In the following pages we present extracts from the report prepared for the Department of Adult Education, University of Sydney, by Dr A.J. More, Ph.D. The author is Associate Professor, and the Supervisor of the Native Indian Teacher Education Program in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is in Australia during 1977–78 on Sabbatical Leave.

2.2 … In early 1975, 23 Aborigines were appointed to teacher aide positions throughout the state and an 11 week training programme was an integral part of the employment of the new recruits.

In 1977, 60 Aborigines filled such positions in the state. Of these 34 were enrolled in the basic training programme and 36 in an inservice programme at the University.

Mrs Fitzpatrick reports on a project funded under the Schools Commission Innovations Program. She is with the South Australian State Association of School Welfare Clubs, and was assisted in the co-ordination and supervision of the project by Mrs B. Tothill of the Northern Suburbs Association of School Welfare Clubs.

As this project involved providing experiences for a small number of people, over only a short period of time, it would seem to be presumptuous to draw conclusions on the subject of “Cross-Cultural Involvement”. The following report, therefore, is descriptive rather than assumptive. I have included comments on the scheme by people who were involved either deeply or peripherally and have tried to record facts only. This has been difficult in a scheme where emotions and affections played a big part, especially as in re-reading letters and reports written soon after the project took place, I find that most people saw it at that time as an enormous success.

Students receiving benefits under the Aboriginal Secondary Grants Scheme are visited by Education Officers of the Commonwealth Department of Education two or three times each year. It has become clear to the Education Officers that many Aboriginal secondary students in our region:

• i) had not sought or been provided with sufficient information or experiences with which they could form sound vocational judgments;

• ii) had not made a clear vocational choice during their school career.

Beyond the usual educational goals, the main objective of Murgon High continues to be a constant working towards the harmonious integration of students from various communities in a way that is beneficial to all students.

In an earlier issue (Vol.4 No.2) Michael Christie told us about the reading program he was using at Mi lingimbi. In this issue he outlines “a number of teaching techniques which are both simple to implement and congruent with what (little) we know about learning styles in Aboriginal children.”

Nothing is more depressing for a teacher than to hear about other teachers’ fabulous successes while feeling incapable of replicating them. Enthusiasm for other people’s programs begins to wear thin in the cold light of your own circumstances. What exactly can be done to achieve reading without tears at your school? There are so many ideas and theories in the teaching of reading, we are at a loss as to which of them to choose. And teaching Aboriginal children to read is an even more difficult task for two main reasons. Firstly, they come from a culture where reading is not a part of everyday life, so there is a lot of reading which we take for granted and which they don’t understand. Secondly, we know only a very little about the ways in which Aboriginal children learn. If we think carefully, we can see that our past failures have only taught us that white teaching methods are by and large simply unsuitable for Aboriginal children. This paper is essentially an attempt to rectify this in the field of reading.

In technical studies at Yalata we are trying to cater for two worlds, that of the traditional Aboriginal and that of the present-day Aboriginal.

Incorporated into the technical studies course is a section taught by the Aboriginal teaching assistants, in which the students learn to perfect their own artifact making skills and learn new skills. These new skills are taught by men from the Community. The most frequently made artifacts are wombats, kangaroos, snakes, emus, lizards and the more traditional woomeras, spears and boomerangs. Lessons are held in the shade of a tree, using local myall wood. Artifacts find a ready sale through the Kalinguratja Co-operative and the boys make pocket money as well as raising money for excursions and other class projects.

Another side of the technical studies class includes training for employment. This includes such skills as submitting tenders for local work, keeping timesheets and calculating payments, welding, flame cutting, thread-cutting, mechanics, carpentry, joinery and painting. Numerous minor repairs are carried out for both the school and the community. Some of these include broken window and door replacement, making reinforced septic tank lids, shed construction, demolition of old buildings, fencing and construction of an Adventure Playground.

The Workshop took place from the 15th to 22nd September, as part of Lismore’s September Festival. Our main activity in the Festival was teaching young Aboriginal children on missions and in schools.

There were three dancers, Michael Leslie, Malcolm Cole and myself, along with our teacher, Lucy Jumawan, who attended the Festival. Our director, Carole Johnson joined us towards the end.

It was also handled as a student teaching project of the Aboriginal/Islander Dance Training Course, since advanced dance students taught the children the dances under teacher supervision. Lucy Jumawan assisted us, the student teachers. She would watch us and sometimes started the class off with a few simple steps/movements, just to warm up and encourage a feeling of security and relaxation. Each of us had been taught certain dances to teach. While one person was teaching his or her dance, it would mean the other two would help and correct the children.

The idea of producing a play started when I mentioned to a young Aboriginal lass named Venita Bolt that it would be great if the Aboriginal children could do something in front of the whole school. Venita went around telling all the Aboriginal children that they were putting on a play in front of the school. All the children came back to me asking when could they put the play on.

Knowing the interest I had caused in these children, I went to see the assistant principal, Mr Woolbank, to see if my children could put on the play. Mr Woolbank gave me permission to go ahead.

Secondly I asked the children what type of play they wanted. They surprised me by wanting to put on a Corroboree. Being the Aboriginal children they are, and not as proud as they should be of their race, I did not expect this from them.