School Best Practice

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School best practice is essential for creating a culturally appropriate environment with high expectations for Indigenous students. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, (2011) highlight the relationship between Indigenous workers and teachers are core to the success of Indigenous students. These relationships and the input of Indigenous staff can contribute to developing a culturally appropriate environment for Indigenous students. From this input and within the right environment, teachers can also develop their expectation of individual students. An example of school best practice is setting high expectations for students. Harrison and Sellwood (2016) highlights in setting high expectations teachers will consistently …show more content…

Statistics supplied in the Closing the Gap Report (Department of Premier and Cabinet, 2018) identify schools with high attendance as having positive classroom results. From a teacher’s perspective, if children attend school, then strategies can be put in place to teach them. Students in attendance at school can also be encouraged to maintain their health and wellbeing through breakfast clubs and healthy eating programs, which are implemented by Derby District High School and Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School (DETWA, 2013a; DETWA, 2013b). These programs are excellent school initiatives which would assist with students having a good breakfast for a day of learning. Schools can further develop this by creating their own community gardens where children can grow their own produce. Whole school best practices are a key starting point for supportive education of Indigenous students; however, strategies on a classroom level also need to be …show more content…

Yunkaporta’s 8 Ways of Learning (Yunkaporta, 2009) suggest that through linking with the community it can assist, by providing cultural perspectives to be integrated into the classroom. Harrison and Sellwood (2016) reinforce the need for strong partnerships with community, to aid with better outcomes. Through utilising AEIOs with knowledge of the community, consultation about students’ needs can occur and relationships with families developed. Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School (DETWA, 2013b) and Derby District High School (DETWA, 2013a) both utilise this connection to community. Community links will aid in developing positive and respectful relationships between community and schools, assisting in making students and families comfortable and involved in learning. Community links can also aid in bringing cultural perspectives into the classroom through music and language. The introduction of local language in the classroom is an important tool for engaging with students and families as well as bringing culture to all students. Noongar Boodjar Language Cultural Aboriginal Corporation (n.d.) provides resources through posters and language information which can aid teachers in implementing local language. Music provides another method of teaching students language through active participation. Wanjoo (Williams, 2012) can be sung as a

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