KC Hill
Learning New Ways To Teach On Aboriginal Communities
December 5th 2008 04:42
One of the first things I learnt at Woora Warra was that we were actually teaching English as a second language (ESL). The curriculum's aim was literacy and numeracy, but the mainstream education system's ideas just don't always work everywhere.
At Woora Warra, this became abundantly clear. the community is recognised as one of the more violent-prone communities in Australia, as well as one of the largest. The town had an official population of 1,200, though the true population is probably reflected in the fact that the doctor reported treating over 3,000 different people in the year before I arrived.
The literacy numeracy program had been attempted several times before, and was set up to cater for eight people over a period of one year. It was run as part of Queensland TAFE.
In previous years, it had failed, due mainly to the inflexibility of the program coordinators, located over 300 miles away from the community, and desperately attempting to ensure that the outmoded "assimilation policy" is strictly adhered to. That is, the idea that Indigenous people must learn to think the same way as the mainstream, and adjust to the "white man's" way of living.
Even though such legislation has been rescinded, the mentality seems to persevere in many aspects of Australian society, including education. At university, we were taught that the first piece of legislation passed by the new Australian government in 1901 was the Constitution. The second was the so-called "White Australia Policy". It is also worth remembering that Aboriginal people weren't classified as citizens or counted in the census until 1967.
Discriminatory practices have been an unfortunate foundation stone of our society, and this has been reflected in our attempts to force our way of life on other cultures, including the original inhabitants of the continent.
Fortunately, the year I arrived in Woora Warra, the principal of the school was in his last year before retirement, and didn't really care if the state education administration got their nose out of joint about us not following their "strict guidelines". He wasn't an educational reformer or anything. He was just in it for the money, and had reaped a tidy fortune in his six years there. He didn't need to worry about money the following year, so he just sat back and couldn't care less if they threatened to cut the money off next year. He wouldn't be there anyway.
The state administration were constantly calling, but it soon became evident they were reluctant to actually come there, given the town's reputation. And they were actually becoming frustrated that the phone service was so bad they would be cut off while trying to chastise us for not following the strict guidelines they had imposed.
Instead, we worked with Batchelor College in Northern Territory to develop teaching methods relevant to the Aboriginal culture. Later, Booroongen Djugan, in Kempsey, New South Wales, would come to us for advice about setting up their Aboriginal Education Program. These two are recognised as the pioneers in Aboriginal education today.
We still managed to follow a lot of the requirements of the national curriculum, and to satisfy the national competencies. However, my own personal preference, which seemed to work, was less classroom time, and more outdoor classes. Shorter classes too, were also beneficial, as the attention span was shorter, given the laid back nature of communities such as these.
We ended up with a group of eight teachers, four teachers aides, twenty citizen volunteers, and a total enrolment of 87 students.
The teaching methods were divers. We used a football tipping competition to teach maths, including percentages and statistics. Trigonometry became important when it was shown how it could be used to calculate distances quickly for bush walking or fire fighting. Calculating the soil needed in a garden bed is an example of teaching spatial geometry. There are many such examples that I will cover in other recourses in this series, but I think the point has been made.
In effect, the teaching has to be relevant and of interest to the student. It has to have some practical purpose, and this is even more so with the Indigenous cultures. For forty thousand years, survival has depended on practical skills, not theory.
Such methods are not new, and are actually being used extensively in the mainstream. For some reason, however, teaching specific to Indigenous needs and culture seems to be covertly discouraged.
In hind sight, I suppose I was just as closed minded as the system itself when I first arrived. However, I think that actually living and learning in such an environment has allowed me to grow as a teacher, and a person. At least, I hope it has.
At Woora Warra, this became abundantly clear. the community is recognised as one of the more violent-prone communities in Australia, as well as one of the largest. The town had an official population of 1,200, though the true population is probably reflected in the fact that the doctor reported treating over 3,000 different people in the year before I arrived.
The literacy numeracy program had been attempted several times before, and was set up to cater for eight people over a period of one year. It was run as part of Queensland TAFE.
In previous years, it had failed, due mainly to the inflexibility of the program coordinators, located over 300 miles away from the community, and desperately attempting to ensure that the outmoded "assimilation policy" is strictly adhered to. That is, the idea that Indigenous people must learn to think the same way as the mainstream, and adjust to the "white man's" way of living.
Even though such legislation has been rescinded, the mentality seems to persevere in many aspects of Australian society, including education. At university, we were taught that the first piece of legislation passed by the new Australian government in 1901 was the Constitution. The second was the so-called "White Australia Policy". It is also worth remembering that Aboriginal people weren't classified as citizens or counted in the census until 1967.
Discriminatory practices have been an unfortunate foundation stone of our society, and this has been reflected in our attempts to force our way of life on other cultures, including the original inhabitants of the continent.
Fortunately, the year I arrived in Woora Warra, the principal of the school was in his last year before retirement, and didn't really care if the state education administration got their nose out of joint about us not following their "strict guidelines". He wasn't an educational reformer or anything. He was just in it for the money, and had reaped a tidy fortune in his six years there. He didn't need to worry about money the following year, so he just sat back and couldn't care less if they threatened to cut the money off next year. He wouldn't be there anyway.
The state administration were constantly calling, but it soon became evident they were reluctant to actually come there, given the town's reputation. And they were actually becoming frustrated that the phone service was so bad they would be cut off while trying to chastise us for not following the strict guidelines they had imposed.
Instead, we worked with Batchelor College in Northern Territory to develop teaching methods relevant to the Aboriginal culture. Later, Booroongen Djugan, in Kempsey, New South Wales, would come to us for advice about setting up their Aboriginal Education Program. These two are recognised as the pioneers in Aboriginal education today.
We still managed to follow a lot of the requirements of the national curriculum, and to satisfy the national competencies. However, my own personal preference, which seemed to work, was less classroom time, and more outdoor classes. Shorter classes too, were also beneficial, as the attention span was shorter, given the laid back nature of communities such as these.
We ended up with a group of eight teachers, four teachers aides, twenty citizen volunteers, and a total enrolment of 87 students.
The teaching methods were divers. We used a football tipping competition to teach maths, including percentages and statistics. Trigonometry became important when it was shown how it could be used to calculate distances quickly for bush walking or fire fighting. Calculating the soil needed in a garden bed is an example of teaching spatial geometry. There are many such examples that I will cover in other recourses in this series, but I think the point has been made.
In effect, the teaching has to be relevant and of interest to the student. It has to have some practical purpose, and this is even more so with the Indigenous cultures. For forty thousand years, survival has depended on practical skills, not theory.
Such methods are not new, and are actually being used extensively in the mainstream. For some reason, however, teaching specific to Indigenous needs and culture seems to be covertly discouraged.
In hind sight, I suppose I was just as closed minded as the system itself when I first arrived. However, I think that actually living and learning in such an environment has allowed me to grow as a teacher, and a person. At least, I hope it has.
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