Categories: NewsEducation

Cultural immersion solves staff ‘revolving door’

<h2>How did the mob in Maningrida stop the revolving door of teachers in their community&quest; Through cultural training and community engagement for staff&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>With so many different clan and language groups in the Arnhem Land community of Maningrida&comma; students are thriving on an education that includes language and culture&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The main language is Ndjebbana&comma; and the second language is Burarra&comma; but we’ve got other formal languages as well as Kunwinjku&comma; Rembarrnga and Wulaki&comma; and Djinang&comma;” Lurra Language and Culture teacher&comma; Cindy Jinmarabynana&comma; told NITV&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cindy’s colleague&comma; linguist and teacher&comma; Mason Scholes&comma; said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;with our Indigenous Language and Culture Unit that we run here at the college we teach five languages across the school&comma; from preschool right up to the senior years&period; And we go on camps throughout the year with our five language groups&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;9531" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-9531" style&equals;"width&colon; 473px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><img class&equals;" wp-image-9531" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;11&sol;SNAU06-NEWS-NT-Maningrida-4-300x225&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"473" height&equals;"355" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-9531" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Cultural education at Maningrida&comma; students learn how to find mangrove worms&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>To solve a teacher turnover issue&comma; the language and culture staff have implemented cultural training to ensure teachers make more meaningful connections with their community&period; Without this training and inclusion&comma; the complexities of the culture&comma; language and kinship system can cause feelings of isolation&period; A new teacher to Maningrida told NITV the induction process &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;really helps you get a bigger picture of the whole context&comma; understand what &lbrack;sacred&rsqb; places you might be allowed or not allowed to go to”&period; She says by learning kinship rules&comma; teachers know where they fit in to the community&comma; and feel more included&comma; which leads to more attachment to the community&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Look out for our Maningrida school profile in Term 1&comma; 2018 for more on how this mob successfully integrate the Australian education system into the diverse sociolinguistic fabric of Maningrida&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Suzy Barry

Suzy Barry is a freelance education writer and the former editor of School News, Australia.

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