The reconciliation movement is about recognising and healing the past and committing to a better future. A future in which we value First Australians and provide justice and equity for all. When we talk about a better future, our thoughts, hopes and concerns naturally turn to the next generation—our children, and the committed teachers that guide them.
Reconciliation is a complex concept and process, but many of the ideas at its heart are well within the grasp of children. Relationships and respect are fundamental to reconciliation. They are also the values which are instilled throughout early learning programs. Knowledge and pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures are also key to reconciliation. Principles and practices included in the Early Years Learning Framework and other sector frameworks foster this knowledge and pride. The Early Years Learning Framework and supporting documents commit to “cultural security for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families”.
The framework also promotes “greater understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being”. The principles of reconciliation are clearly already embedded in best practice in the early learning sector — and this is to be commended. But what more can early learning services and teachers do to prepare the next generation to progress reconciliation?
Connected community
In 1991, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established and Australia’s reconciliation journey was formalised. In 2016, 25 years on, over 800 schools and early learning services across Australia have committed to Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) through Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnawali program. As well as being an online platform
for building RAPs and accessing resources, Narragunnawali connects early learning teachers and services to create a community for sharing learnings and ideas. Whether your early learning service is just starting its reconciliation journey or is well down the road, joining the Narragunnawali community has much to offer.
Narragunnawali is designed to support schools and early learning services across Australia to foster a higher level of knowledge and pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions. This knowledge and pride will empower our children to create positive social change in their communities and across the nation as they grow into citizens and leaders.
Early learning environments and teachers play a key role in breaking down stereotypes and cultivating this knowledge and pride in Australia’s First Peoples and cultures. It is therefore essential that the teachers guiding our children — while also being on their own reconciliation journeys — have a strong vision and shared language for reconciliation.
Reconciliation Australia’s landmark report, The State of Reconciliation in Australia, offers this strong vision and shared language to the early learning sector, and indeed all Australians. Launched in February this year, the report highlights the milestones achieved in Australia’s reconciliation journey over the past 25 years and recommends the way forward if we are to realise our potential as a reconciled nation. The way forward is described by defining five dimensions of reconciliation: race relations, equality and equity, institutional integrity, unity, and historical acceptance. These dimensions, when woven together, will form the fabric of a reconciled Australia.
Facing challenges
Our progress varies across the dimensions. For example, in the dimension of historical acceptance the report shows that up to 45% of the general population are unsure or do not agree with a number of facts about wrongs of the past. These wrongs include land dispossession, forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, failure to pay Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers’ wages, imprisonment and deaths in custody. In the domain of race relations we have progressed further, with 86% of Australians believing the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians is important and 64% agreeing that cultural diversity makes us stronger.
The condition of reconciliation in Australia will only ever be as strong as the weakest dimension, so there is much work to be done. Reflecting on the challenges of this work, Carmel Richardson of Wiradjuri Preschool and Childcare Centre at the University of Canberra says:
“I realise that it’s challenging for people to pick up that baton sometimes, not because of lack of wanting to or a will to do it, but an anxiousness about doing it right. And I think that is one of the biggest things that stop people doing this work, is the anxiousness about doing it right. If we really want to move towards an authentic reconciliation sometime in the future, we have got to do this work now.”
The teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures can clearly be daunting for teachers, especially non Indigenous teachers. Narragunnawali was developed in recognition of this uncertainty and offers teachers guidance to help you focus on the ‘work’ of reconciliation.
For early learning services, a key Narragunnawali resource is the online platform that allows you to build a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). RAPs facilitate the embedding of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ histories, cultures and knowledges into your service’s ethos and practice. Developing a RAP also assists services to articulate their visions for reconciliation and track actions. As Carmel Richardson of Wiradjuri Preschool and Childcare Centre, University of Canberra, reflects:
“Everything else pretty much was happening [at Wiradjuri] and had been happening for a number of years. The RAP enabled us to articulate that in a written way so we have a record of the things that we do.”
Furthermore, the Narragunnawali platform provides a number of professional learning and curriculum resources that are linked to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the National Quality Standard (NQS).
Narragunnawali aims to create a community of positive and engaged schools and early learning services that are committed to promoting reconciliation between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Visit www.reconciliation.org.au/schools to find out about how your more early learning service can join the Narragunnawali community.
Narragunnawali means ‘alive’, ‘wellbeing’, ‘coming together’ and ‘peace’ in the language of the Ngunnawal people, Traditional Owners and Custodians of the Land and waterways on which Reconciliation Australia’s Canberra office is located.
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