Culturally Nourishing Schooling
Project name
Culturally Nourishing Schooling
Project overview
CNS is part of a collaborative research study investigating strategies to improve teaching and learning outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. It emphasises the establishment of meaningful relationships and connections with Country and localised Indigenous knowledges, histories and experiences.
Our researchers and project staff are working with the learning communities connected with eight schools in NSW, to establish the ‘culturally nourishing’ schooling model as central to their current strategic planning and operations.
The model is a research-informed framework model designed to improve the academic achievements of Indigenous learners while concurrently fostering a strong and healthy cultural identity grounded in the local context.
Project objectives
The CNS project involves eight schools and their communities in NSW, working to establish the ‘culturally nourishing’ schooling model as central to their current strategic planning and operations.
The model is a research-informed framework designed to improve teachers’ understandings and practice about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and the aspirations of their families and communities.
We collect qualitative and quantitative data through focus groups, interviews and surveys of school leaders, teachers, Cultural Mentors and local community representatives.
We support teachers through scaffolded professional learning that involves working with local Cultural Mentors, and engages teachers through Learning from Country immersion experiences, targeted Curriculum Workshops, Professional Learning Conversations and reading, and pedagogical coaching toward Culturally Nourishing Pedagogies, with the overall goal of affecting practices.
Our aims are to:
Improve teachers’ understanding and professional practices in support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Establish a sustainable base for the long-term collaboration between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, communities and schools.
Establish a whole-school model of schooling that supports the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, their families and communities.
Develop an operational framework that will ensure schools and teachers can better meet the educational and relational needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their communities.
Who is involved
Partners
Four Australian universities – led by The University of NSW and including The University of Sydney, Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology – are collaborating with eight schools and communities across urban, regional and remote parts of NSW.
CNS is supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation, the National Indigenous Australians Agency and the NSW Government Department of Education, in addition to monetary and in-kind contributions from university, school and community partners.
Project updates/milestones
In the news
Research that underpins the Culturally Nourishing Schooling project has been published in a special issue of the journal Australian Educational Researcher (AER).
CNS researchers including Chief Investigator Associate Professor Kevin Lowe, Professor Cathie Burgess and Dr Sara Weuffen have authored papers in the Special Issue - Aboriginal Voices: The state of Aboriginal student experiences in Australian secondary school project.
The papers are part of the Aboriginal Voices project, which included systematic reviews on 10 major topics affecting the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
“These new papers resulted from interviews with over 100 Aboriginal students and their parents, Aboriginal educators, teachers and school principals,” said A/Prof Lowe.
“The focus of these investigations was how students, parents and their teachers understood and reacted to underpinning community and media discourses about student success at school, parent and community interest in schooling and teachers perceived abilities to meet the needs of these students.”
The first paper situates the context of the Aboriginal Voices: The state of Aboriginal student experiences in Australian secondary school project in the wider context of First Nations educational research.
While the other papers within the special issue contribute towards developing a more nuanced, research-informed, and deeper understanding of the current state of Aboriginal education in Australia from the voices of those at the coalface.
