Dickson College has launched a ground-breaking new course for students following extensive collaboration with the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies (BSSS) and the United Ngunnawal Elders Council.
The College said the resulting Indigenous Language and Culture major would provide opportunities for the students to explore the world’s oldest surviving culture and gain an Aboriginal perspective of Australian history they hadn’t previously had access to.
Educator and Indigenous Contact Officer at Dickson College, Elinor Archer (pictured) said the course had already made a profound impact on those involved.
“Some of my kids are really culturally strong, they have language in their family and they live with elders,” Ms Archer said.
“For others it’s been an introduction, and as soon as they learnt a little bit, they became passionate about learning and exploring more,” she said.
Ms Archer said the class was visited by a different community guest speaker each Friday and so far, had seen students engage with 12 different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander guest speakers, including Ngunnawal elders.
“Each speaker brings something different to the class, some have led outdoor yarning circles, walks on country or interactive interviews,” she said.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have different perspectives, different language, different culture; each guest speaker had a unique impact and prompted new questions from the kids.”
Ms Archer said that for the student’s major work, they had been tasked with retelling an Aboriginal story from their own personal perspective.
