Education and Learning
Education and Learning
Knowledge, through education and learning, is a key priority for Town Campers of all ages. This includes formal and informal experiences in the classroom, at home and in community. Our Education and learning programs focus on access to education, including early learning, support in schools and digital literacy. These programs are centred on community development and education approaches to build better opportunities for children and young people.
We are currently running the following programs:
Early Childhood Education Program
We support children between 0 and 5 years old and their family to receive the best start to an early learning education.
The Early childhood program is new and evolving and is designed to ensure Aboriginal families of children 0-5 years old who live in Town Camps receive a culturally safe and inclusive start to their education journey.
Our program is expanding all the time and today includes:
- A place based approach that efforts to strengthen the Engagement, Identity, Connectedness and Resilience of local Early years children and families
- Supported Intergenerational playgroups for mums, dads and families of young children at Trucking Yards and Larapinta Valley. We are also connected with families in Little Sisters, Karnte, Warlpiri and Charles Creek.
- Aboriginal languages and culture embedded within the learning framework
- Collaborative partnership with Larapinta Child and Family Centre, Department of Education (Learning with Families, Families as First Teachers Program), Schools, Congress and other services to provide integrated holistic service support for the wellbeing and education of children and families
I Love Me is a book by Sally Morgan and Ambelin Kwaymullina. Check out the below book reading which has been narrated by Darelle McCormack and created by the Early Childhood Education program.
HIPPY
HIPPY is a two-year early learning and parenting program for Aboriginal families with young children. It is a structured program that we assist you in doing at home with your children to help prepare them for further learning including school.
We support you to teach your child important skills like literacy, numeracy, language skills, and physical skills. This can help develop a love of learning that lasts throughout your children’s lives.
HIPPY benefits your child by:
- Encouraging a love of learning;
- Maximising their chance of enjoying and doing well at school;
- Promoting language and listening skills and developing concentration;
- Building self-esteem and confidence in learning; and
- Improving relationships between parents and children.
Digital Access
Our digital access program supports the development of Town Campers’ computer and other digital skills.
The program:
- provides digital literacy workshops and projects;
- ensures computer access for residents; and
- works alongside to support Town Camp residents to become Digital Mentors in their communities.
We work in Town Camps through the Community Centres at:
- Karnte,
- Hidden Valley,
- Larapinta Valley,
- Little Sisters,
- Charles Creek,
- Warlpiri, and
- Trucking Yards.
The program also works with our partner indigiMOB to provide technical support, specialist training workshops and online learning resources.
Land and Learning
Our Land and Learning program supports children and their teachers, teacher aides and Elders to deliver two-way science learning – Aboriginal learning and Western School learning.
Some things students can learn include:
- Cultural significance of particular sites and the past and current management of these sites;
- Identify threatened and introduced species and their habitats, threats and impacts;
- Traditional uses for plants and collect specimens of these plants to describe and label;
- Identify tracks and other animal signs to survey the animals in different habitats; and
- Collect water invertebrates to monitor waterholes.
We have worked with Aboriginal community schools and Elders in Central Australia to teach two-way science about the bush since 1998. Land & Learning has worked on the ground with over 40 schools in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.
We support:
- Training teachers to deliver two-way science in schools with Aboriginal teachers, teacher aides and/or elders;
- Providing on-ground support for schools to plan topics integrating Aboriginal ecological knowledge and Western Science, including facilitating learning on country trips;
- Supporting Aboriginal teachers, assistant teachers and elders to deliver Aboriginal language and culture programs in schools; and
- Producing bilingual resources on Aboriginal ecological knowledge for schools.
We have developed unique resources:
- Extensive booklet with two-way science activities and worksheets and information on central Australian ecology;
- A series of local plant and animal photo-cards in local Aboriginal languages;
- Large format booklets on feral animals, fire and climate change; and
- Booklets and short films documenting school projects.
Land & Learning inspired the development of the CSIRO Two-way Science manual, an integrated learning program for arid-zone desert schools, published in 2019.