XBR202 Working With Communities

Provide an analytical discussion that compares and contrasts the ways each of these two communities recognises history (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and local indigenous histories in other communities), children’s rights, cultural identity, access to resources and sustainability. 

The community of Brighton Le sands compared to Alice Springs various in different ways.  Brighton Le sands is a community of residential and commercial area, popular for its vibrant food and boutique stores with contrast to Alice Springs where the community is small and with vast natural landmarks and famous for art/culture and tourism.  Alice Springs indigenous people have been preserving and taking care of their land for thousands of years and practicing their traditional way of life.  Whereas Brighton Le sands were established only a couple of hundred years ago and it is a mixture of diverse cultures with limited natural landmarks.

 

The people of Alice Springs have connections to the land and many sacred sites that is part of cultural identity as the traditions are passed on to the children. In Brighton Le Sands the community centre, library, parks, reserves are part of the cultural identity with children friendly environments (Bayside Council, 2016).   The UN Convention covers all children’s rights locally and globally although the UN Convention for the Right of Indigenous is aimed at maintaining and meeting the rights of the indigenous community locally and globally free from discrimination (AHRC, 2015).  Both the communities, although in different states have access to resources readily available such as the library supporting residents in various ways and the LGA councils.  Sustainability is practiced widely in Alice Springs preserving areas that incorporate cultivation, life skills and knowledge in order of wellbeing for indigenous peoples; to keep promoting their values, customs and traditions in balance of conserving and protecting the mother earth (Earth Sanctuary, 2016).  Similarly, Brighton Le Sands sustainability is based on preserving energy, water, waste and planting (Bayside Council, 2016).

Provide a reflection on your learning about researching place and the implications for your role as an educator. 

 

The learning gained from researching about place and the implications for the role as an educator has deeply widened my knowledge and my attitude towards future teaching.  Every person has a specific connection to certain places throughout their lives and through these relations; they have contributed to our cultural identity, beliefs and how we have interacted with family, friends and community.   Reflecting about place not only has personal significance to a person but also allows people to be an active citizen in their community (Reynolds, 2014). Through the interactions one is connecting to place and their community, maybe making a difference and advocating for change and it may be as simple as exercising our rights for a stop sign in your street. 

 My pedagogical practices will involve inclusive teaching practices and curriculum to educate children about legal rights, equality, citizenship, social issues, justice and problems in the communities or the world and in what ways can they as citizen make a difference and voice their opinions (Tudbull, 2014).  I will encourage children to make decisions and motivate them to make a change without bias or discrimination, give them a sense of belonging (EYLF, 2009), to feel safe  (UNICEF, 2016), build bridges between different cultures (Reynolds, 2014) and acknowledge the land owners and respect others as they connect to place.