Education for the majority of Indigenous students is a daily struggle. The author has discovered that literacy in particular is difficult for Indigenous students to comprehend. Harrison and Sellwood (2016) points out, average literacy scores for Indigenous students are much lower than that of Australian students as a whole. The author believes educators are faced with the challenge to adjust their strategies to help increase the literacy levels of Indigenous students. Ordinary teaching practices appear to fail for many Indigenous students. One reason cited by Harrison and Sellwood (2016) is that the attendance numbers of Indigenous students are low. School attendance for a number of Indigenous students is irregular. Australian Institute for
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Low attendance number is one contributing factor to lower than average literacy scores though Harrison and Sellwood (2016) asks where the education system is going wrong for those that do regularly attend school. The other contributing factor that has come to light for the author is that while at school Indigenous students are learning a second language. Harrison and Sellwood (2016) bring to light that the most frequently cited factor is that Indigenous students either speak a different language or dialect of English at home. Teachers of Indigenous students need to understand that they are teaching literacy to a group of students that are foreign to standard Australian English and teaching strategies need to be adapted to accommodate such challenges.
The author has discovered educators of Indigenous students are second language educators. For many Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal students standard Australian English is not used in their home lives. The language of Torres Strait …show more content…
The author has come to realise the low literacy scores in primary education are a result of teaching practices. Harrison and Sellwood (2016) acknowledge that low literacy scores in primary education are managed by providing students with activities that are achievable and not exposing students to more challenging activities. Students are not being supported through such practice and struggle as they progress through school resulting in either low literacy scores in secondary education or dropouts. Best practice for students that feel they are struggling is to make their learning relevant and to embed their learning with culture. Making students’ learning relevant and embedding culture is to make connections between what students are being taught and their everyday life, learning from country. AITSL (2014) demonstrated numerous ways to teach students through the learning from country strategy. One example is to use Aboriginal culture and resources to teach subjects. AITSL (2014) gave the example of connecting dreaming to other text. Through the practice of connecting the two resources relevance to students learning is provided and their interest and comprehension is increased. Another example is to link lesson content to the students’ community. AITSL (2014) highlighted the importance of localising lessons such as, geography lessons on areas in the community and not on an unknown
Low attendance number is one contributing factor to lower than average literacy scores though Harrison and Sellwood (2016) asks where the education system is going wrong for those that do regularly attend school. The other contributing factor that has come to light for the author is that while at school Indigenous students are learning a second language. Harrison and Sellwood (2016) bring to light that the most frequently cited factor is that Indigenous students either speak a different language or dialect of English at home. Teachers of Indigenous students need to understand that they are teaching literacy to a group of students that are foreign to standard Australian English and teaching strategies need to be adapted to accommodate such challenges.
The author has discovered educators of Indigenous students are second language educators. For many Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal students standard Australian English is not used in their home lives. The language of Torres Strait …show more content…
The author has come to realise the low literacy scores in primary education are a result of teaching practices. Harrison and Sellwood (2016) acknowledge that low literacy scores in primary education are managed by providing students with activities that are achievable and not exposing students to more challenging activities. Students are not being supported through such practice and struggle as they progress through school resulting in either low literacy scores in secondary education or dropouts. Best practice for students that feel they are struggling is to make their learning relevant and to embed their learning with culture. Making students’ learning relevant and embedding culture is to make connections between what students are being taught and their everyday life, learning from country. AITSL (2014) demonstrated numerous ways to teach students through the learning from country strategy. One example is to use Aboriginal culture and resources to teach subjects. AITSL (2014) gave the example of connecting dreaming to other text. Through the practice of connecting the two resources relevance to students learning is provided and their interest and comprehension is increased. Another example is to link lesson content to the students’ community. AITSL (2014) highlighted the importance of localising lessons such as, geography lessons on areas in the community and not on an unknown