Effective Teaching Strategies in Isolated Aboriginal Communities: Some Issues to Consider

Abstract

The factors that influence the learning and processing of information in any "normal" teaching environment are many but in comparison to the environment where cultural variables are added the "normal" teaching environment appears to lack complexity. Added to cultural variables an environment where the language being used in learning experiences is, if not a totally different language to the first language learnt by the child, certainly a differing form of their first language; then you have a truly complex environment in which to guide the learning and processing of information. Such a description fits the Aboriginal Community schools in the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York regions of Queensland. In particular, I intend to focus on Doomadgee State School, arguably the most isolated of community schools, where in my position as Curriculum Master I have seen the conflict of culture, language and curriculum first hand. It is the intention of this paper to examine how and why this conflict affects student performance and to focus on methods by which this conflict can be minimised.