Demonstrating Standard 1.4

1.4) Strategies for Teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

Demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, cultural identity and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. (AITSL, 2010)

I have worked in the Aboriginal Program Assistance Scheme (APAS) or Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) as a tutor for the past three years. This has provided me with the opportunity to work with a variety of between fifteen and twenty Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander students on a weekly basis. The students range between Year 8 and Year 12, and therefore require a vast amount of diversity between instructional approaches. The ability to use practical and 'real-world' exemplars for the younger students has been especially efficient, especially in Mathematics. 

Through Professional Development, I have had the opportunity to listen to Gray Poehnell (2012) who spoke about Guiding Circles, and the impact that career path development can have on Indigenous communities and peoples. Several strategies were listed including: identifying and telling specific life stories, identifying a potential network of support and provide an action plan for their next step.

Through subject areas such as PLP, these concepts may be integrated into the curriculum. Several Indigenous students over the past year have had the opportunity to identify their personal strengths through analysing their own potential and then be directed towards workplace internships and opportunities that can support these strengths and introduce the students to the industry. One such program that is available to the students that I work with is the NAB Internship Program that gives students with a business-focused mindset the chance to experience career developing opportunities, and acquire skills that are going to help them later in life.