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Forming
partnerships: Students,
their families and communities
Key
messages:
- Be aware of your Indigenous students — their
backgrounds, aspirations and needs.
Julianne
Willis describes the value of a shift in perspective at Kormilda
College.
Read her account of what happened…
One
starting point for showing interest and generating useful
information is the development of student profiles. This practice
may be particularly useful in situations where Indigenous
students are in a minority.
Here is an example…
- In the case of students entering or exiting the school/institution,
work to ensure arrangements are in place for receiving or
passing on information that would help support effective
teaching and learning.
Here are some useful ideas on the issue
of student mobility…
- Establish good personal relationships between staff
and students and their families.
You can gather your own ideas about this from the material
behind the six doors. List your ideas as you go.
Look
at the six doors…
- Ensure processes are in place for liaising and maintaining
regular contact with members of local communities on issues
related to education/training. Do they work? Can they be
improved?
As you work through the case studies contained on this website
you will find many successful examples and ideas.
Read
about Crossways Lutheran School in Ceduna, for example…
Note
that it may be unrealistic to expect Indigenous parents/carers
to participate in Western-style meetings or parent-teacher
nights. The level of formality (derived from cultural conventions)
may be off-putting, or it might be that, in some locations,
contact is preferred through Elders. The best advice is to
find out what the preferences of your local community are.
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