LEARNING ON COUNTRY

Learning on Country links to mainstream curriculum and provides students with:

Work skills: students learn to work collaboratively with each other, with rangers and community elders to complete practical tasks related to the real work of rangers

Employability skills: students learn teamwork, self-management, reliability and perseverance.

Communication skills: students are required to communicate effectively with rangers, indigenous elders and non-Indigenous visitors via a range of different technologies / methodologies.

Literacy skills: students are required to produce oral and written texts for different audiences.

Numeracy: students are required to produce diagrams, maps and graphs, as well as measure quantities (e.g. count seeds, plants, marine debris, etc) and distances, plan budgets and collect data related to particular sites, species or environmental issues.

Learning on Country provides real and practical land and sea management experience.The following types of activities are undertaken out in the field, and are followed up in the classroom:

• Weed management programs (including mapping)

• Nursery management – seed collection and planting

• Tree planting

• Marine debris clean up

• Sea turtle monitoring

• Ghost net recovery

• Sea patrol

• Rehabilitation of local cultural sites

• Cultural site mapping

• Mapping of native flora and fauna

• Career development days, work experience and placements

ANINDILYAKWA

LAN

D AND SEA RANGERS

The Learning on Country program aims to improve school attendance and completion, improve the opportunities for students to create a satisfying and rewarding career in their community or elsewhere in Australia, and prepare the next generation of Yolngu and Bininj landowners to care for their estates which are of national and international significance.

Children participating in the Learning on Country program begin their journey on country under instruction from Yolngu and Bininj experts, rangers, vocational education trainers and school teachers. Each event is followed up with regular classroom teaching, where aspects of country are used as inspiration and a resource for student development, learning and academic achievement in subjects such as maths, science and English. Many students are also eligible to complete a vocational qualification in Conservation and Land Management.

Indigenous country, knowledge and traditions of caring for country are a rich source of inspiration, rigour and direction in teaching and learning. This use of Indigenous traditions as a foundation for achieving mainstream educational standards is known as a ‘both-ways’ education, an approach championed by the late Dr M Yunupingu, a former Yirrkala School Principal and educational scholar. The Learning on Country initiative builds on this legacy.

The Yolngu and Bininj children of Arnhem Land are the future owners and managers of their land and sea. In time they will become the custodians of a rich tradition of songs, art and knowledge about their estates. Rangers have a proud history of supporting children to prepare for this responsibility.

The Learning on Country program is running at five locations across Arnhem Land. Groote Eylandt, led by the

Groote Eylandt Schools and the Anindilyakwa Land Council ranger group

Contact: Troy Schulze Phone: 0419 105 504

Galiwinku, led by Shepherdson College and the Marthakal ranger group

Contact: Ewen Nettleton Phone: 0419 315 188

Laynhapuy Homelands, led by the Baniyala Garrangali, Yirrkala Homelands School and the Yirralka ranger group

Contact: Ian Hutton Phone: 0447 264 166

Yirrkala, led by Yirrkala School and the Dhimurru ranger group

Contact: Jonathan Wearne Phone: 0417 431 702

Maningrida, led by the Maningrida College and the Djelk ranger group

Contact: Shane Bailey Phone: 0458 584 477

Baniyala

Garrangali School