Reconciliation Australia’s theme for 2021: More than a word, Reconciliation takes action.
The week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
The dates for National Reconciliation Week (NRW) are the same each year, they commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey, the 1967 Referendum and the High Court Mabo decision. NRW today is celebrated in workplaces, schools and early learning services, community organisations and groups and by individuals Australia-wide.
At Catalyst Education we have decided to share with you actions you can take during NRW that will play a part in contributing to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
We are proud to be developing our Reconciliation Action Plan as part of taking action.
Take part this National Reconciliation Week
There are various ways in which you WATCH, READ, DO, SEE, SUPPORT and DONATE this week to acknowledge National Reconciliation Week. We have provided information and links to sources below.
What you can WATCH
- TV Series: You Can’t Ask That – Indigenous
- Film: Virtual Indigenous Film Festival
- Documentary: The Australian Dream- Adam Goodes story
What you can READ
Our Home, Our Heartbeat by Yorta Yorta rapper, writer, presenter and actor Adam Briggs.
From the publisher: ‘Adapted from Briggs’ celebrated song ‘The Children Came Back’, Our Home, Our Heartbeat is a celebration of past and present Indigenous legends, as well as emerging generations, and at its heart honours the oldest continuous culture on earth.’
When The Snake Bites the Sun – as told by David Mowaljarlai and compiled by Pamela Lofts.
From the publisher: The illustrations are adapted from their paintings of the story. David Mowaljarlai said, “We want our children to see the daylight and the sun go down on our land, the home of the Dreamtime, and to live there to their old age and really understand their culture.”
Things to DO
Sydney: Different Colours One People Festival
Come and enjoy performances from talented local artists at this free music festival as part of National Reconciliation Week. Organised by Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) in partnership with City of Sydney.
For more information click here
Queensland: Indigenous Art Program- walking tour
Join curators of the Indigenous Art Program to learn about artworks around Brisbane city. The tour will visit various sites located through the CBD across the hour and a half.
Victoria: NRW Virtual Screening: Wiks vs Queensland
Wik vs Queensland is a landmark feature documentary surrounding the historical court decision in 1996 by the High Court of Australia, granting native title to the Wik People of Cape York in Far North Queensland, and the demonisation that followed at the hands of politicians and media. Learn more here.
EXPERIENCE some of the following
NSW: Sorry Day Event – Aboriginal Support Group Manly, Warringah and Pittwater at Mona Vale Memorial Hall
Let’s come together for a day of healing and reconciliation to honour the Stolen Generations.
The afternoon will include Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremonies, dance performances by the Biala girls and weaving workshop, display of Aboriginal artefacts, Didgeridoo playing, Boomerang and shields. A shared experience with a talk “Why is it Sorry Day?” A reading from Aunty Nancy’s book of poems. BBQ and afternoon tea. Please come and join us.
QLD: Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre is the Gold Coast’s only dedicated Aboriginal cultural centre and is fully owned and operated by the local Aboriginal community. ltural Centre is the Gold Coast’s only dedicated Aboriginal cultural centre and is fully owned and operated by the local Aboriginal community.
VIC: Sample something tasty
Take a deep dive into Indigenous flavours and native ingredients at some of Victoria’s finest restaurants.
Things you can SEE
QLD: State Library of QLD
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures and stories
State Library of Queensland collects, preserves and shares the documentary heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the State. Through consultation and collaboration, the State Library’s collections serve as a central point of access and programming, including exhibitions and showcases, family history workshops, language research, and contemporary storytelling
NSW: WARWAR: The Art of Torres Strait @Newcastle Art Gallery
Works of art never seen before outside of the Torres Strait are coming to the Newcastle Art Gallery in May as part of an exhibition focusing on the traditions of Torres Strait Islander culture. Learn more here.
VIC: Virtual event – NGV Kids at Home: Art Club with Jenna Le
Meet artists and designers online and explore the playful side of making art. In acknowledgement of Reconciliation Week, Jenna will demonstrate how to create a drawing of kindness and respect and transform it into a paper heart using a simple origami folding technique.
Things to SUPPORT
Raise the age
At Catalyst Education, we can all agree that children should be supported to reach their full potential.
