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The Aboriginal and Islander Student in the Classroom

Most secondary teachers in Queensland will encounter Aboriginal and Islander students in the classroom at some time or other, and most teachers will have no experience or training to prepare them to meet the special needs of the indigenous students. Aboriginal and Islander students are, indeed, different from mainstream (or Anglo-Celtic) Australian students in their learning characteristics, their social or cultural backgrounds, existing educational disadvantagement and experience of prejudice, and their use of forms of English other than Standard Australian English (SAE). To say that all students are equal and should be treated the same way is to deny these important differences and impede the learning of Aboriginal and Islander students in the mainstream classroom. Two features of Aboriginal and Islander learning styles about which classroom teachers need to be aware are field sensitivity and external locus of control. Students described as “field sensitive” (or field dependent) are influenced by context and develop cognitive styles related to a global, or whole, approach to thinking. The introduction to learning new material, therefore, needs to take this learning style into account, if Aboriginal and Islander students are to cope with learning in a culture which is not their own. The introduction needs to be global in its approach, to enable these students to apply it to their existing knowledge. (Tutor leaflet, n.d.) Field dependent behaviours exhibited by indigenous students, according to a leaflet issued to tutors working with Aboriginal and Islander students in Townsville, include a preference for group type, co-operative learning tasks and a sensitivity to the feelings and opinions of peers, rather than an individual, competitive learning style. There is also a tendency to relate to the teacher/tutor at a highly personal level.