Maths in the Kimberley: Reforming mathematics education in remote Indigenous communities

Abstract

The collection of papers that make up this book have been generated through a grant funded by the Australian Research Council through its Linkage Grant scheme. In 2006, the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA) approached Prof Peter Sullivan and myself to work with them in the remote area of the Kimberley region. For the previous two years, they had been working with consultants to provide mathematics professional development for 6 community schools in the Fitzroy River region. This region is one of the more remote areas of Australia and the six schools were community schools that offered primary through to secondary education. The schools varied in size, with the smallest school being a two-teacher school in which one of the staff was also the principal, through a larger school that had 6 separate classrooms and ran along similar lines as would be expected in most urban settings. However, the provision of education in these regions has unique issues, quite different from urban and rural Australia. First, the students are Indigenous students, and aside from the few students whose non-Indigenous parents work in the communities, the schools were effectively 100% Indigenous. The cultures of the students and communities are still deeply connected to their original cultures with many cultural activities and ways of seeing and being in the world still a part of the rich tapestry of the schools. The home language spoken in communities is that of the local culture so that instruction in English creates unique learning contexts for teachers, students, and teacher aides.