goconstructivism: March 2008

TERMINOLOGY

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Angus Mack is an Aboriginal Islander Education officer. He likes to help young students to become more educated. He feels it is very important for future generations.

AIEO: This is the title given to Aboriginal and Islander Education Officer is the term for the same role in Department of Education and Training Schools, Western Australia and for Aboriginal Independent Community Schools.

ATA: This is the title given to the Aboriginal Teaching Assistants in Catholic schools in Western Australia.

Mereki was born in Kamilaroi Country, Gunnedah, at the age of three she was taken away from her family to live with a white family in the Southern suburbs of Sydney. She went on to become an ATA. Read her amazing story.

FAST: ‘Families and School Together’ a program designed to ‘increase the likelihood of the child being successful in the home, in the school and in the community’.

FELIKS
Fostering English Language in Kimberley Schools. The Feliks project is a Professional Development Course for Primary Schools developed by Joyce Hudson and Rosalind Berry of the Catholic Education Office in Broome, Western Australia. It aims to assist teachers of Indigenous students who speak the English based creole, (Kriol), spoken extensively in the Kimberley region. This was followed by a second volume entitled Making the Jump which extends the focus to include Aboriginal English.

FLE: This is the Family Life Education program which was developed by the catholic Education Office in South Australia and introduced at Luurnpa School, Balgo.

LAW/LORE: This is the law and traditional ceremonies that have existed in Aboriginal communities for …… The ‘Benchbook’ developed by the Department of Justice WA has some explanations of different cultural aspects of Aboriginal life including a very good explanation of Traditional Law/lore .
A very good account of the place of traditional law for handling problems at a local level.

NAIDOC: National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Celebration.

Otitis Media: This is a hearing problem that affects many Aboriginal children.

Shame: This link has a very good definition under the heading ‘The Metaphor of a Bridge’, of the word ‘shame’ as it used in the Aboriginal context.

STOP,THINK, DO: Conflict resolution strategy used at Midvale Primary School.

CULTURE SHOCK

CONTACTING INDIGENOUS GROUPS

MAXIMISING THE PARTICIPATION OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLE IN EDUCATION

THE HEALTH OF ABORIGINAL YOUNG PEOPLE

UNDERSTANDING ABORIGINAL FAMILY AND COMMUNITY

BUILDING NUMERACY IN ABORIGINAL STUDENTS

IMPROVING LITERACY OF ABORIGINAL STUDENTS

AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION REVIEW

The Case For Change

THE EVOLUTION OF RACISM

How racism developed throughout European histoy.

"In order to know the future, we must know the past.
To know, what is, we must know, what was.
To know, what is, and what will be, we must know what was."

GUIDELINES FOR SCHOOLS

General guidelines and facts about Indigenous Australia for use in schools:
Nations
There are about 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations Australia–wide.
There are about 65,931 Aboriginal people in WA (16% of nation’s total Indigenous population 2001 census) and approximately 125 language groups/nations still identified in WA
The terms nations and language group are interchangeable and more preferable than ‘tribes’ which originate from Native American tribes
While many of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples live in major cities of Australia, a much greater proportion than in the general population live in remote and very remote parts of Australia.
Based on the ABS Remoteness Structure and according to 2001 Census figures, the geographic distribution of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is as follows:
• 30 per cent of the indigenous population live in major cities
• 20 per cent of the indigenous population live in inner regional areas
• 23 per cent of the indigenous population live in outer regional areas
• 9 per cent of the indigenous population live in remote areas
• the remainder, 18 per cent, reside in very remote areas.
The State of New South Wales has the highest population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but Indigenous Australians form the greatest percentage of the population in the Northern Territory. At the time of the 2001 Census, the population breakdown in individual states and territories was as follows
New South Wales 134 888
Queensland 125 910
Western Australia 65 931
Northern Territory 56 875
Victoria 27 846
South Australia 25 544
Tasmania 17 384
ACT 3 909
Other territories 233

Eurocentrism The language of primary and secondary sources can be a source for the racism of omission or incorrect language e.g.:
Lawrence Hargraves discovered gold in New South Wales.
Lawrence Hargraves was the first European to have his finding of gold, on Wiradjuri land, made public.
The facts that the 'discovery' was on Wiradjuri land and that Wiradjuri people knew of it long before are left out.

Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson were the first people to cross the Blue Mountains.
With assistance from Darug and Gundangarra peoples, Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson were the first Europeans to cross the Blue Mountains. The facts that the explorers needed Aboriginal assistance and that the Gundangarra people, whose land it is, knew the way across for thousands of years, are left out.
Aboriginal points of view
There are oral traditions amongst Aboriginal peoples about the impact of the changes brought about by Europeans. These changes range from loss of land, to murder, to marriage and to mutual benefit.
These can only be accessed through a positive and healthy relationship between the school and the local Aboriginal community.

Identity and Language
Use the person’s nation or language group e.g. Connie is a Cadigal woman rather than Connie is an Aboriginal woman
Do not use terms such as 'part–Aboriginal' or 'half–caste' or 'full–blooded'. Instead use ‘he/she has mixed heritage’
Use the terms nation(s) or language group(s) instead of tribes.
Use words like complex and diverse when referring to Aboriginal societies instead of primitive, native or prehistoric

Grammar

This website gives you local Indigenous names for places around NSW/Sydney
Pease use these where possible in your classrooms for the language revival of traditional languages as well as for an awakening of the Indigenous landscape in the minds of your non-Indigenous students
http://www.livingharbour.net/maps/aboriginal_place_txt.htm

Where possible refer to the local language in classroom for all
Place names
Uluru – instead of Ayers Rock
Derbal Yerrigan – Swan River

Indigenous people refer to themselves collectively in states as follows only when they are not aware of their language group names or whe referring to many Indigenous people collectively whiteness live in these cities
WA- southwest(noongars/nyungarnyoongahs)
SA-Nungas
QLD-Murris
VIC-Koories
NT-Yolngu
TAS-Palawa
NSW-Kooris

Aboriginal societies are alive and well, use the present tense for contemporary issues. Always use upper case for Aboriginal Dreaming/Dreaming story/ Creation Story (avoid using dreamtime, myths, legends)
Aboriginal people refer to their beliefs systems as spirituality or spiritual beliefs, not as a religion.