Product Description

The Victorian Aboriginal Education Association (VAEAI) has produced this guide – Framework for Embedding Koorie Cultures, Histories and Perspectives in Victorian Schools 

The aim of this framework is to achieve structural and systemic change within the Victorian education sector through embedding Koorie culture, history and perspectives across our schools.

This aim will be achieved by targeting four key action areas:

  Pre-service teacher training

  Professional learning for current education staff

  Aboriginal/Koorie studies in the classroom

  Community Cultural Education programmes 

While all four areas are clearly distinguishable with defined objectives, they are also closely linked in their shared aim of embedding Koorie culture, history and perspectives into the Victorian education sector. Therefore, this framework further provides a proposal for a shared ‘Cultural Hub’ model that can provide resources and supports for each Action Area.

The Cultural Hub is a physical space located within a school, such as a classroom or stand alone building, that provides a learning space for classes and training, houses cultural resources such as books, articles, recordings, DVD’s, artefacts and artworks, and is welcoming to Community members. The Cultural Hub is at the centre of the school’s cultural education practice and actively engages the Koorie Community as cultural mentors and a resource for local knowledge.

The Cultural Hub can act as a classroom for teaching Aboriginal studies curriculum units to all students , an off-campus study area for pre-service teachers undertaking Aboriginal studies units at their university or higher education institution, a training centre for the provision of professional learning to all education staff, and as a summer school for Community Cultural education programmes for Koorie students. A visual representation of the Cultural Hub model is provided in this guide.

The Cultural Hub concept has been developed by VAEAI in consultation with various stakeholders including DEECD and five schools that are potential pilot sites for this framework.

Reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians cannot be achieved and maintained without the effective teaching of Aboriginal studies and perspectives to all Australian students. At the state level, the Victorian Government has committed to working in partnership with Koorie parents and Communities to create an education system that respects, recognises and celebrates cultural identity, through practice and curriculum, to ensure a culturally inclusive education system for all Victorian students. The Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc. (VAEAI), established in 1976, is the peak body for Koorie education in the state of Victoria and as such holds a key systemic partnership role in all aspects of Koorie education.