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Cultural Resilience: A Framework for Indigenous Educators
The document discusses cultural resilience for Indigenous educators. It summarizes discussions from an Indigenous Teachers Forum that identified developing and maintaining cultural identity and understanding of culture as essential for resilience. A cultural resilience tool was developed that explores the relationship between traditional culture, education, and work. The tool focuses on building resilience at the individual, community, and systemic levels through cultural connection, relationships, and understanding of historical impacts on Indigenous communities.
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Cultural Resilience: A Framework for Indigenous Educators
- 1. Cultural Resilience: A Frameworkfor Indigenous Educators Kellianne Anderson Principal Project Officer (Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives into Schools) Queensland Department of Education and Training, Darling Downs South West Region Twitter: @Kellianne521 #OurMobTeach
- 2. Who Am I? IndigenousTeachers Forum Cultural Resilience Cultural Resilience Tool Connecting Documents Where to next? Introduction
- 3. Indigenous Teachers Forums Theidea of the forums were to: Provide the opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and pre-service teachers Provided educators with a safe cultural space Establish, maintain and sustain culturally supportive networks Promote leadership opportunities and pathways They forums brought together almost 40 Indigenous educators and regional staff Three DET regions represented Increased networking
- 4. Acknowledgements Elizabeth Tailby Daryl Docherty DavinaKelly Kiah Bobongie Amee Bailey Randall Coolwell Mayrah Dreise Jason Driese Tricia Himstedt Rebeccca Flick Jeff Chesters Liz Connors Karen Gower-Buckley Sandy Robinson Paul Carmody Karly-Jade Fisher Kath Kelly Tania Leach Carly Cummings Toni Henschell Joe Sambono Roger Cavanagh Kim Alexander Valerie Heinemann Kellianne Anderson Information collated from the Indigenous Teachers Forum May 2014 by the following participants: Main Contributor Karen Gower-Buckley Principal Project Officer (EATSIPS) Developing the original idea of identifying the gap to create the tool Collating and analysing information, research and compilation of the document Providing community consultation opportunity with forum participants.
- 5. Successes Networking opportunities Variety ofcultural and educational backgrounds and years of experience Established an Indigenous Teachers Network Building culturally supportive relationships Culturally Responsive Teaching: A pedagogical framework Cultural Resilience: A tool for educators DDSW Indigenous Curriculum Reference Group Assistant Regional Director as Champion
- 6. Challenges Relying on wordof mouth Release from school Communication Community engagement Time of year - conflicted with NAPLAN Lower attendance of Principals Location
- 7. Cultural Resilience –the document “At the heart of resilience is a belief in oneself—yet also a belief in something larger than oneself.” Hara Estroff Marano, 2003 Indigenous Education: It’s Everybody’s Business
- 8. Why Cultural Resilience? Participantsbelieved that it is essential to: Develop and maintain cultural identity and cultural pride Provide an understanding of the individuals’ culture Developing and maintaining a sense of belonging Promote successful achievement within education and the workplace Maintain wellbeing and remain resilient This can be done by drawing upon: Positive experiences of the traditional culture Support from the community to which they belong
- 9. What is CulturalResilience? In the context of the Indigenous Teachers Forum, cultural resilience: Refers to a culture's capacity to maintain and develop cultural identity and critical cultural knowledge and practices. Despite challenges and difficulties, a resilient culture is capable of maintaining and developing itself. Explores the relationship between traditional culture, education and the workplace in the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians http://www.wilderdom.com/psychology/resilience/
- 10. Development of thetool Teachers identified a belief that developing and maintaining cultural identity, pride and an understanding of individuals culture is essential in instilling and nurturing a sense of belonging. Historically, resilience has been developed as a whole. ‘When the colonists arrived, Aboriginal societies suddenly had to accommodate a group with a very different world view, economy and social structure. European society, on the other hand did not have to adapt to traditional Aboriginal Australia; it simply took over. Consequently, the onus fell on the traditional owners, the subjugated, to ‘fit in’, to find a new niche in their own country. This niche was, and still is, largely defined by the more powerful non-Aboriginal majority.’ (Eckermann et al., 2008, p 5) http://sharingculture.info/my-resilience.html
- 11. Policy Connections Queensland Departmentof Education and Training Strategic plan 2014-2018 Queensland State Schools Strategy Every Student Succeeding Solid Partners Solid Futures EATSIPS – Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives into School
- 13. Self Culture relates tothe meaning of life of a group of people, it relates to how they live and work (skills), what they hold as right and important for them (values) and it also goes with faith and religion. Culture is a vital part of the identity. Identity is a central part of our personality; it may be seen as the core. From the perspective of resilience, it can be seen that if you take the culture from a people, you take their identity, and hence their strength – the resilience factors. If people are stripped of what gives them strength, they become vulnerable, because they do not automatically gain those cultural strengths that the majority culture has acquired over generations. http://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr11/gunnestad.htm
- 14. Self The forum identifiedthe following statements: Resilience for the individual is the capability to withstand stress and disaster and adapt to overcome risk and adversity True resilience for the individual is the ability to rebuild their lives even after devastating tragedies It needs to be a process that encourages the development and maintenance of resilience attributes It is important to understand resilience is not something you are born with, it develops through thinking, knowledge and self-management skills It is demonstrated in behaviours, thoughts and actions that are taught through generation The path to becoming resilient is founded in working through the emotional and physical effects of stress as well as the painful events of the past that have created and maintained these emotions.
