Developing pedagogical practice through culturally inclusive curriculum

ACSA BIENNIAL CURRICULUM

CONFERENCE

BiographyKym Walker is Batjala person from Fraser Coast Queensland. Kym has a long history in cross discipline curriculum development and consultation with Indigenous Studies and Cultural Competence programs.

Bruce Pridham and Dona Martin have expertise in conceptualising innovative higher education curricula, particularly in relation to teacher education.

Our aim was to produce a subject that provides:

• well structured, inclusive, cross-curricula education partnerships

• quality Indigenous education for undergraduate teachers • culturally appropriate pedagogical practice through

culturally inclusive curriculum.• The opportunity for students to reflect using the 4R’s

model• clear alignment with ACSA’s Australian curriculum

principles.

EDU3IED – Subject Intended Learning OutcomesUpon successful completion of this subject, you should be able to:

1.Investigate Australian Indigenous culture in schools and community.

2.Explain the issues that impact on Indigenous learners and how they influence educational outcomes. 

3.Critically examine personal assumptions, preconceptions and values when relating to Indigenous Australia. 

4.Design Indigenous curriculum opportunities and teaching

resources, incorporating educational technologies. 

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AITSL – Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

1.4Demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, cultural identity and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.

2.4Demonstrate broad knowledge of, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages.

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The participants

Our campus of La Trobe University is situated in Bendigo, a

rural city in Central Victoria. The teacher education course that

hosts our subject provides multi-campus curricula for both our

Central Victorian campus and a Northern Victorian campus at

Mildura.

The unit of work discussed here is accessed across a variety of

courses (numbers grow by the year); currently it houses around

195 students per year, approximately 8% of whom are

Indigenous.

4R’s a reflective model

Our version of the 5R’s of reflection model (Bain, Allantyne, Mills, and Lester (2002).

Reporting

Responding

Relating

Reasoning

Reconstructing

Reporting

Relating

Reasoning

Reconstructing

We collapsed the first

two headings into one

heading

We wanted to verbally

elicit Respones about

observations, feelings

and questions about

issues

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Our 4 R’s Model

Reporting

• Descriptive account of the situation, incident or issue

• Storytelling

Relating

• Drawing a relationship between current personal or theoretical understandings and the situation, incident or issue

• Indigenous relationship

Reasoning

• An exploration, interrogation or explanation of the situation, incident or issue

• Lore

Reconstructing

• Drawing a conclusion and developing a future action plan based upon a reasoned understanding of the situation, incident or issue.

• Passing knowledge on for others to learn

Indigenous

Education

EDU3IED

Bringing it all together

• The 4R’s Model enables our students to build unique records of their learning, and to recognise that they now, through direct engagement with the issues, feel better equipped to be responsible decision-makers.

• Our students demonstrate through assessment a developing self-awareness of Cultural Competence and a stronger capacity to present as informed teachers, teachers who are better equipped to work in an environment alert to the needs of Indigenous Education.

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Thank You