Making it real: Working with Aboriginal Communities
to achieve outcomes through partnership
Low SES Forum
Tuesday 22 June 2010
Louise Bye, Assistant Director, Aboriginal Education and Training Directorate
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Why? Policy
What? Strategy
How ? Community
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
CAEPR 2007
• Complexity and diversity of Aboriginal communities.
• Relationships between school and community is
influenced by “settings” in which both operate and that
adaptations are required.
• School processes may have little relevance or be
inconsistent with community processes.
• A new form of relationship needs to develop between the
school and the community if an enduring educational
partnership is to be achieved.
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Catalysts for positive change
Leaders
Thinkers
Connectors
Doers
Problems solvers
Empowerers
People who want to make a
difference
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Community engagement
Engagement: school to family and community; teacher to
parent/caregiver/extended family; AEO to parents and community,
ACLO to parents and community
Complexity and diversity
Informal and formal
Social and learning
School business and community business
Deliberate and planned
Conversations
Relationships
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Partnerships
Strategies to lead, engage and
keep people engaged
Who are the partners?
Parents, teachers, community members, executive, principal,
Aboriginal staff, regional staff, wider community, Aboriginal
organisations, agencies, regional office, state office.
How to engage?
Focus on end point
Individually and collectively
Clear communication and consistent message
Focus on what works
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Engaging community
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Understanding the past and present Aboriginal community.
Knowing who is in your Aboriginal community
Knowing how people are connected- parents and caregivers, extended family,
kinship relationships
Welcome to/Acknowledgement of Country, welcome signs in local Aboriginal
Language, Aboriginal flag
Working with school and district Aboriginal staff.
Community assets mapping process
How does the community respond to things?
What is the community’s vision?
What do they want from a partnership?
What forms of communication work best?
Working with community governance and community peak bodies, interagency.
Taking the school to the community.
Staff/community interaction. School/community projects.
Champion for the school
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Engaging parents
• Welcoming all parents, extended family, Elders and community
members
• Personal communication, relationship, invitation
• Working with school and district Aboriginal staff
• Front office
• Knowing and working with whole family
• Acknowledging and celebrating community events within the school
• Creating opportunities for parents to share knowledge, skills and
understandings in and out of the classroom
• Celebrate and communicate student success and achievement to
parents
• If there is a problem, consult and act
• Work with parents to find solutions
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Engagement through students
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Sense of belonging
Who are your Aboriginal students
What are their gifts, talents, dreams, aspirations
Respect, knowledge and understanding of Aboriginality
Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs)
Positive talk about real improvements
Recognition of circumstances and situations
Opportunities for leadership, gifted and talented
Early intervention and support
What is the data telling us?
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Your turn, your task
•Two strategies that you already do that work
•Two new strategies
•One off the wall, low cost strategy
Engaging community
Engaging parents
Engagement through
students
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Your turn, your task
•Two strategies that you already do that work
•Two new strategies
•One off the wall, low cost strategy
Engaging teachers
Engaging nonAboriginal community
Engaging agencies,
organisations ,
business and other
partners
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Communication to build trust
Language
Body language
Experiences and attitudes
Power
Stereotypes
Roles and responsibilities
Expectations
Situations
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Mortar
Sand
Cement
Water
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
You are the guide, not the expert.
Focus on the end point, the vision for parents, community, teachers
and students. Focus on what works.
Engage students in the process. It’s about them.
There will be resistance, racism and recidivism.
This is a new way of working and peoples’ expectations will need to
be managed.
Communicate to all groups consistently and coherently.
It’s about addressing and changing the status quo, digging up the
hard ground and having the hard conversations.
The process and the outcomes will be flawed if Aboriginal people are
not included, respected and valued as equal partners.
We will work with evidence but some of this evidence will be
peoples’ experiences.
We need to work with data. Don’t tell me what you have done, tell
me what you have achieved.
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au
Lastly….
Communicate and share with others
Take on board advice and criticism
Support each other
Plan for and celebrate success
Challenge the status quo
Believe in the vision and what you are trying to achieve
NSW Department of Education & Training
Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
www.det.nsw.edu.au