5 Ways to Connect with First Nations Elders

It is NAIDOC Week!!! Time to celebrate our amazing First Nation communities and their cultures. I hope you are getting out and exploring the events that are happening in your local area!

This year we are encouraging everyone to get involved and connect with their local community and, in particular, Elders. Elders are the leaders of our communities. They have so much knowledge and experience to share and the work they do every day is worthy of celebration.

A common question we get asked is about how teachers and schools can connect with local Elders and start to build valuable relationships that support genuine and authentic Aboriginal perspectives to be embedded in the school environment.

Connecting with the local Aboriginal community can feel overwhelming if you haven’t done it before but I promise it isn’t as daunting as it might seem. And the relationships you develop make it very worthwhile.

If you are still working on building your local connections, there are other ways to connect with the stories of Elders and appreciate the contributions and knowledge they share. Don’t let the absence of relationships be a barrier to exploring the world of Elders, increasing your cultural knowledge and understanding and building your capacity to develop local connections. Get involved in our NAIDOC Challenge and see where your learning takes you! You can find more information about the Challenge and sign up for the Challenge Newsletter, which is full of amazing information, tips and resources from our Challenge team, on our website click here.

Here are 5 ways you connect with Elder stories.

Attend a NAIDOC event - NAIDOC is for everyone and most NAIDOC events are open to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people so go along and check out what is happening in your local area. It gives you the opportunity to speak with representatives of local organisations, participate in some cultural experiences and enjoy some of the things that your local Country has to offer. It is an informal way of making connections which can help break the ice and support the development of long-lasting relationships.

Get involved with your local community - getting involved with your local community is the best way to build strong relationships and connections. Many teachers reach out for help as a one-off interaction and while this can sometimes be facilitated, community members are often too busy to do everything they would like to and one-off calls for help can go unanswered. But teachers who reach out to get involved in community and support community initiatives will have the opportunity to meet people, learn about the community and ultimately make the connections that make finding someone to come into your school easier. Relationships are a two way street - make sure you are giving as much as you are taking.

Host an event - Invite the community to an event at your school. It doesn’t have to be a big event, even an invite in for a cuppa can be the start of a beautiful friendship between your school and people from your local Aboriginal community. Invite the families of your Aboriginal students, send invitations to your local organisations and reach out to people in Aboriginal liaison roles at organisations like local councils, libraries and government organisations. Not everyone will be able to attend but some will appreciate the invitation and make the time. Looking for a reason to host an event? - our NAIDOC Challenge encourages students to plan and host an event to celebrate Elders and share the knowledge they have gained over the term. The Challenge materials include lots of tips and resources to help you plan a deadly event.

Organise an incursion - While authentic and meaningful embedding of Aboriginal perspectives cannot be built on incursions alone, they are an important part of the story. Local providers can share culture, Aboriginal viewpoints and knowledge that teachers may not have access to. Supporting local incursion providers also contributes to Aboriginal economic development which helps support the whole community through the employment opportunities for Aboriginal people that come with Aboriginal business. Supporting strong outcomes for Aboriginal communities is what we are all working towards right? But another immediate benefit of engaging a local Aboriginal-led incursion is the relationships that can come from them. Providers are often invested in supporting schools that have supported them and once the school is known to them, may be more open to supporting the school to make broader connections in the community. I know when our team has connected to a school - either as a Wingaru Kids subscriber or via an incursion - we have a better understanding of how the school operates and that often means we can provide better support to help if the school asks.

Consider the story of a well-known Elder - Our communities are full of Elders who are working hard to make change, lead communities and challenge stereotypes. Choose one of these people to look at in your class and explore their story. What are they known for? Who is their mob? What makes them an Elder? What is their role as an Elder? Find their stories in videos, books and social media posts and have students research to learn more. It is easy to learn about local Elders through research as many have been recognised by media or in local award ceremonies and have had their stories shared publicly. Throughout the Challenge we will suggest a variety of Elders that you might want to consider but there are many and they are all worthy of inquiry and the knowledge you learn through the story of each will vary.

Whatever your approach, have a great NAIDOC week and if you are taking the challenge to explore Elders in term 3, don't forget to share using #CelebratingEldersProject.