Self-paced courses

Strengthening Mainstream ECEC Service Engagement with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island Communities

  • NQS Areas
  • 1
    Area 1Educational Program Practice
  • 5
    Area 5Relationships with children
  • 6
    Area 6Collaborative partnerships with families and communities

This self-paced course aims to provide support for educators in mainstream early childhood services who want to cultivate partnerships with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities and embed local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages in the curriculum. 

Course overview
Enrolment
Hours of study
Digital certificate
Course structure
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Course overview

What you'll learn

  • Reflect critically on your progress towards embedding local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander perspectives in your setting  
  • Identify key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and people in your local area  
  • Understand different pathways to connecting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and cultivating partnerships  
  • Be aware of common roadblocks towards cultivating and sustaining relationships   

Explore other topics in this series

Enrolment

Accessing the training platform

You will be enrolled in our dedicated training platform by a CELA representative using the unique email address provided at the time of booking. Once enrolment is complete, each participant will receive a welcome email with instructions to log in and set their password.

Please note that enrolment may take up to 24 hours to process on weekdays. Courses purchased after 12pm on Fridays, or over the weekend, will receive their login invitation on the following Monday.

Participants have 12 months from the date of purchase to complete the course and can begin as soon as their enrolment is confirmed.

Hours of study

How many hours of study are suggested?

This course will take around 2.5 hours of study.  

You have one year from the date of enrolment to complete this course. 

Digital certificate

You will receive a digital certificate on completion.

Course structure

This course is organised into the following chapters:   

  • Welcome and overview 
  • Introduction   
  • Creating a culturally safe space  
  • Initiating connections 
  • Cultivating relationships with local First Nations communities  
  • Sustaining relationships with First Nations communities  
  • Conclusion 
  • Useful resources and reference list  

The course is delivered as self-paced online training for early childhood educators and teachers offering a rich blend of multimodal learning and activities to consolidate professional learning. 

Your facilitators

Jennifer Skattebol

Jennifer Skattebol

Jennifer has Scandinavian and Irish heritage and was raised in Queensland on Turrabal country. She has worked for many years as a researcher with children, young people and their families who experience economic and related adversities.    Trained and experienced as an early childhood teacher, Jennifer is the Deputy Director of TeEACH Research Centre, Western Sydney University.  She leads a program of research that addresses issues of economic inequality and the experiences of children and families in high poverty contexts. Jennifer’s aim is to bring the perspectives of marginalised people to the fore of policy making.

BJ Newton

BJ Newton

BJ is a proud Wirajduri woman, born and raised on Gadigal Country in Sydney. Her family comes from the Kalare (or Lachlan) River region in Central West New South Wales. BJ comes from a large family of Aboriginal political figures who have contributed to social change and Aboriginal equality and is carrying on this legacy through her work in the academy.  BJ is a Scientia Senior Research Fellow based at the Social Policy Research Centre within UNSW Sydney. Her research focuses on working in partnership with Aboriginal organisations to build evidence and support Aboriginal families interfacing with child protection systems. 

Acknowledgment

The Engaging Families research team would like to acknowledge:

  • Our research participants, including families, educators and community members
  • Our research institutions - UNSW Sydney, Western Sydney University, the University of Sydney, and Griffith University
  • Our research partners – KU Children’s Services, Family Day Care Australia, Goodstart Early Learning, Childcare & Kindergarten (C&K), Early Childhood Australia
  • Our creative team – the still and moving images used within this course were provided by Jamie James, Nisa East, and Sivani Yaddanapudi
  • Our funders – Australian Research Council and NSW Government

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