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JCPSLP
Volume 19, Number 1 2017
Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology
Semi-structured interviews were analysed using a
qualitative approach and three main themes were identified.
These were: knowing the child and family, systemic and
individual factors which affect Aboriginal children’s learning
and communication development. Subthemes or key
concepts were identified as part of each theme. All
participants drew on experience to explain their
observations or perceptions. Importantly, it was noted that
non-Aboriginal teachers also drew on theoretical knowledge
of culture and history in an attempt to understand how they
could better support the children’s development.
The teachers acknowledged the value of experience
and training in working with Aboriginal children and
families. The awareness, knowledge and experience that
a professional (educator or speech-language pathologist)
holds about Aboriginal cultural ways of doing, learning
and communicating may affect how successfully learning
environments are cultivated to support children of
Aboriginal culture. All professionals working with Aboriginal
children need to be mindful of how children’s behaviour
and communication are interpreted, with respect to cultural
values and practices.
The importance of developing respectful and
supportive relationships to promote children’s learning
was emphasised at several levels. Teachers, ECEs and
parents discussed successful relationships that had been
developed personally, at the level of the child and their
family, as well between the service (ECE or school) and
the Aboriginal community. SLPs can learn from these
comments to value the importance of fostering relationships
at many levels in order to fully support Aboriginal children’s
learning.
Teachers and ECEs discussed many different classroom
teaching and learning strategies used to enhance literacy
development for Aboriginal children. It is important for
speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who are collaborating
with educators working with Aboriginal children to be aware
of the variety of different teaching and learning strategies
that teachers employ as well as the knowledge and
experience of teachers with regards to these. At the same
time, ECEs and teachers showed willingness to learn from
members of the community about ways in which to improve
their practice.
The information gained from this research has
implications for SLPs working collaboratively with educators
influence of skills, confidence and experiences of family
members:
Mum’s literacy skills are low. So mum doesn’t feel
confident helping her. Some parents may not have
had very positive experience at school so don’t feel
confident to support the kids. (T5)
Cultural factors
Teachers and ECEs occasionally commented on individual
children’s behaviours; however, they did not typically
consider these to be related to culture. For example, a child
may have been labelled as “shy”, or the teacher noted that
the child would not participate in telling news in front of the
class. Cultural aspects such as “shame” (Harkins, 1990)
were not mentioned by the participants in this study.
Aboriginal discourse, world views and learning practices
may differ from the discourses and learning practices
encouraged in a system modelled on a western European
style of education (Dunn, 2001; Ellis et al., 2010; Malcolm,
1994a, 1994b; Malin, 1990). Embedding supportive and
appropriate learning opportunities into educational systems
may be a challenge for educators who are not aware of
some of the subtleties of differences in communication
between Aboriginal and mainstream Australian culture.
Child’s strengths
Many teachers indicated they valued a strengths-based
approach in their teaching. They commented on individual
children’s strengths in particular areas, such as numeracy,
literacy or group participation, and they stressed the
importance of developing the Aboriginal child’s self-esteem.
“She has very strong numeracy skills; her numeracy skills
are at the end of grade one level. She is very strong in that
area” (T2).
Limitations
This qualitative study used thematic analysis to code and
identify themes based on individual responses in interviews.
Results must be interpreted with caution due to the small
sample size. The ideas presented in this paper cannot be
generalised to other similar populations without replication.
Conclusions
This research explored the perceptions of ECEs, teachers
and parents/carers about Aboriginal children’s
communication and emergent literacy development.
Appendix 1
General areas for discussion during the interview with educators
Demographic information
1. How long have you been working in early childhood?
2. How long in this position?
3. How old are you? Choices of age categories:
4. What are your qualifications?
5. What experience have you had in working with Aboriginal children?
6. Are you Aboriginal?
Personal beliefs and experience
7. What do you think about the way Aboriginal children talk?
8. What do you do to help Aboriginal children develop their language?
9. What did you learn about language development in your training?
10. What did you learn about Aboriginal children and their language, during your training?
11. To what extent are you involved with the local Aboriginal community?
12. What strategies do you apply (if any) when teaching Aboriginal children literacy?
13. Do you think [child] communicates well for his/her age? (Explain why you think this.)