What is Aboriginal Perspectives?

In this section are the units:

	Maths with the Mob An Early Stage 1 unit - The unit provides opportunities for students to investigate integrated mathematics and visual arts activities through exploring Aboriginal lifestyles and perspectives using currently available resources.
	My Place A Stage 1 unit - This unit provides opportunities for students to explore concepts of belonging to groups of people and of belonging to places. The unit focuses on the students' local community and local area, and provides opportunities for learning experiences about Aboriginal people's relationships with family, community, environment and place.
	Terra Nullius? The Very Early Years Stage 2 unit - In this unit students are presented with a range of problem-solving situations that reflect the significant events of the colonisation of Australia. Through discussion, students make choices which they must then justify.
	Aboriginal Technology Stage 3 unit - The teaching and learning activities in this unit will enable students to develop a greater understanding of Aboriginal people and the importance of their traditional way of life. It highlights the complexity of traditional Aboriginal communities, their management of the environment and the importance of the development and use of a range of technologies.

Linkages K–6 Aboriginal perspectives through integrated units

The imperative for the development of these units has been a growing realization that the primary curriculum offers teachers with many opportunities for authentic curriculum integration. Often the teaching of cross-curriculum perspectives has been perceived as the captive of a limited number of syllabuses. This has meant that teachers have tended to narrow the focus of their teaching of Aboriginal perspectives to an historical timeframe and where other attributes of Aboriginal people and communities have been given a limited place in the curriculum.

These integrated units of work have been developed to highlight the potential for innovative teaching practices using the primary curriculum. The Aboriginal perspective units demonstrate examples of a more holistic approach to teaching, which underpins the development of integrated curriculum. The units exemplify different approaches to teaching by drawing on syllabus outcomes from several different key-learning areas, as well a variety of different assessment tasks. Teachers need to use their professional judgment to ensure that all curriculum outcomes are planned and implemented in more effective ways.

An important focus of these units is the active engagement of parents and community in the teaching and learning process. The Board has recently published “Working with Aboriginal communities – A guide to community consultation and protocols” (To purchase go to Shop Online or contact Client Services by email clientservices@boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au or ph:(02) 9367 8111) This book outlines effective ways for schools to develop collaborative linkages with their local Aboriginal communities to enhance student learning. Teachers are strongly encouraged to engage with parents and community while planning and teaching units of work that have an Aboriginal perspective.