Hannah Thomas, Director of Professional Learning

I want to extend my thanks to Nick Tsoukatos for his insightful presentation on his Cranbrook School Teacher Inquiry Group project, ‘The Impacts of Culturally Responsive Teaching.’

Nick’s action research project aimed to build students’ capacity to appreciate cultural differences, validate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture, understand Aboriginal ways of being, knowing, and doing, and engage Aboriginal students with relevant learning. His research explored how culturally relevant teaching practices in a series of biology lessons could improve Year 8 students’ positions on an intercultural development curriculum, and measured the impact of these teaching strategies through comparing students’ pre and post-intervention reflections.

In one standout lesson, students learned how Aboriginal dance is a storytelling medium, used to pass down stories from generation to generation, through engaging with a dance depicting the external features of a kangaroo. Students then used dance to communicate information about the function of an organ within the digestive system, before completing a reflection to measure their level of cultural responsiveness.

In order to analyse students’ reflections, Nick Using the Australian Institute for Teaching & School Leadership (AITSL) Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Continuum, which describes levels of responsiveness to the knowledge, skills, and cultural identities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This scale ranges from Stage 1: Cultural Destructiveness through to Stage 6: Cultural Sustainability, and the shift in students’ cultural responsiveness from pre-intervention to post-intervention was impressive, with all students improving at least one stage in their cultural responsiveness. In their post-intervention reflections, 100% of students demonstrated Stage 3: Cultural Awareness or better, with 26.3% of students reaching Stage 4: Cultural Competence and 21.1% of students achieving Stage 5: Cultural Responsiveness.

Thank you, Nick, for your dedication to fostering an inclusive and culturally responsive learning environment. Your work is truly inspiring!

Hannah Thomas
Director of Professional Learning