Pathways to Engagement: Aboriginal Education Officers in Their Own Words

This report arose as part of the study Building on Children's Linguistic Repertoires to Enrich Learning funded by the Department of Education and Communities, 2015. It followed a year long pilot study funded by Erehwon Public School to trial the language mapping approach used in the research. The 2015 study was conducted in four schools, three with high Aboriginal and high multicultural enrolments and one with a majority of students from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The aim of the project was to research children's everyday language practices to improve their English learning, and hence their learning across the curriculum. This report is designed to accompany the full project report which is available on the Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University website (http://www.uws.edu.au/cer/research/research_reports), or from the Department of Education library. The Pathways to Engagement report came about because of the key role Aboriginal Education Officer Sandra Hickey was playing in the Aboriginal English program at Erewhon Public School in the 2014 pilot study. When the school joined the project for a second year in 2015 it seemed important to invite Sandra Hickey and the three Aboriginal Education Officers from the participating schools to join the research. The four Aboriginal Education Officers took part in three full-day professional learning activities. Day 1 introduced them to the method of producing the language maps; Day 2 led them through a process of analysing the maps; and Day 3 reflected on their role in relation to the outcomes of the project. Their mapping, analysis and discussions were recorded and form part of the material of this report. The report was constructed largely from these recorded conversations. Each of the Aboriginal Education Officers has over 20 years experience in New South Wales schools. During these professional learning days they spoke freely, expressing their opinions in their own ways of talking. The transcriptions of these are included in the report verbatim to most accurately represent their voice. They did not attempt to represent anyone other than themselves based upon their combined 80 years of accumulated experience. It is believed that this experience, expressed in its own terms, offers an invaluable insight into the project, their roles, and the benefits to Aboriginal children. The report also includes additional material from the focus groups facilitated by the research team with children at Erehwon Public School and a profile of the participation of single Aboriginal students.