Everyone knows that children do best when they are supported, nurtured and loved. But across Australia, children as young as 10 years of age can be arrested by police, charged with an offence, hauled before a court and locked away in youth prisons.
When children this young are forced through a criminal legal process at such a formative age, they can suffer immense harm – to their health, wellbeing and future.
Ten year old kids belong in schools and playgrounds, not placed in handcuffs, held in watchhouses or locked in prisons away from their families, community and culture. Governments can change this by raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years.”
Who is behind the #RaiseTheAge campaign? This campaign has been developed by a coalition of legal, medical and social justice organisations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community owned organisations. This group includes National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, Change the Record, Human Rights Law Centre, Law Council of Australia, Amnesty International Australia, Australian Medical Association, Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Public Health Association of Australia.
Trading Blak
Trading Blak is an organisation working toward empowering and show casing Indigenous owned and run businesses, as well as ending exploitation of First Nations Businesses in this space. Their work is self funded and self driven and you can support them by visiting their website.
Blak Business
Blak Business is a 100% aboriginal and owned platform and is working toward “Bringing together information, knowledge and resources to facilitate broader learning and discussion about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander topics”. Blak Business encourages people to learn, connect and support Blak artists and businesses.
‘Blak’ refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. ‘Business’ means ‘an area of interest’ and therefore includes a range of topics including significant dates, achievements, events, current affairs and more.
Blak Business was created with the aspiration that other Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples view this space as a reliable source to reference and redirect people to.
Organisations to DONATE to
Uluru Statement from the Heart
The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation from First Nations to “walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”. It was issued to the Australian people in May 2017 following almost two years of work.
The Uluru Statement calls for structural reform including constitutional change. Structural reform means establishing a new relationship between First Nations and the Australian nation based on justice and self-determination where Indigenous cultures and peoples can flourish, and we all move forward.
The Uluru Statement calls for a First Nations Voice to Parliament and a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making and truth-telling. These reforms are: Voice, Treaty, Truth. You can listen, read and donate to the Uluru Statement from the Heart by visiting their website.
Healing Foundation
The Healing Foundation is a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that partners with communities to address the ongoing trauma caused by actions like the forced removal of children from their families. Our work helps people create a different future by:
- generating new research and resources to establish an evidence base for healing and best-practice strategies and build support for more effective policy and frameworks
- building leadership and capacity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and
- strengthening the healing workforce by providing training materials and support
- conducting strategic communication with stakeholders about the impact of trauma and Intergenerational Trauma on Stolen Generations survivors and their descendants, and the importance of healing in addressing a wide range of health and social issues.”
For more information about how to take action this National Reconciliation Week, visit the official website here.
Having a highly skilled team for your workplace is essential. After all, your employees are the heart and soul of your organisation. The better their training, the better your business runs.
When it comes to providing your team with training opportunities, whether it’s to refresh their knowledge and ensure best practice, or to support them with upskilling, choosing a quality training provider is more important than you may realise.
Taking the time to make sure that your chosen training provider is offering the highest quality training for your sector can make all the difference to the outcomes for the individuals in your team, and in turn the outcomes for your organisation.
Highly skilled workers raise industry standards
To maintain, and ideally raise, a high standard of care in both the aged care sector and the early childhood education sector, quality training is essential.
The aged care sector is currently in the midst of an overhaul. The Royal Commission into Aged Care findings highlighted the need for a renewed focus on quality training across the sector. The recently-released recommendations that followed are set to result in the mandating of more training across the sector. The goal is that the aged care sector will employee a workforce of highly skilled, compassionate carers who are committed to and capable of delivering the very best care possible.
In early childhood education, exceptional training produces exceptional educators — vital to nurturing children through their most crucial period of development. Ongoing training for educators ensures early learning providers are delivering the highest standard of care for families. Quality training also contributes to a centre’s ability to meet the requirements set by the National Quality Framework and Early Years Learning Framework, which means a better chance of achieving a high NQS rating when it comes time to being assessed.
