Gurung Early Learning Centre is the name of an early childhood education centre where approximately 25% of the children and their parents have Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. Jenny works for an organisation that specialises in teaching people who work in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector about all aspects of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultures. She has been asked to undertake an Audit of potential Cultural Safety issues at the Gurung Early Learning Centre, where you work. The purpose of this audit is to identify issues relating to cultural safety that the training could improve. Part of Jennys job is to ensure that any training given is effective. To do this, she needs to work out ways to measure the impact of her training on the centres staff and services. Jenny decides that the best way to start is to meet with each staff member who works at Gurung, including you, to ask some questions. Jenny asks you to identify and summarise 3 potential cultural safety issues that might occur at your workplace, Gurung and rate their potential impact on a scale of 0 to 5 where 0 is not at all and 5 is makes a big impact. Using the table on the next page, follow the instructions above it.

Question 1

Reflecting on your understanding and the knowledge gained from your related studies, consider the impacts on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural issues such as loss of land and culture, kinship and law on your professional practice. In the table below, summaries the potential cultural safety issues in the left- hand column, rate it from 0 to 5 in the middle column and suggest ways to improve the practice in the right-hand column. 1.Language barrier Suggest at least one way that you can improve the practice (50-100 words) 2.Cultural awareness Suggest at least one way that you can improve the practice (50-100 words) 3.Continuing disadvantage and economic inequities Identify and summaries 3 potential cultural safety issues (50-100 words) Rate the impact Suggest at least one way that you can improve the practice (50-100 words)

1. Language barrier 5

as they their own community language as a main linguae at hoem

Case Study - B

Jennys questions about potential cultural safety issues make you reflect on your awareness of such things at Gurung, something you havent really done in any detail before. Overall, you think that Gurung is a culturally safe place for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children but youve never really thought about whether this is also true of their parents, extended family and the local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community as a whole.

You decide that a good way to think about and begin to measure this is to review how you and the other staff at Gurung model cultural safety at work. You ask yourself and your colleagues about the specific ways you think, act, communicate and engage with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander parents and the family members of the children in your care, as well as the local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community. Question 2 Part A Provide an example of a potential cultural bias that could affect how you treat the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander parent of a child in your care at Gurung. (50-100 words)

Part B Reflect on the term cultural competence and explain your understanding of it. (50-100 words)

Question 3

Part A Provide an example of how your awareness of your own (or another) culture could have a negative impact on the development of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child in your care. (100-150 words)

Part B What specific legislation do you need to be aware of that will guide your practices around Aboriginal cultural safety issues? Question 4

You have been asked to help develop ideas for creating effective partnerships with the local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community where Gurung is located.

Provide an example of (a) one potentially useful communication technique and (b) one potentially useful work practice both of which show respect for cultural differences. (50-100 words each)

(a) A potentially useful communication technique

(b) A potentially useful work practice

Question 5 Part A As part of your work at Gurung helping develop effective partnerships with the local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community, (see Question 4) you have been asked to find people who could act as cultural brokers for Gurung. You will need to explain what being a cultural broker means to the people you speak with during your search. To ensure it is clear in your mind, write a short definition that explains what a cultural broker is/does. (100-150 words)

Part B List 2 situations where you would need to engage a cultural broker (for eg. Interpreters or well informed colleagues) to support children and families from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander culture.

Case Study C

You did such a great job of locating a cultural broker to help Gurung become a best practice model of cultural safety in the ECEC sector that the centres Manager has asked you to do some more work on this important project. She wants you to help develop a strategy that will improve cultural safety at Gurung for everyone - all children in your care, their familys and the local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community.

To help you, we have broken the big goal of best practice in cultural safety into the following four outcomes or mini goals:

1.To build effective partnerships between Gurungs staff and all Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples including an understanding of how trauma can impact decision making, communicating, understanding and retaining information among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples

2.To identify and utilise resources to promote partnerships with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander local community

3.To devise and document ways to support the delivery of services and programs that are culturally safe and encourage increased participation in them

4.To integrate strategies that encourage self-determination and community control at Gurung by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples

Question 6 For each mini goal, use your knowledge and in consultation with a cultural broker, write a short explanation of how it could be achieved at Gurung. (100-150 words)

1. Build effective partnerships between Gurungs staff and all Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples.

2. Identify and utilise resources to promote partnerships with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander local community.

3. Devise and document ways to support the delivery of services and programs that are culturally safe and encourage increased participation in them.

4. Integrate strategies that encourage self- determination and community control at Gurung by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Case Study D

As mentioned in Case Study A, it is important that all the hard work being done to create a best practice in cultural safety is measured so everyone knows whether things are improving, or not. This is called evaluation. Once this step has been done, everyone can look at the results and decide whether there are ways to revise the strategies in place to improve the overall results.

The very first step that needs to be taken is to agree on the outcomes against which cultural safety can be measured.

Question 7

Name 3 possible outcomes that could be measured to see whether there has been an improvement in cultural safety at Gurung. (10-50 words each)

1. 2. 3.

Question 8

Explain how you would involve Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples in your evaluations of your strategies? (50-100 words) Question 9

Name 2 ways that you could evaluate the programs and services you have designed to increase cultural safety at Gurung against the desired outcomes. (50-75 words each)

Question 10

As a result of your evaluation, you learned that not all your strategies to increase cultural safety at Gurung are effective. This is not unusual. Paying particular attention to appropriate engagement with local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people or cultural brokers, what should you do as a result of these findings? (50-100 words)