This paper is written with the intention of educating those Teachers who may at some stage of their career come into contact with Aboriginal children and their unique and complex learning style, as Sherwood (1982, p.41) states, “most student teachers, as well as practising teachers have no real preparation for teaching Aboriginal pupils or for teaching about Aboriginal Australians”.

Issues of finances and resources continue to be critical in determining future directions for Aboriginal Support Programs in higher education. Full accountability for expenditure of public funds has been the ‘hidden agenda’ behind the rhetoric of ‘self management’ and ‘self-sufficiency’ of both the labour and coalition parties in regard to Aboriginal affairs (Sharing the Country). Yet, it is becoming increasingly evident that these political terms have economic links with ‘amalgamation’ and ‘program rationalization’; that is, they are packaged in ‘micro economic reform’.

At Yarrabah primary school, Mr. Flighter was my normal teacher when I was in grade seven. He taught us every morning and then we went to different classes.

In a large urban centre in North Queensland, a young five year old Aboriginal boy enters the classroom, wide-eyed and silent. Behind him come his mother and grandmother, seemingly reluctant to enter the classroom. The school year commenced two weeks earlier, so the other children have developed some routine. Having not been to pre-school, Joseph takes his place at the desk assigned by the teacher and silently watches the other children talk, laugh and skilfully use the available equipment.

Aboriginal Studies has now been a part of the South Australian curriculum for many years and most of the writing about teaching Aboriginal Studies has focused on appropriate content and pedagogues with little critical appraisal of the actual implementation of Aboriginal Studies curricula. A research project carried out in an inner city Adelaide secondary school suggests that it is crucial for those of us engaged in the teaching of Aboriginal Studies and Aboriginal students, to turn attention to the taken-for-granted presuppositions and ideologies that inform teacher understandings and practices in Aboriginal Studies.

The Pitjantjatjara people in the north west of South Australia and the Yalata Community in the far west of the state identify as Anangu (the people) Anangu culture is very different in many ways from the mainstream culture largely associated with urban centres but some of the aspects in common include a desire to maintain their culture and lifestyle, wanting a favourable future for their children and their communities, and a desire to be self managing.

It was nearly two years ago that I heard about Alois Letipila, an early childhood Masai teacher-trainer who had suffered severe spinal injuries in a car crash in February 1989. As Co-ordinator of the New South Wales “Contact” project for isolated families (funded by DCS & H) I am also responsible for the Contact Children's Mobile sponsored by the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, which also funds Letipila's early childhood education program. Our suggestion to bring Letipila to the spinal unit of the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney was generously taken up and financed by the Foundation.