High quality training provider for high quality employees
When you commit to training from a high quality provider, you can be confident that you and your team will maximise the outcomes from your training. A high quality training institution ensures well-trained individuals and skilled workers for employers, achieved through a combination of crucial factors for an approach to training that is second to none.
First and foremost, learners must be supported. Whether it’s the first course they’ve undertaken or they’re experienced with vocational training, it’s important that learners who are undertaking studies feel they can reach out for assistance as needed. Support isn’t one size fits all — tailored support means that there is the right kind of help available for those who require it, from general coursework questions through to literacy and numeracy support.
For training to be high quality it should be designed with the real world in mind. Course material that is relevant and up-to-date to reflect current best practice in the sector is vital. Practical placements incorporated into the course ensure that those new to the sector, whether it’s aged care or early childhood education, are able to gain on-the-job experience through their training journey.
An effective training experience doesn’t just focus on practical skills — it marries them with human qualities and interpersonal skills. These ‘soft skills’ are transferable and valued greatly in aged care and early childhood education. Learners should be encouraged to reflect on and develop their ability in areas such as communication, empathy, patience and adaptability.
Ultimately, high quality training providers strive to develop job-ready graduates who enter or advance employment skilled and with confidence. For employers and organisations, this means a productive workforce that is capable of making sure your business shines.
Recognising high quality training for your sector
If you’re an employer looking to support your team in professional development, upskilling or any sort of training endeavours, it’s important to know how to tell a quality training provider from the rest.
There are a few elements that will help you identify a high quality training provider:
Quality providers should offer nationally accredited courses
Any training your team undertakes should be nationally accredited or nationally recognised. This means the courses meet established industry requirements as per the national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). Ensure your team’s training is delivered by a Registered Training Organisation and that the course is meeting nationally approved quality standards.
Look for specialists in your sector
Some RTOs specialise while others provide courses in just about every sector. If you’re looking for the best of the best, an RTO that is a specialist in courses for your sector is more likely to deliver a higher standard of training. You want a training provider who knows your sector inside and out and can understand your organisation’s unique needs and desired outcomes.
Research their training outcomes
Consider what training outcomes the training provider emphasises. You want your employees to graduate with more than just a piece of paper. Qualifications should entail an individual graduating with practical skills, in depth industry knowledge, understanding and confidence. Is their training competency-based with sector-relevant outcomes to help your team and business flourish? Your desired outcomes and the RTO’s should be aligned.
The Catalyst difference: how we help employers and business
At Catalyst, our RTOs help individual learners to reach their career goals in aged care or in early childhood education. We also support organisations within the aged care sector and the early childhood education sector to reach their business goals and shape a productive, highly skilled, confident workforce.
We achieve this by committing to key factors that maximise outcomes and ensure we are a consistently high quality training provider:
Sector experts in aged care and early childhood education
We only provide training for two sectors: aged care and early childhood education. By limiting our course offering to these areas only we have been able to dedicate all of our time to understanding everything there is to know about aged care and early childhood education. Selmar, Royal College and Practical Outcomes, along with their trainers, are sector experts with a wealth of experience committed to these meaningful sectors.
Experienced trainers
Our trainers are sector-experienced, with their own career history working within the sector they now train in. They have stories to share from their journeys as well as the expertise required to deliver top tier support to learners.
Practical skills and theoretical learning
The value of training doesn’t only lie with one approach but the way the theory and practical education can be combined and applied. We ensure that our learners get support with both practical and theoretical training, and make the connections between the two to give their best when it comes time to learn on the job.
Strong relationships with employers
When we support organisations with training their team members, we make it a priority to get to know the business and its needs. Our team works with employers to find out what they want to accomplish and we create a training plan to make sure needs are met.
Flexible training delivery modes
Balancing life and work can be tricky, let alone when you throw studying into the mix. With flexibility, support and understanding, all Selmar, Royal College and Practical Outcomes learners are able to study while they work and gain a fulfilling training experience.
For quality training, choose Catalyst
If you’re ready to level up your workforce and see your organisation flourish, get in touch with the Catalyst RTOs: Selmar, Royal College or Practical Outcomes. We can work with you and your team members to help you achieve your goals in aged care or early childhood education.