Background information

What is it?
The second edition
Where has it come from?
What is it for?
Who is it for?
A word about case studies

What is it?

It provides some information about that effort and, more importantly, provides advice and information about how improvement can be achieved and gives examples of contemporary cases where this is occurring.

It consists of three elements: a Guidebook, a Workbook and these digital materials (you may be working from a website or a CD ROM). These are meant to be used together but each has its own function.

The Guidebook provides an overview of the materials and most of the key points. It will also help you navigate and work with the digital materials and it repeats some of the material they contain.

The Workbook is meant to be used as a workbook. It provides an outline for taking action along with some ideas and tools for doing so.

The digital materials have been used to store and provide access to a larger body of resources, much of which has been drawn from case studies of successful practice. The CD-ROM will work where Internet access is problematic. The essential difference is that the content of the website is regularly expanded and updated and thus provides a larger and more contemporary repository of resources.

The second edition

This second edition of these materials has been revised according to suggestions made in the evaluations we have received from users of the first edition. The changes are not major, but if people are working from the first and second editions at the same time there may be differences in page numbering and so on.

One big difference is the inclusion of a sample of learning objects provided by The Le@rning Federation, a national body responsible for the development of on-line learning curriculum resources. The evaluation of these resources found that they were particularly helpful for increasing the motivation, engagement and learning of all students. We believe that these resources should be available especially for students most in need. As a result we have included a sample of this very large resource on both the website and the CD-ROM in this edition of the materials, and provided information about their use and where further resources might be accessed. Please investigate these. You may find them particularly useful for improving levels of numeracy and literacy and teaching scientific concepts.

Where has it come from?

At its inception What Works. The Work Program evolved from the research and other information derived from the Australian Government Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme’s Strategic Results Projects.

More about the IESIP SRPs…

Since that time What Works has been developed in an on-going way with the support and collaboration of senior Indigenous Education administrators from across Australia and many other people involved with initiatives in the education of Indigenous young people. Those directly concerned are listed in the credits.

What is it for?

We know that the most effective action takes place institution-wide in order that there is consistency evident in directions, practices and attitudes. But we also know that it is within the power of all individual teachers to make a difference to the lives of the students with whom they come into contact. Successful action which leads to improvement on any scale is a gain.

Who is it for?

Action doesn’t always begin with the boss — the principal or team leader. But all the evidence suggests that effective action is eventually led and supported by the boss. So it is intended as a reference point and support for ‘bosses’ in education institutions across Australia.

But it is also, very specifically, for teachers. There are thousands of non-Indigenous teachers in Australia who have had little or no contact with Indigenous people. There are likely to be just as many who, when confronted by the task of teaching Indigenous students, are unsure where to start or how to seek support. There are others who have some experience but would like to do better. What Works. The Work Program is for all these groups.

Your school may not have Indigenous students enrolled. It is still important that your students develop an informed understanding of Australia’s Indigenous peoples and their cultures, and of the importance of the reconciliation process. It is an education we all need. While this is not the direct focus of this package, you will still find interesting material here.

Indigenous students may be present, as they are in many hundreds of Australian schools, in small numbers. In cases like this, it is possible that these students and their needs can be squeezed out, lessening their chances of success. It is common that this ‘just happens’ in the busy-ness of school life and the wide range of matters which require attention rather than as a result of overt racism, although, unhappily racism still exists in some quarters and must be constantly challenged. Indigenous students should not be left to ‘tough it out’ on their own. They must be offered appropriate support and assistance to help them achieve as well as they can.

Your school may have a majority or a complete enrolment of Indigenous students, in which case there will be other issues to confront. They may be matters as disparate as access to continuing education, high and regular staff turnover, language or cultural issues. Some of the assumptions about schooling which non-Indigenous Australians treat as conventional are likely to be challenged.

In any of these cases, a job remains to be done — a job which is widely varied, challenging, long term and, in the final analysis, enriching for us all. It is not an option to consider after everything else is done. It is at the top of the list.

What Works. The Work Program contains information which we hope you find useful in pursuing that task.

A word about case studies

Case studies have some things in common with travel guide books. They are subject to the perspectives of the sources of information and their writers; they are about what is, or was, happening at a point in time. They may be influenced by aspirations rather than realities. They can't possibly provide a global picture with all the factors in place and visible.

There are plenty of examples of case studies intended to inform and inspire educational practice and they may all suffer from those features. Schools, after all, are complex places, full of varying stories.

BUT we are confident that the case studies in these materials represent solid information which has led to success for Indigenous students. We do not, in general, ‘update’ case studies because we are confident that, although some may be several years old, they still provide information about useful strategies.

To accommodate some of the difficulties mentioned above, education and other case studies are frequently 'anonymised'. So they come from 'Smithtown High' and 'Main Street Primary' with 'John' and 'Mary' telling the stories. For reasons of authenticity, and with the permission and collaboration of those involved, we have chosen otherwise. We would like you to appreciate that these are real people in real circumstances.

The sources for the case studies have been schools and other organisations involved in our own ‘What Works’ workshops, the Dare to Lead project, suggestions provided by people who administer Indigenous education and training in various parts of the country and the IESIP Strategic Results Projects sites.

Finally, those who helped in collecting the case studies are noted in the credits. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude. We were never disappointed, and often thrilled to experience first hand the quality of endeavour and commitment as well as the sheer professional skill of this sample of Australia's teachers.