ACER Foundation

School Readiness Television Initiative

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), and The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) have committed to the development of an initiative that provides a national, strategy to support educators and assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families to be on a path of successful learning. It uses a strengths-based approach that recognises the expertise that families bring to learning and builds on that expertise to assist children and families to engage with school and education providers to support improved educational outcomes for all.

The School Readiness Initiative will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and their families to: celebrate and share their culture; engage with learning in a fun and interactive way; have a positive voice and image in the media; and build on their learning in the home to support their transition to school.

It will assist educators to be ‘ready’ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, in pre-school and when they begin primary school; it will assist them to recognise and build on the learning and skills that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children bring into formal learning environments; and provide a learning environment that engages and enriches the lives of all the children in their care.

It will assist communities by providing local employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members will be involved in all aspects of the initiative, this includes an apprenticeship program that will run for the life of the project and provide work experience and training opportunities.

Content fundamentals for a TV show aimed at Indigenous children aged 3 to 6

Using television to improve learning opportunities for Indigenous children

Why Television?

Television viewing is a popular activity for preschool aged children and the use of this medium allows the initiative to have national impact by reaching into homes, schools and preschools in urban, rural and remote communities. Currently in Australia very few quality early learning television programs are developed and even fewer of these are aimed specifically at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. There is currently no national program for this age group that combines formal educational content while reflecting back a positive image of Aboriginal children and culture through the prism of the learning environment. This initiative offers the opportunity to provide appropriate preschool educational content, and for children to be presented in positive learning situations with culturally appropriate images.

Research indicates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote locations do have access to television. The television series and outreach support mechanisms will provide access to early learning for both preschool children and their families no matter where they live.

Another advantage of using television is that it ensures the impact of the initiative will extend to other family members who engage in co-viewing with their children, this could assist in increasing levels of family literacy and numeracy.

Initiative Components:

Television Production

A key outcome is to develop an understanding of and familiarity with teacher expectations at school. The series will be child-centred and as a national program will be designed to appeal to children, families, schools and communities across Australia. Images of school will show learning as a fun activity. Attention will also be paid to recognizing how Aboriginal children learn while building cultural knowledge for the broader audience. It is expected that while showing positive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander role models the series will have universal appeal for all preschool children and will also assist parents and carers to be part of a successful home to school transition.

Outreach Program

An “Outreach” program will be established and delivered in community centres, to ensure that the community embraces and is connected to the resources provided. The purpose of the Outreach program is to bring communities and educators together in a two way conversation. Preliminary discussions anticipate the Outreach program being delivered through school and preschool clusters. This approach would create and strengthen local networks and be beneficial to all parties involved as school and preschool communities develop better working relationships. The cluster group network also provides some local support for educators working within these communities and allows the Outreach to be tailored to the concerns of the region in which it is being delivered.

Teaching and Learning Resources

Resources for children and families

The TV series will be supported by associated web and print based early learning resources to encourage family and parent involvement and to allow for repetition and reinforcement of specific concepts presented in previous episodes. Access to each episode via a web portal will allow viewing flexibility and provide opportunities for individual, self-paced and interactive learning.

Teaching and learning resources for Educators

There will be two phases to the development of educator focussed Teaching and Learning Resources:

The first is to complete the development of an accessible and culturally sound educational framework, developed with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) in mind. The Framework will provide cultural tools that preschool educators can use to support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in their care.

The second phase will be the development of a range of additional tools that expand on the knowledge found within the Framework, and provide focussed classroom activities and tools. Then of course there will be series specific resources for educators, children and families that compliment the television series.

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care