Respect, Relationships, and "Just Spending Time with Them": Critical Elements for Engaging Aboriginal Students in Primary School Education.

Rosalie D Thackrah,Samantha Bentink,Lenny Papertalk,Sandra C Thompson,Dawn Bessarab

doi:10.3390/ijerph19010088

Abstract

While disparities in educational outcomes for Aboriginal children have narrowed in early childhood education and for Year 12 completions, these positive trends are not replicated in the intervening years where attendance, reading, writing, and numeracy targets have been missed. Erratic attendance in the primary years has the greatest impact on achievement; literacy and numeracy scores decline as absences increase. Family functioning and health, caregiver expectations, past encounters with the education system and socio-economic disadvantage are all implicated in poorer rates of attendance. In response to community concerns, an Aboriginal/mainstream partnership was forged in 2011 and began work in 2016 to address patterns of attendance and achievement among Aboriginal primary students in a regional city in Western Australia. This paper describes the innovative, community-led “More Than Talk” program and presents findings from teaching and support staff interviews two years after implementation. Qualitative methods were employed to analyse the data, develop themes, and ensure rigour. Findings highlighted the cascading impact of erratic attendance and the role of strong relationships, respect, and investment of time with children as critical elements in student engagement and wellbeing. Community-led, collaborative educational programs have the potential to positively impact Aboriginal students’ engagement and contribute to culturally responsive environments. If sustained, such efforts can enable learning to flourish.

Highlights

Australia’s annual “Closing the Gap” report charts progress made on government commitments to address disparities in health and life expectancy for Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander peoples [1]
Aboriginal/mainstream partnerships have been the cornerstone of numerous, successful, community-based programs aimed at improving health outcomes and are recommended to guarantee Aboriginal participation in decision making [3,4,5,6]
The participants comprised eight females and three males who had been at the school for between 18 months and 28 years. Their roles varied from middle to upper primary classroom teachers, principal and deputies, an Aboriginal education regional consultant, an Aboriginal education officer, a chaplain, a school psychologist, and a learning support coordinator

Summary

Introduction

In 2019, a new “Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap” was established to prioritise genuine partnerships between federal, state, and local governments and Aboriginal people represented by the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations. This approach, which was formalised in 2020, recognises the expertise and lived experience of Aboriginal community members, and the importance of a shared decision-making process to effect meaningful change [2]. Aboriginal/mainstream partnerships have been the cornerstone of numerous, successful, community-based programs aimed at improving health outcomes and are recommended to guarantee Aboriginal participation in decision making [3,4,5,6].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion