29 Aug Two-way learning
A landmark literacy program run by TAFE NSW with the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Home Corporation in Redfern was recently featured in the Koori Mail (14.7.21). In developing the program TAFE NSW teachers worked closely with the uncles who had been residents of the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home to set their personalised and collective goals. A big part of the program has been integrating literacy activities with cultural and family histories and working alongside Drew Roberts, proud Bundjalung man and cultural education teacher.
The Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Home Corporation was established by the survivors of Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home, an institution run by the NSW government for more than 50 years near Kempsey which housed Aboriginal boys forcibly removed from their families. Uncle Bobby, one of the survivors describes his experience in the Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home as traumatic and cruel. He left with little education.
Jill Finch one of the teachers on the program is also part of the Reading Writing Hotline team. She says that the experience has taught her to be a better teacher. “It is much more than just a literacy program. It is a two-way learning experience.”
