lyne lawrence.unescoamimcf strait startfinalll
TRANSCRIPT
Montessori Early Childhood Programmes in the Torres Strait,
Australia
Australia’s Indigenous Peoples
Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander
Physical evidence of occupation 2,500 years ago.
40,000-60,000 years of occupation
Settled from Papua New Guinea Settled via land bridge from SE Asia
Village based fishing and cropping economies
Hunter-gatherer economies - seasonal movement through estates
First contacts with Europeans though trading from mid-late 1800s
Spread of European colonies from 1788 decimates aboriginal populations.
Contact with missionaries preceded colonisation – Christianity embraced early and enthusiastically.
Missions often established to protect survivors.
Wellbeing in early childhoodThe Australian Early Development Index measures outcomes for children in the areas of:
• Physical health and wellbeing
• Social competence
• Emotional maturity
• Language and cognitive skills
• Communication skills and general knowledge
2009 outcomes
Vulnerable in one or more areas
Vulnerable in two or more areas
National average
Torres Strait average
National average
Torres Strait average
59.9%
39.2%
23.6%
11.8
Health outcomes
• Low birthweight twice as common for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies as for other Australian babies.
• Ear and hearing problems more than 3 times as common among Indigenous children.
• Oral health - higher levels of tooth decay and lower levels of access to dental care.
• Life expectancy estimated to be 11.5 years lower for males and 9.7 years lower for females.
Aims:• All children in Australia will have the
possibility of attending a Montessori program regardless of their location or socio-economic circumstances.
• Bring hope to those who have been unable to break a cycle of dependence and who live in poverty in Australia.
Challenge and response
• How can we break the cycle of welfare dependency when so many have failed?– Family life and the socialisation of children are the
foundation of any society, and fundamentally affect the future of both individuals and the community itself.
– Early childhood provides the maximum point of leverage for growth and development, including the development of pre-literacy and numeracy skills and dispositions.
– The child, and the value accorded children by almost all adults, is the key point of leverage for maximum family and community engagement.
– Generational change starting with the child– Commitment in perpetuity
MCF partners with Torres Strait organisations
• Tagai State College to provide Montessori programs for children aged 3-6 & 6-9
• Torres Strait Islanders’ Regional Education Council to provide birth to age 3 programs
The Strait Start programs – birth to age 3A Montessori approach to the early years
The first years of life• … the early years … have the most important influence of any time in the life
cycle on brain development and subsequent learning, behaviour and health. The effects of early experience, particularly during the first three years, on the wiring and sculpting of the brain's billions of neurons, last a lifetime.
• The evidence is clear that good early child development programs that involve parents or other primary caregivers of young children can influence how they relate to and care for children in the home, and can vastly improve outcomes for children's behaviour, learning and health in later life.
• The earlier in a child's life these programs begin, the better.
Mustard, J. Fraser; McCain, Margaret N. 1999. Reversing the real brain drain: Early years final study report.
Ontario. Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
The family is fundamental
Sharing knowledge and skills with parents and caregivers
Prepared environments foster development through sensorial experiences
Movement
emotional development – identityABOUT STRAIT START
Practical life activities
Independence
Concentration
Social competence
Connected to culture, community and environment
Establishing, maintaining, supporting and growing our work
• What makes a difference?– Community engagement, which is particularly
complex in Indigenous settings– Slow delicate complex work of building trust,
relationships and shared understanding and commitment
– Working towards sustainability through training and government engagement
Guiding Principles• Help me to do it by myself• Trust, observation, reflection, respect• Long-term commitment• Sustainable and scalable infrastructure and resources• Community engagement around the child • We must become less as the children, families and
communities become more• Independence
Mentoring• Non judgemental, supportive, friendly and open,
observant, effective communication, sensitivity to personality needs of coordinator
• Cultural awareness and knowledge; being prepared to seek this knowledge and awareness
• Non interfering but able to sensitively raise awareness of coordinator to issues they may not see
• Knowledgeable and experienced in Montessori 0-3• Ability to be in the background, to act with humility
and a sense of humour• Ability to work out ways to empower the
coordinator
Government engagement
Research
• We want to know what impact the Strait Start program has over time on:– the perceptions, attitudes and practices of parents
and carers to fostering the development of children though family interactions and environments.
– the development of children across key developmental domains (emotional, social, language, physical, cognitive)
– the level of children’s engagement with and performance in formal schooling.
The research process• Collating baseline data
– Existing and future school data on:• Attendance• Literacy• Numeracy
– AEDI– Human Development Index– LSIC
• Documentation of programs– Background– Rollout– Challenges and responses– Reflections
• Qualitative data– Background material
• Ethnographies • Community profiles• Family profiles
– Ongoing collection• Classroom observations• Regular family and community interviews
• Quantitative data– Background material
• AEDI • School performance data
– Ongoing collection• Annual testing using some AEDI tools• Range of tests (children)• Long-term tracking using school performance data• Health and well-being measures