Interpreting the Maths Syllabus for Aboriginal Schools

Abstract

The Western Australian Maths Syllabus with Notes is the recommended Maths curriculum for all Northern Territory schools. However, for teachers in tribal Aboriginal communities it is obvious that the gulf between this syllabus and the education setting is enormous. It is therefore essential that teachers try to bridge this gulf. The answer does not lie in the syllabus itself, but in the insights a teacher has about the culture and systems of knowledge of his/her Aboriginal students. I would like to talk about these insights in the form of a letter to a first-year non-Aboriginal teacher in an Early Childhood class in an Aboriginal bilingual school in the Northern Territory. I hope it makes her/him a little more insightful, because it has made me so.Dear H.……By now you will have had time to look at the Western Australian Maths Syllabus with Notes which is the recommended Maths curriculum for N.T. schools. If you are like me, you will initially have been overwhelmed at the thought of having to interpret it for planning a Maths program in your Aboriginal classroom. But take heart, because I would like to try to help you think about how to do this, and I’ll refer you to support materials and readings that have some answers. Then, hopefully, you can feel confident about planning a Maths program to guide your students towards meaningful experiences.I believe that, as teachers in Aboriginal schools, it is essential that we try to make education (and Maths in particular) meaningful for our students. Without meaning and purpose in education, we are perpetuating the unequal opportunity that has been offered to Aboriginal students in the past.