Educators

We acknowledge the Ancestral Lands, Waterways and Skies of the First Nations peoples and pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future.

Preschool resources
Primary school resources

The Little J & Big Cuz education resources provide support for Early Years (K-2) educators with ideas and options for including Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander knowledge, understanding and skills in their teaching and learning programs.

They are designed to work with the Little J and Big Cuz series which aims to provide children with a sneak peek into the world of school.

 

The learning documents for each episode have been created as a spring-board for engaging with and embedding Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander perspectives and pedagogies in Early Years education environments from (K-2). The intention is to provide a starting point for educators as they:

  • engage with local and broader Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities to learn from and with their communities.
  • engage with local and broader Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities to build authentic relationships.
  • consider the transitions that take place in children’s lives every day and the role of educators to work with children and families to support these transitional moments. These moments of transition can be really big moments, such as the transition from early childhood into Primary school, or other moments such as moving from one space into another, or one learning experience to another.
  • consider the spaces in their indoor and outdoor environments and the possibilities of the key ideas of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander knowledge and culture and how these can build on current understandings and create new learning opportunities with children, families and community.
  • engage with their local community to grow a language that shares and respects the voices of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, their knowledge and their cultures.
Character

Acknowledgments:

ACER would like to acknowledge and extend thanks to Priscilla Reid-Loynes, Elizabeth Barret Jackson, Dr Sue Atkinson, and Alison Wunungmurra for their advice and input when acting as the ACER Indigenous Early Years Advisory Committee during the production of the Little J and Big Cuz series and the development of the preschool resources.

Thanks and acknowledgement must also be extended to Jess Holland, and Dr Mayrah Driese for acting as critical friends during the development of the (F-2) resources.  ACER would also like to extend thanks to Deborah Cohen, Beverley Laing, Greta Rollo, Marc Barrett and Anne Guggar for their contributions to the development of the (F-2) resources.