There's a question I hear time and time again from educators across the country:
"We've done the cultural training… but how do we actually embed Aboriginal perspectives into our daily programming and planning?"
It's a genuine, heartfelt question that reveals something important: educators want to do this work well. They want to move beyond compliance checklists and create programs that authentically reflect Aboriginal perspectives as a foundation for practice, not an add-on.
That's exactly why Day 2 of the Koori Curriculum Coaching Camp focuses on Planning with Purpose.
Day 2 – Campfire Chat (Live with Jess)
Planning with Purpose: Embedding Culture in Everyday Practice
9:00 am – 9:45 am
This live session will guide educators to bridge the gap between cultural understanding and practical curriculum implementation, exploring how programming, planning and pedagogy can centre Aboriginal perspectives in meaningful, sustainable ways.
The Gap Between Training and Practice
Many educators complete foundational cultural training and leave feeling inspired, moved, and motivated to make changes. They understand why this work matters. They've reflected on their own biases and positioning. They've begun building awareness.
But then comes Monday morning.
The program book sits open. Children arrive with their own interests and needs. The planning cycle continues. And educators find themselves wondering: "How does what I learned in that training actually translate into this moment, this experience, this documentation?"
This isn't a failure on the part of educators. It's a sign that we need more than awareness—we need practical pedagogical tools that help us put cultural understanding into action.
This session will show you how.
Why Programming Matters in Reconciliation
When we talk about embedding Aboriginal perspectives, we're not just talking about what's displayed on the walls or which resources sit on the shelves.
We're talking about how we think about children's learning.
Programming and planning are where our values become visible. They reveal:
- What we notice and what we overlook
- Whose knowledge we centre and whose we marginalise
- Whether we see culture as a topic to cover or a lens through which all learning happens
- How we understand children's interests, relationships, and connection to place
Jess will unpack how programming becomes a reconciliation tool—a way to actively work towards equity, truth-telling, and cultural safety in early childhood settings.
This connects directly to the Closing the Gap Strategy and the Early Years Learning Framework, both of which call on educators to create environments where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children see themselves reflected, valued, and celebrated.
But here's the thing: when we create programs that are culturally inclusive for Aboriginal children, we create richer, more connected learning experiences for all children.
Moving Beyond Compliance Checklists
Too often, educators approach programming with a compliance mindset:
- "Have we ticked the Aboriginal perspectives box?"
- "Do we have at least one cultural activity this week?"
- "Is there something Aboriginal in our plan so it looks right for the assessor?"
This approach reduces culture to a task, something to be completed rather than lived.
Compliance thinking creates programs that feel tokenistic because they are designed to meet external requirements rather than internal values.
In this session, Jess will help educators shift from asking:
"What do I need to include?"
to asking:
"How am I seeing and responding to children's learning through a cultural lens?"
This is the difference between surface-level inclusion and deeply embedded practice.
The 8 Ways of Learning: A Practical Pedagogical Framework
One of the most powerful tools educators can use to transform their programming is the 8 Ways of Learning, a Wiradjuri pedagogical framework developed through collaboration with knowledge holders and educators.
The 8 Ways of Learning has been endorsed for use Nationally and aligns beautifully with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and My Time, Our Place (MTOP).
It's not a set of rules. It's a way of thinking about how Aboriginal children learn within cultural contexts, and how all children benefit when we honour multiple ways of knowing.
The eight interconnected pedagogies are:
- Story Sharing – Learning through narrative, connection, and lived experience
- Learning Maps – Seeing the big picture; visualising pathways of learning
- Non-verbal Learning – Observing, modelling, and learning through doing
- Symbols and Images – Communicating through pattern, sign, and art
- Land Links – Connecting learning to place, Country, and environment
- Non-linear Learning – Thinking in cycles and layers, rather than lines
- Deconstruct/Reconstruct – Breaking ideas apart and rebuilding them for deeper understanding
- Community Links – Embedding learning in relationships and community life
These aren't activities to slot into your weekly plan. They're lenses that help you see children's existing play, interests, and explorations through a cultural perspective.
Jess will walk educators through real examples of how the 8 Ways can be applied to everyday programming, whether you're documenting a child's interest in construction, planning a group experience around seasons, or following an investigation into local wildlife.
You'll see how Aboriginal pedagogies don't replace what you're already doing well—they enrich it, deepen it, and make it more inclusive.
From Theory to Action: What Does This Actually Look Like?
Let's be honest: frameworks can feel abstract. Educators need to see what culturally responsive programming actually looks like in practice.
That's why this session will include concrete examples showing how to:
- Deconstruct your current program to identify where Aboriginal perspectives are already present (often in ways you haven't noticed or named).
