STANDARD 1.4
Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: Demonstrate 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.
ARTEFACT 1: CURATED ONLINE RESOURCEs
I am committed to creating inclusive, culturally responsive learning environments that affirm student identity. This extends beyond content delivery and encompasses physical, emotional, and cultural connections to learning.During my placement, this approach came to life through a land links unit where students engaged in outdoor foraging activities, collecting natural textures like bark and grass. Despite initial uncertainty, students quickly became curious and engaged, demonstrating how embodied, experiential learning can spark creativity and deepen place-based connections.
Artefact 1 is an online resource for teachers that includes strategies in teaching classes with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and how these learning experiences cultivate reconciliation and fosters belonging. (View by clicking on the buttons above)
Using AERO's OCHRE Education (2025) template, I developed a five-lesson unit guide specifically designed for contexts with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. My planning draws on policies, curriculum documents, and resources from Koorie Education, the National NAIDOC Committee, the AIATSIS Language Map, and Narragunnawali teaching strategies. I have included worked examples of activities such as visually mapping culture and ancestral history allow students to express creativity while deepening connections to landscape and community. These resources now anchor my lesson planning, deliberately embedded at the start of every unit I teach.
My learning sequence also integrates the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) framework, incorporating structured lessons, collaborative learning and differentiation (DET, 2017). The design follows VAEAI (2016) protocols for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, ensuring respectful and culturally sensitive practice. The learning objectives align with VCAA content descriptors that explicitly reference Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives.
"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home "
- Aboriginal Proverb
The 8 Ways Framework (Yunkaporta, 2009) informs the pedagogical approach, promoting interconnected learning that integrates Literacy, Numeracy, and ICT capabilities (ACARA, 2025). I have incorporated weekly learning tasks as part of the lesson sequence to embody "curriculum as praxis" (Churchill et al., 2022), transforming curriculum into a shared, lived experience. The 8 Ways principle of Deconstruct/Reconstruct is embedded through scaffolded examples, enabling students to navigate between whole concepts and specific details. This creates an inclusive environment where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge is meaningfully integrated into visual arts education.
Crucially, I view these strategies as universally essential for creating inclusive, respectful, and culturally responsive learning environments—not merely relevant when Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students are present.Edwards (2019) emphasises that Koorie learners need opportunities to validate their language skills and socio-historical influences within their linguistic heritage. Activities like "Language of Lines" and "Skin Names" address differentiated learning by introducing Koorie English awareness to all students, helping them understand how underlying experiences and backgrounds shape meaning-making when interpreting and creating texts.