- 15. Cultural Resilience -Flip cards
- 16. Others Understanding from thebroader community Appreciation of the pride Indigenous peoples have in their culture Encouragement of the broader community to celebrate culture Understanding of historical events and their impact Understanding of the deep sense of grief, loss and trauma within Indigenous communities Developing and understanding cultural connection
- 17. Others The forum identifiedthe following statements: To ensure cultural safety and to maintain individual resilience, strategies for resilience need to be deployed within schools as a cultural change Resilience comes from supportive relationships, cultural beliefs and traditions Resilience is built and maintained through relationships with community, family and friends Consulting the questions checklist
- 18. Connected documents Culturally ResponsiveTeaching When responsive pedagogy occurs, the teacher identifies and works with the student world views and ways of knowing, working and learning. For some students this will include connections to country, for others it will not. The Indigenous Education Support Services is promoting a variety of strategies, professional development and support programs to improve the concept and understanding of embedding Indigenous perspectives into the school curriculum and whole school culture. This paper helps to inform teachers, and provides a foundation to consider and assess future activities to advance the concept and practice of Culturally Responsive Teaching through learning statements. • Ability to ask Questions • Language/verbal/body • Relationships • Behaviour • Contextual Learning • Learning Styles • Knowledge • Expectations
- 19. Connected documents Culturally ResponsiveTeaching flip cards
- 20.
- 21. Strategies and Resources– Leadership and Culture
- 22. Strategies and Resources- Systems
- 23. Strategies and Resources– Change Ready
- 24. Where to fromhere? The Darling Downs South West Region is committed to developing and maintain resilience strategies to improve the concept and understanding of resilience through: Developing resilience supporters Development of resilience strategies Developing tools and resources Delivering cultural competence professional development
Editor's Notes
- #2 I respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of this land, the Kaurna nation, on which we are meeting. It is a privilege to be standing on their traditional country. I also acknowledge the contributions of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander Australians and non-Indigenous Australians to the education of all children and people in this country we all live in and share together – Australia.
- #6 Indigenous Teachers Network As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers there is an isolation working within such a large region. The premise of this forum was to connect teachers and leaders to ensure that an effective, collaborative network could be established so teachers could feel they are culturally supported within their school and as leaders. Part of this success is the establishment of the OnePortal website. This website is for internal use within the Department of Education, Training and Employment and allows for teachers to share resources, success stories, challenges and any relevant announcements . A success of this forum allowed for an Indigenous teacher to be approached to develop and deliver one of the regional online programs to students at very short notice. Indigenous Curriculum Reference Group The Indigenous Curriculum Reference Group was established as a result of discussions arising after the forum. Within the Darling Downs South West Region Indigenous Education Services portfolio there are two online programs delivered by teachers and the EATSIPS officers provide professional development opportunities to staff, students and school community. The purpose of the group is to: Review Online programs for curriculum content, relevance and cultural competency. Provide feedback of Online programs and PD across region and identify appropriate target groups. Identify opportunities for Principals and Regional staff to engage in developmental programs. Develop “audit” process for Assistant Regional Director (ARD’s) to measure school capability and progress in CTG targets and EATSIPs implementation. Provide feedback and direction to the DDSW Regional Director and DDSW Regional Yarning Circle. Membership consists of: ARD, 2 EATSIPs Officers, 2 Online Teachers, 3 Indigenous Teachers’ Forum Representatives, ISSU Representative, DDSW Indigenous Services Coordinator and a Community Representative representing a diverse cross-section of the educational community across the region and a partnership with a separate work unit. Meetings are scheduled for once per term and all members are able to place items on the agenda and facilitate conversation. Assistant Regional Director as Champion Through a recommendation of the forum, one of the ARD has someone in the regional leadership team has been identified to take carriage of Indigenous Education initiatives, issues and programs across the region as a whole, particularly around principal capacity and regional accountability. Indigenous Teachers Pedagogical Framework This is a reflective pedagogical framework that provides a scaffold for reflection about culturally reflective pedagogy and includes reflective questioning, classroom behaviours and setting expectations to assist teachers to build these relationships so that all students learning is maximised. The framework has been compiled from information freely shared by Indigenous teachers at the DDSW Indigenous Teachers Forum in partnership with members of the DDSW regional Indigenous support services and DDSW portfolio partners. This framework and resources associated are currently in draft and will be finalised for release during Term 1 2015. Indigenous Teachers Resilience Framework The teachers resilience framework is also currently being developed based on information freely shared by Indigenous teachers at the DDSW Indigenous Teachers Forum in partnership with members of the DDSW regional Indigenous support services and DDSW portfolio partners. This document is currently in draft and will be finalised for release during Term 1 2015 with professional development opportunities being developed for delivery as well.
- #7 Release from Schools – teachers busy schedules, TRS