Two-Way Learning
This article is about Two-way Learning, as a principle, and in practice. During 2005 I worked with Desart which is the Indigenous Association of Aboriginal Art Centres in the Central Australian Desert. It is an employer organisation of Aboriginal businesses. My role as a facilitator was to work with the artists, as workers and as executive members, to develop an Industry Training Network that could move toward addressing their needs. There are over fifteen different language groups in the Desart network and the first language of people in the network is rarely English. People in remote Australia, identify with cultures very different to our own. Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Australia prides itself on being ‘industry led’. The members of Desart see learning as an important part of developing Aboriginal owned and wholly managed Art Centres. The two cultures are in ‘policy’ agreement. But what does ‘industry led’ training mean in this environment?
It seems to me that the first prerequisite of an industry led system is for people in the industry to talk about the training they want, and for training providers to have a clear expectation of what that training is, and how it is required to be delivered. This means consultation has to be genuine, and training built upon the information arising from the consultation process.
The Desart team travelled to five regional meetings in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, talking with people about what training they would like, and how they would like it. Wherever possible we were accompanied by interpreters. Participants worked in groups: sometimes particular art centres, sometimes men's group and women's group, sometimes young people and older people. They were invited to contribute information in any way they liked: as a picture, a map, as text, or by simply talking; and in any language they liked, English or one of the 15 languages or so spoken by members of Desart. In the beginning we would explain as briefly as possible what the workshop was about; speaking in English and drawing a map of an art centre as we went along. After people had worked in groups we gathered together again and all the groups presented their discussions and findings. We took photographs and presented reports with images of people at work and also of the presentations, diagrams and charts. This meant that people could see who was present and what they had discussed in the report of the meeting, even if they couldn’t read the accompanying text.
At the end of each meeting we would ask how people found the meeting; whether it worked or was useful. Often people said, ‘Good Two-way learning!’ At one meeting, a woman artist joked and said ‘Four-way learning!’ There were four language groups in that meeting. This meant that people could clearly see that we were learning from them, and indicated that they had learnt from us. They were also learning from each other, and this was one of the most important things participants told us they took away from the workshops.
Two-way learning is about the trainer respecting the knowledge, learning processes and perspectives of another people and recognising that they are learning about another culture and knowledge system, at the same time as sharing their own knowledge
Two-way learning is about the trainer respecting the knowledge, learning processes and perspectives of another people and recognising that they are learning about another culture and knowledge system, at the same time as sharing their own knowledge. It is about working together to find the basis from which new knowledge can be developed in a way that is relevant to the learners concerned, and can be grasped by them.
Trainers and educators often need to learn how to work and teach in cross cultural and multilingual environments. Many of us are mono lingual and mono cultural, and we need further skills and understandings if we are to work effectively in these environments. Sometimes it will mean learning another language.
Aboriginals have their own teachers who can deliver training in language, culture, history, health, law etc passing on to a new generation traditional knowledge and cultural training. In communities where traditional knowledge and learning is still extant, different groups of people will be the holders of different types of knowledge, and only those people should be passing on that knowledge to others. Other people cannot, because they have not had the proper training. This is not dissimilar to our culture, where we require all providers of accredited vocational education and training to have a Certificate IV in workplace training and assessment, for example. Training providers need to recognise the potential contribution the holders of traditional knowledge and authority will make to any training program in the community and work side by side. That recognition not only indicates respect for traditional knowledge and its custodians, but also enables Aboriginal people to respect our knowledge. Respect is a two-way process.
Language
Aboriginal people across Australia have experienced diverse and varying histories of contact and development with non-Aboriginal Australia. Before white Australians came there were already many diverse and varied cultures and language groups across Australia. Today, Aboriginal people may live in:
- Traditional Aboriginal Communities where the local Aboriginal Language is their common daily language, and the first language of the people
- Rural, non-traditional communities where the daily language is a mixture of Aboriginal words and Aboriginal English
- Urban Communities where the daily language is English or Aboriginal English
- Urban dispersed Aboriginal communities where the common daily language is English
Different approaches to teaching and learning and to language and culture may be used in each environment. Certainly the importance of Aboriginal English and a teacher’s response to it is raised as a critical issue in the recent NSW Review of Aboriginal Education.
Many Aboriginal people, whether their first language is Aboriginal or even where they speak Aboriginal English, have enormous difficulty understanding what they are being taught, if the language of instruction is English. This is compounded by the fact that cultural conceptions upon which a problem is based may be very different, or that there is no dictionary present or available to refer to the language equivalent, where teachers and/or learners are stuck. VET policy and infrastructure has not addressed seriously the fact that for many remote communities, where people may speak up to five or six Aboriginal languages, English may be their second, third or sixth language.
VET policy and infrastructure has not addressed seriously the fact that for many remote communities, where people may speak up to five or six Aboriginal languages, English may be their second, third or sixth language
Delivery of training
Working out relevant training often means working from the ground up to figure out what is happening, the steps that need to be taken, what needs to be done, and then organizing within the community to meet those needs. Training is part of this process, but not the whole of it and training delivery will need to support this process and not visa versa.
Gettin’ Into it! Working with Indigenous Learners (see details below) identifies a range of teaching and learning strategies including, project based and coaching strategies, training strategies at work and in business, collaborative strategies as well as institution or school and college based learning.
