Embedding our First Peoples’ culture and perspectives.

Fun fact: The words ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’ are mentioned 70 times in Guide to National Quality Framework (ACECQA, 2025) and 82 times in the EYLF (ADGE, 2022) with one of the Principals of the EYLF being solely dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives (ADGE, 2022, p. 16).

The Guide to the National Quality Framework (2025) and the Early Years Learning Framework (2022) both provide a strong narrative on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and perspectives and suggest the incorporation of these in a meaningful way linked to your local communities and families. Furthermore, these sector documents provide an opportunity to reflect on your philosophy, policies and practices to authentically embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and perspectives into your service’s program.

However, we personally feel we still have much to learn about how to do this authentically in culturally competent way.

Let’s tell you about our stories around our learning as non-indigenous educators…

Sitting down and yarning with a mentor from your local community is invaluable in your learning process as an educator … just as it was for us.

Our own learning process was (and continues to be) supported by many people including Anthony McKnight, our mentor from our local Indigenous community who assisted us in writing ‘Pause & Ponder. Reflecting on our work with children’. Anthony advised us to always keep Country at the centre of our thinking and learning and, of course, be respectful. He is of the opinion that when we do this, we are opening up a further opportunity to yarn in relation to our own thinking and decision making.

The importance of talking with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in your learning community….as Kate discovered.

Many years ago, I had a conversation with an Indigenous family around NAIDOC week celebrations, as preparing children and Educators with an authentic perspective was important to me. The family appreciated the opportunity but said they would prefer we did not ‘do’ a celebration of any kind because we were not of their mob and would not be able to share their story accurately, and they preferred their children to hear stories from their culture directly from their own Elders. Can you see how important it was for me to seek this family out to build my own understanding?

Taking opportunities to learn more …. as Annie does.

Reading Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe piqued my interest in the fact that some of our First Peoples were not only hunters and gatherers, as many of us have been taught. So, on a trip to north-west New South Wales, I booked a tour with the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum to hear the story behind Baiame’s Ngunnhu, Brewarrina’s fish traps, which consist of a series of dry-stone weirs and ponds arranged in the form of a stone net and fish storage spaces across the Barwon River.

Archaeologists have dated the fish traps as being over 40,000 years old and as the oldest surviving man-made structures on earth. First Peoples like the Ngemba, Muruwari, Ualarai, Kamilaroi and Baakinji say they are timeless. The old people were food conservers, fish preservationists and active practitioners of sustainability. There is so much to learn from and about our First Peoples.

Attending local community events…

 The local Council organised an annual event in recognition of Sorry Day and invited local schools to be part of this event. A child at our service, who had school-aged siblings attending the event, asked us why we didn’t ‘go to Sorry Day’ after knowledgeably explaining to both the children and the Educators what Sorry Day was all about. Together we decided to write a letter to Council, using the child’s explanation, and asking whether we could be invited next year. The next year, all the ECEC services in the local Council area were invited.

First Peoples’ culture and perspectives are not an add-on to your program.

Embedding learning about our First Peoples into all aspects of your work will ensure authenticity and create a ripple effect throughout your learning community.

Where will your journey take you? What stories will you have to tell?

References:

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA]. (2025). Guide to the National

              Quality Framework. .https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020- 01/Guide-to-the-

               NQF.pdf

Australian Government Department of Education [AGDE] (2022). Belonging, being and becoming: the

        early years learning framework for Australia (V2.0). Australian Government Department of

Education for the Ministerial Council. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/EYLF-

         2022-V2.0.pdf