Focus on Indigenous education

How Indigenous students are benefiting from digital curriculum resources

A recent forum in Melbourne brought together teachers of Indigenous students, Aboriginal education unit representatives and contact liaison officers from the states and territories to discuss the use of digital curriculum resources. The forum explored recent research and shared experiences about how teachers are using digital curriculum resources to improve outcomes and embed Indigenous perspectives across the curriculum.

Teachers showcased the resources they used in their programs and highlighted effective ways of integrating the resources into classrooms.

Report and its findings

Research into the use of digital curriculum resources with Indigenous students found that The Le@rning Federation's resources improve learning outcomes and increase engagement and motivation of the students in a range of situations. The positive responses to the resources by participating teachers and their students indicate that there are significant benefits to using the resources.

Notably, the report found that students spend more time on task when using digital technologies. Significant gains were reported in student engagement across a range of priority learning areas, and particularly in Mathematics. There is sufficient information from the research to conclude that, just like their non-Indigenous peers, Indigenous students find The Le@rning Federation's digital content highly engaging.

• Using The Le@rning Federation digital curriculum resources to enhance the education of Indigenous students (pdf, 1.58MB)

Teachers' insights

Listen to some of the insights that teachers have gained from using digital curriculum resources with their Indigenous students. Participating teachers came from schools in remote, rural and urban communities across Australia.

Mandy Thompson, Gillen Primary School (Alice Springs)

Find out how Mandy, a transition teacher at Gillen Primary School, used digital curriculum resources to teach mathematical concepts and how she expanded her use into other learning areas.

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Sarah Rogers and Tara Wittenberg, Northfield Primary School (Adelaide)

Sarah and Tara team-teach at Northfield, a primary school with students from several different language and cultural backgrounds. They have enthusiastically used a variety of learning objects. Hear what they have to say about how their students have benefited.

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Melissa Weatherley, St Mary's College (Broome)

Melissa teaches lower secondary students in a pathways program. Learn about her students' positive responses to digital curriculum materials with a focus on literacy.

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