Indigenous Languages and Culture
Indigenous Languages and Culture (ILC) is a component of the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework. Its inclusion in the NTCF acknowledges the important role of ILC for Indigenous students who are more than 30% of the total student population. It is a two-way approach to teaching and learning.
As part of a world-wide trend, Indigenous people want to retain or revive their language and maintain cultural practices in a dynamic and changing world.
Key outcomes
The ILC component of the NTCF consists of three parts
- Culture content outcomes were developed in consultation with school/communities NT wide. It is expected that some of these outcomes will have more importance in some areas than others. The culture content has three strands - Country and Land, People and Kinship and Natural Environment.
- Language Maintenance outcomes are intended for students whose first language is an Indigenous language and the community choose this language for teaching and learning.
- Language Revitalisation outcomes are intended for students who are not fluent speakers of the Indigenous language chosen by the community.
Aim of project
The aim of this Project is to develop a range of resources, materials and professional learning to support the diverse range of programs across the NT The resources where possible will be uploaded to Explore NT and available in hard copy where necessary.
The project relies on close and continuing community consultation with elders, language speakers, parents, students and educators in the school in order to build capacity and ensure resources and materials are relevant and appropriate for the diverse learning contexts.
As well as the partnership with schools and communities the project requires the continuing support of linguists. The project aims to foster a teaching team approach where roles and responsibilities are shared according to expertise and influence.
In each region/language area/group the method of developing resources and materials may be different as determined by the school and community, in particular the elders and language speakers (who are often one and the same). Workshops are held regularly to provide opportunities for sharing and developing understandings about teaching and learning through ILC.
All resources developed are explicitly linked to the ILC component of the NTCF and incorporate outcomes from other learning areas including EsseNTial Learnings and Learning Technology.