Exploring QA for Indigenous Child Care

Preparing the ground for partnership Exploring quality assurance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child care: A literature review and background paper Kathryn Priest With contributions from: Bronwyn Coleman-Sleep Karen Martin December 2005 Improving the lives of Australians © Commonwealth of Australia 2005 ISBN: 1 921 13010 5 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-General’s Department. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-General’s, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Canberra ACT 2600 or posted at http://www.ag.gov.au/cca Illustrations and photos in this report have been included with permission from Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Organisation and Bronwyn Coleman-Sleep. Disclaimer This review was prepared by the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services for the purposes of the Indigenous child care sector. It draws on information, opinions and advice provided by a variety of individuals and organisations. The Commonwealth accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any material contained in the review. Additionally, the Commonwealth disclaims all liability to any person and in respect of anything, and of the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done by any person in reliance, whether wholly or partially, upon any information presented in this review. Caution The views and recommendations of third parties, which are included in this review, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commonwealth or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action. Author: Kathryn Priest Contributing editors: Bronwyn Coleman-Sleep and Karen Martin Contents List of figures and tables v List of shortened forms vi Explanation of terms vii Executive summary xiii The structure of this paper xiii Culture as a central factor in child care provision xiv Designing a national Indigenous framework: process and practice xv Postscript xvii Recommendations xix Key considerations xx Introduction xxiii The beginning of a journey xxiii PART 1: CULTURE AS A CENTRAL FACTOR IN CHILD CARE PROVISION 1 Background 1 Child care provision in Australia 1 Quality assurance for mainstream child care in Australia 3 The quality areas 4 Indigenous child care—culture and quality 7 Child care services for Indigenous families 7 What is special about Indigenous child care? 8 The importance of culture in child care 9 Exploring definitions of culture 11 Exploring ways to maintain a strong cultural identity 12 Exploring the complexities of culturally appropriate practice 13 The diversity of Indigenous peoples and the uniting factors 14 Measuring quality in child care: an overview 17 A brief history 17 National and international research into quality 17 Indigenous knowledge influencing mainstream practice 20 What is normal child development? 23 Some considerations for measuring quality 24 Preparing the ground for partnership iii An Indigenous perspective on quality 27 Quality comes from the heart and soul of each person 27 Indigenous perspectives of mainstream quality assurance 35 A national perspective from Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services 35 A locally developed response to mainstream quality assurance 37 Quality management and Indigenous aged care 38 The Nunga code: Nunga children’s perspectives on quality 39 Conclusion: Part 1 41 PART 2: DESIGNING A NATIONAL INDIGENOUS FRAMEWORK 43 Exploring the elements of a national QA process 43 Why focus on the process of defining quality? 44 Intercultural frameworks 46 Defining intercultural 53 Indigenous process and ways of working in intercultrual partnerships 54 Overview of international developments 63 Country profile: Australia 63 Country profile: Canada 64 Country profile: New Zealand 66 Country profile: Papua New Guinea 67 Conclusion: Part 2 69 Appendix 1: Terms of reference 71 Terms of reference 71 Limitations of the review 74 The review team 75 Appendix 2: The quality areas 77 References 81 Personal commentary 91 Web site sources 92 iv Preparing the ground for partnership List of figures and tables Figures Figure 1: Children learning and old women dancing. vii Figure 2: Wet areas at Pen Green Centre in the United Kingdom 22 Figure 3: Sleepy Lizard as an illustration of quality assurance 27 Figure 4: Characteristics of a sleepy lizard 28 Figure 5: A way to work out a ‘standard’ 29 Figure 6: A ‘best practice’ moment 32 Figure 7: Key elements and ongoing cycle of a quality assurance process 44 Figure 8: The culture iceberg 48 Figure 9: Family mapping 57 Figure 10: Warrki Jarrinjaku 58 Figure 11: ‘Everyone working together and listening’ 59 Tables Table 1: An extract from a paper presented as a keynote address at the Our children our future conference, Adelaide, May, 2003 (Priest, King, Brown & Nangala 2003) 60 Preparing the ground for partnership v List of shortened forms ACRS Aboriginal Child Rearing Strategy ARMSU Aboriginal Resource and Management Support Unit CEIEC Centre for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood COAG Council of Australian Governments DECS South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services DEET South Australian Department of Education, Employment and Training DEETYA Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs DHS South Australian Department of Human Services ECDC Early Child Development and Care FaCS Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services FDC Family day care LDC Long day care MACS Multifunctional Aboriginal children’s services MCEETYA Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs NCAC National Childcare Accreditation Council OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OSHC Outside school hours care QA Quality assurance QIAS Quality Improvement and Accreditation System SNAICC Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care vi Preparing the ground for partnership Explanation of terms Aboriginal Child Aboriginal Child Rearing Strategy—a series of projects Rearing Strategy exploring Aboriginal child rearing practices in the desert regions of central Australia. The project is also known as Warrki Jarrinjaku Jintangkamanu Purananjaku. Anangu The people, as distinct from animals, land, plants (Pitjantjatjara, Pintupi, Luritja language groups). Balanda Non-Aboriginal person (Yolngu language group). Both ways ‘Both ways’ usually refers to the environment in a service, such as a school on a remote Aboriginal community. A learning environment will be both ways where there is a blend of mainstream and Indigenous cultural knowledge being taught. Dreaming see Jukurrpa. Family mapping Family mapping is an innovative research technique that is being explored in Warrki Jarrinjaku Aboriginal Child Rearing Strategy. Not wanting to rely on recording their stories in English, Aboriginal women are experimenting with using their own ‘written language’ (family mapping) to describe their child rearing practices—the drawings and designs seen in the Western Desert paintings. Figure 1 provides an example: Figure 1: Children learning and old women dancing. This design depicts children learning about Tjukurpa. Old women dancing with little children. Included with permission from Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi. First Nations When the first Europeans arrived in Canada, they called the people they encountered ‘Indians’ because they thought they were in India. Today, the terms to describe Aboriginal peoples in Canada is continually evolving. The term ‘First Nations’ came into common usage in the 1970s to replace ‘band’ or ‘Indian’ which some people found offensive. The term First Nations is, however, rarely used as a synonym for all Aboriginal peoples in Canada, for example it usually doesn’t include Inuit or Métis people (Canadian Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development ‹http://www.inac.gc.ca›). Preparing the ground for partnership vii Humpy A humpy is a makeshift dwelling made from available materials, for example, tree branches, sheets of galvanised iron or a car bonnet. One side of the humpy is left open to accommodate a camp fire. The humpy is also known as a wiltja (Pitjantjatjara language groups). Indigenous Child The Indigenous Child Care Plan is an initiative that is Care Plan currently being developed by the AustralianGovernment with the aim to identify the child care needs and preferences of Indigenous families and children and guide the development of new and existing child care services. Indigenous The term ‘Indigenous’ is used in this paper as a general term to cover all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. When the emphasis is on presenting specific cultural perspectives the names of language groups may also be used. Indigenous Quality The viability of developing quality assurance for Aboriginal Assurance Project and Torres Strait Islander child care services is being Partners explored by the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services in partnership with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care and the National Childcare Accreditation Council. These three agencies are referred to as the Indigenous Quality Assurance project partners. Jukurrpa The Dreaming, the Law (Warlpiri language). Jukurrpa is the period in the remote past when ancestral beings

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