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Education programs across Australia

South Australia

Curriculum and pedagogy

• Aboriginal Perspectives on the Early Years of Learning
• Child Protection: Teaching and Learning Strategies for R-7 Students of Diverse Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds (1997)
• Countering Bias in Early Childhood
• Countering Racism - Using a Critical Approach to Explore Aboriginality in a Range of Teaching and Learning Materials
• Countering Racism Video
• Culturally Inclusive Teaching and Learning Strategies Pts 1 and 2
• South Australian Curriculum Standards and Accountability (SACSA) Framework
• Supportive School Environment Pts 1 and 2
• The Arts - The Heart of Cultures (Teaching for Cultural Inclusivity) Video and Booklet

Aboriginal Perspectives on the Early Years of Learning

Aboriginal Perspectives on the Early Years of Learning provides information and strategies to assist educators to cater for the particular needs of young Aboriginal children. It meets the need identified by educators for more information on Aboriginal children and their cultures and for explicit literacy and numeracy strategies. This information will benefit all children and students as it will result in culturally inclusive programs which strengthen the participation of families and all members of the community. As further needs are identified the Department will publish additional support material.

Child Protection: Teaching and Learning Strategies for R-7 Students of Diverse Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds (1997)

This document supports the teaching of protective behaviours to a wide range of students with particular focus on those of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It provides teachers with practical ideas for teaching and learning in the Health and Physical Education learning area.

Countering Bias in Early Childhood

The Countering Bias in Early Education: What Families Can Do Project is a curriculum resource to support parent involvement in their children's learning. The curriculum resource is a pamphlet for families that focuses on supporting young children to develop positive skills in discrimination and how to resist bias and prejudice.

The resource supports early childhood programs and provides opportunities for young children to examine the variety of knowledge, ability experiences, values and attitudes that have been constructed in the context of their family and social setting. It is based on the Teaching Young Children to Resist Bias: What Parents Can Do leaflet developed by Louise Derman-Sparks, Maria Gutierrez and Carol B Phillips and published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, USA.

The resource addresses a gap nationally. No equivalent support material, relevant to the Australian context, currently exists. The project is a collaborative initiative involving the Special Education and Equity team, the South Australian Anti-Bias Interest Group and the Australian Early Childhood Association, South Australian Branch.

Countering Racism - Using a Critical Approach to Explore Aboriginality in a Range of Teaching and Learning Materials

This document has been created to support teachers to explore racism perpetrated against Aboriginal people, using critical thinking processes. The document is for teachers and students at junior secondary level of schooling and takes an integrated approach in four curriculum areas. The learning areas are English, the Arts, Health and Physical Education and Studies of Society and Environment.

The document offers a whole school approach, teaching and learning materials, information sheets and an annotated bibliography. The materials support students to explore and define racism in themselves, a range of texts and the broader society.

Countering Racism Video

The Countering Racism Video (Professional Development Teachers at Work Series) looks at the issue of racism in our schools and uses real life accounts to show what racism looks like, sounds like and feels like for those subjected to it. It shows how cultural inclusivity programs support anti-racism measures. It also highlights anti-racism curriculum programs, showing practical work done in classrooms and asks questions which challenge the approaches of teachers and the school community.

It gives strategies for:

• creating a non-racist environment
• involving parents from diverse cultural backgrounds
• positive interaction between students from diverse backgrounds
• introducing a culturally inclusive curriculum.

Most importantly, it aims to convey the following messages:

• that countering racism is the responsibility of all Australians
• that racism is unacceptable no matter who is perpetrating it.

Culturally Inclusive Teaching and Learning Strategies Pts 1 and 2

This booklet provides a guide for teachers and early childhood educators to develop and implement a culturally inclusive program and curriculum. In particular, the booklet develops a conceptual framework for interpreting culture in the curriculum and for countering racism by identifying and distinguishing between human relations, race relations and human rights approaches.

South Australian Curriculum, Standards and Accountability (SACSA) Framework

The South Australian Curriculum, Standards and Accountability (SACSA) Framework is a Birth-Year 12 curriculum document. Equity cross curriculum perspectives including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and multicultural perspectives are embedded across all learning areas within this framework. The framework includes the essential learnings of thinking, communication, futures, identity and interdependence which are understandings, dispositions and capabilities that will enable learners to engage with changing times as thoughtful, active, responsive and committed local, national and global citizens. For more information, see www.sacsa.sa.edu.au

Supportive School Environment Pts 1 and 2

Supportive School Environment Pt 1, Culturally Inclusive Teaching and Learning Strategies is a booklet which provides a guide for teachers and early childhood educators in developing and implementing culturally inclusive programs and curriculum. In particular, the booklet develops a conceptual framework for interpreting culture in the curriculum and for countering racism by identifying and distinguishing between human relations, race relations and human rights approaches.

Supportive School Environment Pt 2, Cross-Cultural Tensions and Student Interactions in School Report aims to counter cross-cultural tensions in schools.

Cross-cultural tensions in a school can create an unsupportive environment for groups of students perceived as being different from the mainstream culture. Clearly, such a school environment needs to be changed so that the quality of participation can be improved for students.

Recent evidence, however, points away from a direct curriculum approach to changing prejudiced attitudes and responses. Instead, changes to structures and practices can lead to improved relations amongst all members of the school community.

The report provides a range of models for whole school change in this very sensitive area of education. Based on South Australian research, it describes school structures and classroom practices that contribute to cross-cultural tensions and affect the learning outcomes of Aboriginal students and students from non-English speaking backgrounds. It shows how these structures and practices can be changed in order to create a supportive school environment.

The Arts - The Heart of Cultures (Teaching for Cultural Inclusivity) Video and Booklet

The Arts - The Heart of Cultures: Teaching for Cultural Inclusivity has been designed for use as a professional development package for teachers R-10.

This video and its accompanying notes explore cultural inclusivity and arts education in Australia today. The package presents a contemporary view of what it means to be Australian, encompassing the cultural and linguistic diversity found within our Australian community.

Teachers, artists and parents talk about their experiences in using the arts as a springboard for curriculum development and cultural inclusivity in both the schools and the classroom. The facilitator's notes have been designed to support discussion of the complex issues surrounding cultural inclusivity.