The level of cultural understanding and competency that school leaders and their staff have can impact greatly on the ability of their school to improve learning outcomes for Indigenous students attending their classrooms. It can indeed impact greatly on the attendance rate of students and the level of engagement they enjoy in the classroom.
More importantly, it is the ability of school leaders and their staff to use this cultural knowledge to build relationships, create appropriate curriculum, inform pedagogy and impact on learning outcomes and student engagement that makes the biggest difference.
This use of cultural knowledge can be represented as a continuum of experience and exposure, effort and consequence. Leaders and teachers are all placed along this continuum between the uninformed, the emergent, the competent, to the embedded level of cultural understanding. Each one of these levels has a different impact and consequence on relationships, pedagogy, curriculum and student engagement. See the chart below for a simplified explanation of this process (please note that this diagram is in an early draft form and not for publication outside of this forum).
Teachers and their cultural understandings – a continuum
School leaders need to have an understanding of the cultural context that their school community exists within. What are the traditional values and experiences still being shared between generations and what contemporary experiences have an impact within the community and student life experiences? Who are the holders of knowledge, who are the experts and how do school leaders access this knowledge? Then just as importantly how do school leaders share this knowledge with teaching and non-teaching staff? How do they ensure that classroom pedagogy and curriculum, attitudes and actions use this knowledge to enhance learning for all Indigenous students? How indeed does this process engage students who have had a long history of disengagement and failure in our schooling systems?
School leaders need to understand the role of not only their own cultural knowledge but also of student cultural knowledge and Identity in their ability to successfully participate in school life. They need to understand the impact of poor mental and physical health and general wellbeing has on the ability for Indigenous students to fully engage in the learning process and also the whole of school life experiences schools offer. Further to this, school leaders need to embrace the concepts of land, lore and language as vital components of their own, their student and community cultural mindset so they can engage at all levels of connection and contexts across Indigenous communities and constructs. Intimately aligned to these concepts are the issues to do with family, community and the role of elders developing their cultural identity and positions in a contemporary changing world that has moved traditional practices and values dramatically over recent generations?
The above statements demonstrate the many levels of intricate knowledge that school leaders need to understand in their own context of leadership and interaction with their Indigenous community/is. They need to be able to define their ‘community’ its strengths, its connections and its movement and reaction to contemporary life. School leaders should look closely at the Dare to Lead L5 Indigenous Focus Framework and judge their current level of knowledge and understandings against the propositions and indicators (especially in this context Proposition 1: ‘Leadership starts from within’) This investigation should then move to the more in depth examples and explanations given too these Propositions and indicators in the Companion Document L5 Indigenous Focus. This document takes these indicators into the realms of actions at a school level. These documents give school leaders the opportunity to explore their own feelings, understandings and knowledge, they allow them to reflect on their current practice and their leadership decisions and processes in relation to Indigenous education issues. The many practical suggestions in the companion document can assist develop a strong personal connection to Indigenous students, communities and culture, both traditional and contemporary. An example of the L5 at work in concert with the companion document is annexed below.
The first proposition of the L5 Indigenous Focus is further explored in the companion document below.
The L5 Frame - An Aboriginal Focus
How do school leaders demonstrate the L5 propositions?
This document is to be used in conjunction with the APAPDC L5 School Leadership frame: an Indigenous focus booklet.
Copies of the School Leadership frame booklet are available on the Dare to Lead website: www.daretolead.edu.au and distributed within Dare to Lead professional development workshops.
Proposition One: Leadership starts from within
The complete L5 Indigenous Focus Companion document is available for download from the Dare to Lead website at:
www.daretolead.edu.au.
Some simple advice to schools on moving their leaders and teachers through this process is given below.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mr Brian Giles-Browne is the National Schools Coordinator for the Dare to Lead project. He is currently on secondment from the NSW Department of Education and Training. His substantive position is Primary Principal 2. Brian has worked extensively across Australia working with colleagues to improve their understandings and knowledge about Aboriginal Education issues and approaches. This paper was developed using materials developed by the Dare to Lead project team.