Promoting Reconciliation and Cultural Awareness

One Australian early childhood education organisation has recently developed a survey which promises to engage with members of staff in the early childhood education sector and reveal their attitudes and beliefs when it comes to promoting reconciliation and teaching cultural awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. The survey was designed in-line with evidence which shows children who engage with land and place, people and culture have better wellbeing. It was also designed to provide teachers with resources with which to teach children to invest emotionally in relationships with Indigenous and Torres Strait Australians.

The survey discussed above teaches through self-reflection. Teachers answer questions regarding their attitudes, beliefs and core values when it comes to Aboriginal culture and have the chance to connect more deeply with their own systems of perception.

The survey also fills a pragmatic function because it measures access to cultural training and resource availability in this regard. First, responses to questions asking about reconciliation’s presence in the classroom are measured. Then the survey attempts to uncover the presence of anything which would inhibit or prevent the high representativeness of reconciliation in the early childhood classroom.

The fundamental principle of promoting reconciliation between Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Australians and the rest of Australians is to understand that all Australian cultures are on a journey of continual change. Results of the survey of early childhood educators will reveal where in this journey of continual transformation different childcare clinics find themselves.

With the answers to as many completed surveys as possible, the early childhood education are effectively guaranteed they will be able to enjoy improved access to resources which teach reconciliation and Aboriginal culture in early childhood education settings. The results from the survey will inform an ECA strategy to increase the uptake of developing Reconciliation Action Plans and encourage cultural awareness training in the early childhood sector. A summary of the findings will be made available to inform and support the early childhood sector in their work in this area.

Early childhood educators can complete the survey here. It takes just twenty minutes and will allow wider access to resources such as the reconciliation action plans found on the Narragunnawail website and used by Robyn Taylor Early Childhood Education Centre in our classrooms.

At Robyn Taylor Early Childhood Centre, we incorporate a range of strategies to help children feel comfortable learning about reconciliation and Indigenous culture. If you would like to learn more about our reconciliation strategies, book a tour of our education centre or enrol your child, please use our contact page to reach out to us or call on 02 9705 8309.