From Country to the classroom | Culturally Nourishing Schooling

Taking teachers out of the classroom and onto Country is building connections and confidence to imbed cultural knowledges in the classroom, according new CNS research.

The Culturally Nourishing Schooling project engages teachers, school leaders, Cultural Mentors and community members through a range of strategies designed to instil confidence in teachers and improve educational engagement of Aboriginal students.

“This holistic, community-wide approach to education is enabling our CNS schools to boost local connections, build trust between teachers and students, and increase cultural understanding,” says Lead Investigator on the CNS project, Associate Professor Kevin Lowe, Scientia Indigenous Fellow at the School of Education, University of New South Wales.

Learning from Country at Tweed River High School

Four years into the project, teachers are reporting increased confidence to engage more fully and authentically with their Indigenous students, to embed Aboriginal perspectives in their teaching, and to build relationships with families and community members.

“These changes are transforming students’ learning experiences, with teachers reporting increased class attendance rates, noticeably improved student engagement and eagerness to learn, a renewed sense of cultural pride and a heightened sense of belonging,” says A/Prof Lowe.

Learning from Country, along with the other CNS strategies, encourages teachers to think, act and relate differently in relation to Aboriginal students and the places and histories they are grounded in.

Building connection and confidence

A recent paper, published in the Australian Educational Researcher, shares insights from the CNS project. It documents 'The impact of Learning from Country on teachers' understandings of place and community.

“Learning from Country is about deepening understanding of Country and the local contexts of each community’s schooling experiences, its histories and lived experiences, important socio-historical events and cultural knowledge,” says lead researcher on the paper Dr David Coombs.

CNS teachers reported an increased understanding of and connection to community and the fundamental importance of Country in learning and teaching, according to the analysis led by Dr Coombs.

“Teachers described greater appreciation of the diversity within Aboriginal communities and cultures and developed a more nuanced and localised understanding of place, community and knowledge,” Dr Coombs adds.

“The Culturally Nourishing Schooling project has been invaluable for building a connection with the local community, which I think has been helpful not just as an early career teacher, but for all teachers – especially teaching within a new community,” says Julia Dimitriadis, a teacher at Matraville Sports High School. “You really do need to build those local connections and Culturally Nourishing Schooling has been fantastic for helping me do that.”

The initial trial of the CNS model will conclude at the end of 2024. If the program can secure additional funding, it is anticipated that the trial will be extended to involve new schools from across New South Wales, as well as researchers and schools from Victoria and South Australia.