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ISSUE 13 October 2011
Student Wellbeing
Kids Matter
KidsMatter aims to strengthen the mental health and wellbeing of children, reduce mental health problems amongst children, and achieve greater support for children experiencing mental health difficulties, and their families. It includes: KidsMatter Early Childhood: implementation in preschools and long day care, KidsMatter Primary: implementation in Australian primary schools, KidsMatter Transition to School: support during the transition to school.
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Footprints in TIme
Footprints in Time - The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC)
Footprints in Time - The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) aims to improve the understanding of, and policy response to, the diverse circumstances faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their families and communities.The main objective of the study is to provide high quality quantitative and qualitative data that can be used to provide a better insight into how a child’s early years affect their development. Reports from Wave 1 (2009) and Wave 2 (2010).
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Leadership
Curriculum leadership in remote Indigenous communities
Curriculum leadership in remote Indigenous communities. Leading & Managing v.17 n.1 p.45-58, Autumn/Winter 2011. It was considered that the complexities faced by principals in their day-to-day management of schools inhibited their capacity for curriculum leadership. A new model of distributing curriculum leadership was adopted for numeracy reform. While still in its early stages, this model, its genesis, and its implementation are discussed along with the mitigating context that shapes the need for models of leadership that focus on curriculum reform for remote Indigenous contexts. Available by subscription.
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Web-based
Message Club
An ABC site for upper primary and lower high school Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The site offers school activities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students with the opportunity to present their work online. Its main aim is to promote student interest in traditional and contemporary Indigenous life within new media / visual arts / writing / music / history / sports / reading / nutrition. The site also aims to develop a connection between Australian schools through an online community where urban and rural students can share experiences about the way they live.
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Teaching and Learning
Two Way Teaching and Learning
Contributors to this text include highly experienced Indigenous practitioners drawn from academia, the teaching profession and the community. They put the spotlight on policies and processes that serve to either facilitate an informed, respectful relationship in education, or act to reinforce cultural inequity and inequality. Policy implications that can be liberating or devastating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australian school systems are exposed and explored with forensic care. Each practitioner articulates specific problems, and offers practical strategies that make a difference
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Literacy and Numeracy
Lessons From the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study for Indigenous Students
ACER Research Monograph No. 65: The findings of Phase 2 of the Indigenous Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study showed that the average achievement of Indigenous students in the study was lower than that of non-Indigenous students on English literacy and numeracy assessments across the final four years of primary schooling. At the same time, the results also demonstrated significant variability in achievement within the groups. There is wide variability between schools in average achievement, with very high achievement in literacy and numeracy recorded by Indigenous students at some schools. This finding reflects the importance of isolating critical school-level factors that support Indigenous students to achieve highly at school.
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Direct Instruction In Mathematics: Issues For Schools With High Indigenous Enrolments: A Literature Review
Direct instruction is an approach that is becoming familiar in some Australian schools that have high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. Now in its third decade of influencing curriculum, instruction and research, direct instruction is also into its third decade of controversy because of its focus on explicit and highly directed instruction for learning. Characteristics of direct instruction are critiqued and discussed to identify implications for teaching and learning for Indigenous students. Ewing, Bronwyn (2011) "Direct Instruction In Mathematics: Issues For Schools With High Indigenous Enrolments: A Literature Review," Australian Journal of Teacher Education: Vol. 36: Iss. 5, Article 6
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