- Identify natural connections between children's interests and cultural knowledge, whether that's exploring animal homes on Country, investigating seasonal change, or noticing patterns in art and nature.
- Use the 8 Ways as a planning tool to structure observations, provocations, and reflections in ways that honour relational, environmental, and cultural elements of learning.
- Reframe documentation to capture not just what children are doing, but how their learning connects to place, community, story, and identity.
You don't need to start from scratch. You need to learn how to see what's already there, and intentionally strengthen it.
The Four Fundamental Elements for Embedding Aboriginal Perspectives
Jess will also introduce educators to the four fundamental elements that support authentic embedding of Aboriginal perspectives across programming:
1. Representation and Visibility: Ensuring Aboriginal peoples, cultures, histories, and contemporary realities are present and visible in your learning environment and program.
2. Relationship and Community: Building genuine connections with local Aboriginal community members, families, and organisations, and reflecting those relationships in your curriculum.
3. Respect and Protocols: Understanding and honouring cultural protocols, seeking permission, giving credit, and approaching cultural knowledge with humility and care.
4. Reflection and Responsibility: Committing to ongoing learning, self-reflection, and taking responsibility for your role in reconciliation and closing the gap.
These four elements provide a checkpoint for educators as they plan. Not as a compliance tick-box, but as a values-based guide that keeps practice grounded in respect and purpose.
Schema Play and Cultural Inclusion with Younger Children
One of the questions educators often ask is: "How do I embed Aboriginal perspectives with babies and toddlers?"
The answer lies in understanding schemas, those repeated patterns of behaviour and exploration that young children use to make sense of the world.
Schemas provide natural, developmentally appropriate entry points for cultural inclusion:
- A child exploring a transporting schema might engage with stories about how Aboriginal peoples carried water, food, and resources across Country.
- A child engaged in rotation schema might explore grinding with stones, spinning wool, or the circular patterns found in nature and art.
- A child demonstrating enclosing schema might investigate nests, shelters, and how animals and people create safe spaces.
Jess will share specific strategies for each schema type, showing how cultural perspectives can be woven into the everyday play of our youngest learners in ways that feel organic, respectful, and joyful.
Including Aboriginal Art Respectfully
Art is one of the most common ways educators attempt to include Aboriginal perspectives—and one of the areas where tokenism most often appears.
Jess will introduce the South Australian Art Gallery framework for respectfully incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art without creating copies or appropriating cultural symbols.
You'll learn how to:
- Use Aboriginal artworks as inspiration for inquiry, not imitation
- Explore the stories, techniques, materials, and meanings behind artworks
- Create learning experiences that honour the artist's intent and cultural context
- Extend children's engagement with art into scientific exploration, environmental action, language development, and more
For example, ghost net sculptures created by Torres Strait Islander artists can inspire investigations into:
- Ocean pollution and environmental stewardship
- The impact of discarded fishing nets on marine life
- Traditional fishing practices and contemporary challenges
- Sculpture techniques, materials, and design thinking
This approach respects the artist, the culture, and the child—while creating rich, layered learning opportunities.
Practical Tools You'll Take Away
By the end of this Campfire Chat, educators will have:
✅ A clear understanding of how programming and planning support reconciliation and equity
✅ Confidence using the 8 Ways of Learning as a practical pedagogical tool
✅ Real examples of culturally responsive programming across different age groups and interests
✅ Strategies for embedding Aboriginal perspectives with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers
✅ A framework for respectfully including Aboriginal art in curriculum
✅ The four fundamental elements to guide ongoing planning and reflection
This isn't theory. It's practice, grounded, purposeful, and ready to be implemented in your service tomorrow.
Reflective Prompts for Day 2
As part of the Coaching Camp workbook, educators will reflect on:
- How do your current programming and planning practices reflect Aboriginal perspectives?
- Where in your planning cycle do you see opportunities to embed culture more deeply?
These questions help educators pause, look closely at their existing practice, and identify their next steps forward with clarity and intention.
Join Us for Day 2
If you've ever felt stuck between knowing why this work matters and knowing how to actually do it, this session is for you.
If you've completed cultural training but struggled to translate it into your program book, this session is for you.
If you want to move beyond tokenistic activities and create a curriculum that truly honours Aboriginal perspectives, this session is for you.
Jess will be there, live, guiding you through practical strategies, real examples, and the frameworks that bring cultural understanding to life in everyday practice.
Bring your program book.
Bring your questions.
Bring your willingness to see your practice through a new lens.
We'll bring the guidance, the tools, the cultural insight, and the encouragement to help you plan with purpose.