But these strategies will only be as good as the initial work undertaken in establishing the relevance and value of the training to the community and/or the individual; ensuring that delivery methods are appropriate and accommodate resources, language ability and the time needed to effectively acquire knowledge in different environments. Here are some issues in doing this:
Relevance
Relevance will include the involvement of elders and others in the community and the incorporation of Aboriginal knowledge and understanding. To establish the relevant training, and delivery methods, trainers need to listen and be prepared to change learning strategies, time taken, resources and outcomes on a regular basis.
Customisation of training packages
Customisation of training packages is inevitably necessary. In many cases a particular community outcome or individual goal are the reason for the training. So it is important to offer modules that are relevant, not simply modules included in a national qualification. Remember, in designing training packages, we work within the dominant culture, in the often highly technical language of that culture, and in English. The flexibility required to adapt these national outcomes to an Aboriginal English or English as a second language environment in communities which exist outside of the mainstream economy and industry and whose world view is informed by a completely different cultural and knowledge base, is what is required if competency benchmarks are ever going to be translated into meaningful training.
Once successful outcomes from training can be established, then an individual can always acquire particular modules if they want to, and will have developed more confidence in their ability to do so. Let’s face it, small business and major industry will not provide supported training in the workplace for a unit of competency which they do not see as relevant to the work at hand, even if it is part of a qualification. They make their views known to training package developers regarding unnecessary units of competency. Why not Indigenous industry and communities? If we cannot establish the relevance of training package outcomes to Aboriginal Australians within their own communities, then they may not be relevant, a fact we find easy to accept within industry, but often dismiss as a failure to understand the customisation processes or indeed VET when expressed by Aboriginal people and/or their training providers.
Learning side by side
Often the preferred method of instruction is mentoring and learning side by side. The members of Desart want to develop jobs for Aboriginal people in Art Centres, and as Art Coordinators. They want Art Coordinators, who are always non-Aboriginal people, to train local people over time in the functions of their job. However, learning side by side is a skill and non-Aboriginal workers need training and support in working side-by-side. Side by side learning means that not only do non-Aboriginal workers share their skills but that Aboriginal people and the community are strengthened into the future and the contribution of the non-Aboriginal worker has an ongoing value well after they have left the community.
Funding
Unfortunately non-Aboriginal workers are often poorly funded and struggle to find the capacity and support to deliver side by side learning on top of pressing daily tasks. Training providers are rarely funded to support them, let alone to learn language and/or use interpreters. The funding rarely allows for the financial recognition of the contribution from holders of traditional knowledge. Nor does it often cover the costs of providing training consistently over time on community. It may simply not be flexible enough to accommodate the diversity of approaches necessary for long term outcomes.
In working with Aboriginal people, our culture has developed a number of principles which we recommend to trainers and educators. Each report, review and research program seems to develop a new set of principles. Here are some I try to work by.
- Identifying how Aboriginal knowledge can be incorporated and recognised by seeking and acting upon appropriate advice from Aboriginal people themselves
- Recognising local and regional diversity of Aboriginal histories and perspectives, and actively integrating local experience throughout the learning process by working with Aboriginal holders of traditional knowledge
- Customising competency standards to incorporate all the teaching and learning issues of the community, including language, knowledge and relevance
- Providing training that promotes Aboriginal philosophy, ideas, hopes and aspirations, and informs all participants in industry and in VET about the needs of Aboriginal people
- Supporting genuine community and employment outcomes for participants so that training is seen as successful and useful
It requires constant learning and questioning of ourselves, if we are to be ‘partners in a learning culture’, rather than unwitting contributors to the problem.
Aboriginal people face a number of issues which affect their wellbeing and livelihood. These may include labour market factors, contraction in the rural economy, low levels of formal education and job related skills, lack of control over their environment, proficiency in English levels and discrimination in employment. Addressing these issues is one of the most important challenges facing training providers and educators. It requires constant learning and questioning of ourselves, if we are to be ‘partners in a learning culture’, rather than unwitting contributors to the problem.
Further Reading
TRUDGEN, R I, 2003, Why Warriors Lie Down and Die, Aboriginal Resource and Development Services Inc, Darwin
This is a book by the author attempting to develop an understanding of why the Aboriginal people of Arnhem Land face the greatest crises in health and education since European contact. It builds this understanding from the perspectives of Indigenous history and experience as well as his experience in working with the Yolŋu people.
It is interesting to read this volume in conjunction with:
PEARSON N, 2000, Our Right to take Responsibility, Noel Pearson and Associates, Cairns
Both writers attempt to analyse and understanding why problems in communities seem to be the worst they ever have been for Aboriginal people. Both writers discuss solutions and ideas towards overcoming these problems.
NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc, & NSW Department of Education and Training 2004, Yanigurra Muya: Ganggurrinyma Yaarri Guurulaw Yirrin.gurray. Freeing the Spirit: Dreaming and Equal Future. The Report of the Review of Aboriginal Education, NSW Department of Education and Training and NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc, Sydney
This Report researches and reports on Aboriginal Education in NSW and makes recommendations to achieve certain goals.
Department of Education Science and Training and the Australian National Training Authority 2004, Gettin’ into it. Working with Indigenous Learners Australian Training Products Ltd, Melbourne
This document is to support the implementation of training packages within an Indigenous context.
