A.: UWA
Publishing.

Biddle, N. (2012). CAEPR Indigenous Population Project 2011 Census Papers. 1st ed. Acton, ACT:
Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.

Gunstone, A. (2008). History, politics & knowledge: essays in Australian indigenous studies. 1st ed. Nth
Melbourne, Vic: Australian Scholarly Publishing.

Gunstone, A. (2013). Indigenous Eductaion 1991-2000: Documents, Outcomes and Governments. The
Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 41(2).

Harrison, N. (2011). Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education. 1st ed. South Melbourne: Oxford
University Press.

Michalinos Zembylas (2007) The politics of trauma: empathy, reconciliation and peace education,
Journal of Peace Education, 4:2, p.209, DOI: 10.1080/17400200701523603

Price, K 2012, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education: An introduction for the teaching
profession, 1st ed, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, Victoria

Vyanah Lethbridge
Words: 2430