Wei Feng Jonathan Yeo s3548537

TCHE2420 AT1 Observation Report

Introduction
In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders still face a large disparity in various
social issues compared to the rest of the Australian community. With education being one
of the greatest avenues of promoting social justice, we look towards it to help improve
outcomes for Indigenous students and to promote cultural awareness throughout the
greater community. On my recent placement to a high school, I could observe and assess
the measures taken by the school to provide such change. From these observations, I will
then provide two recommendations that could be used to improve the schools current
commitments.

Observations
Situated in a diverse neighbourhood, my placement school was home to students
from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. As such students were well
acquainted with meeting and working with people from different upbringings. Specifically
relating to Indigenous students, the school had several approaches to ensure inclusion and
achievement of Indigenous students.
School-wide, there were a few actions taken by the school to ensure Indigenous
peoples were recognized. At school assemblies, Acknowledgement of Country and
Traditional Owners was always done at the beginning by student representatives.
Furthermore, the school had a house system where one of the houses, Freeman, was
named after prominent Indigenous athlete Cathy Freeman. More than a namesake, the
school held fundraisers for the Cathy Freeman Foundation that supports Indigenous children
and families. However on normal school days, this representation was not as obvious, a case
being that they did not fly an Aboriginal Flag, despite the Victorian Government stating that
all state schools have been provided one (Victoria, 2016).
In the classroom, the school lacked a bit more. Although teachers were notified of
which of their students were Indigenous, there was little done with that information.
Indigenous students are all given Individual Learning Plans regardless of their level of
achievement to ensure they were being attended to. However, during curriculum meetings
and in discussions with other teachers, cross curriculum priorities involving Indigenous
culture and peoples were not addressed or consulted in creation of assessment or
pedagogy. The implementation of these cross-curriculum priorities was thus left up to
individual teacher discretion.
Overall, although the school acknowledged the existence of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islanders, they did not have strategies in place to address the disparity experienced by
them or to educate other students on these matters.
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Recommendations
Looking at what the school had in place already, there are two recommendations I
would make that should provide the most benefit to Indigenous and non-Indigenous
students. The first targets curriculum planning to ensure Indigenous issues are addressed in
the classroom. The second recommendation relates to connecting the school to the wider
local Indigenous community.
The cross-curriculum priorities set forth by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment
and Reporting Authority (ACARA, 2017) require that Indigenous contexts are provided
where possible in the classroom (ACARA, 2017). Therefore, my first recommendation
involves a structured approach to applying cross-curriculum priorities relating to
Indigeneity; which would take place through curriculum planning meetings. In my
placement school teachers would regularly share resources for their subject areas, but
would rarely cooperatively create these resources. My recommendation would thus be for
scheduled meetings for teachers to create assets they will all use to introduce and discuss
Indigenous culture in their classes. By having meetings solely on planning for this cross-
curriculum priority, it ensures that all teachers are aware of and are active in its
implementation. Having teachers working cooperatively allows for a greater ability to
examine areas where Indigenous contexts would be appropriate to add depth and
elaboration on content (ACARA, 2017). The organisation of these meetings would mean that
administration is also active in the implementation of cross-curriculum priorities; teachers
would also feel more supported and confident in applying these priorities if they have their
peers to work with (Victoria, 2016). These steps should ensure representation of Indigenous
culture and issues in the classroom and fulfil the cross-curriculum priorities of participating
positively in the development of Australia through greater understanding of Indigenous
peoples and history. For students, the proper implementation of these priorities will expose
them to Indigenous culture making them more able to participate in the diverse culture of
Australia. Indigenous students will feel a stronger reason for engagement in schools, to
promote their participation in schools: which is currently lower than that of non-Indigenous
students (Victoria, 2016). The presence of an Indigenous context will also promote a
supportive environment for Indigenous students to participate in.
My next recommendation revolves around incorporating the Indigenous community
into the school; connecting to the wider community (ACARA, 2017; Victoria, 2016). As part
of a High Achievers Program at the school, they invited experts to the school to do a lesson
on their area of expertise with students in the program. I think this could be extended to
mainstream classes by having Elders and other experienced members involved in Indigenous
culture in the community to introduce students to Indigenous issues. These experts would
be able to shed a light on the issues faced by current day Indigenous people specific to their
local community, recognising the distinctive aspects that different Indigenous groups have.
Part of the Marrung Aboriginal Education Action Plan relates to drawing on knowledge of
local communities and providing visibility to different Indigenous history and cultures
(Victoria, 2016). In needing to work with an external expert, teachers and administration
would also be involved and gain an understanding of how to engage with Indigenous
Wei Feng Jonathan Yeo s3548537

communities with sensitivity. By incorporating external knowledge, Indigenous students can

feel more engaged with school by having something relatable to them present in their
school (Victoria, 2016). Non-indigenous students will also benefit from understanding the
diversity present among Indigenous peoples and would highlight to them the importance of
cultural inclusion. Part of the cross-curriculum priorities is the key concept of peoples, which
this recommendation should hope to highlight. It also provides a more contextualised and
real example of the cultures, peoples and sense of place that the Indigenous community
have (ACARA, 2017).

Conclusion
The recommendations above are simply one of a few measures that could be taken
to improve inclusion and engagement of students relating to Indigenous issues. While my
placement school had a few instances of visibility, they felt more tokenistic as they didnt
follow through into the classroom. My recommendations should address this aspect by
introduction two ways that Indigenous education could be implemented in their classrooms
with frameworks that already exist in the school.
Wei Feng Jonathan Yeo s3548537

References
ACARA. (2017). Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Histories and Cultures.
Victoria, S. o. (2016). Marrung - Aboriginal Education Plan 2016-2026.
www.education.vic.gov.au/marrung.