Educator Yarns with Jessica Staines & Bec Burch

Today Jessica speaks with Kelly and Rhi, about their work in  embedding Aboriginal pedagogy within their practice with children who have additional learning needs Drawing upon their own lives, family and educational experiences, they speak about the benefits of Country, and the importance of exposing children to the support of country. Kelly and Rhi discuss the importance of culture and the need t...

On Educator Yarns today Jessica speaks with Eliza, an educator working with under threes on Wurundjeri country in the Yarra Valley Eliza speaks specifically about how she began her journey into this often overlooked age group and ways she found using language and visuals to meaningfully connect children in a respectful manner to the Aboriginal Community that surrounds her service.

In this episode of Educator Yarns, Jess speaks with Anne Marie about her career in Early Childhood and the importance of building relationships when embedding Aboriginal perspectives in curriculums. Anne Marie considers her career and how through relationships she came to understand and respond to the importance of ethical decision making. She discusses her efforts in the support of Aboriginal and...

Today on Educator Yarns Jessica speaks with Cassie Davis from Penrose Kindergarten Tarneit, Melbourne. Part of the Wyndham City Council of the Kulin Nations. Cassie talks about how her trip and time spent within the community of the Torres Strait Islands informed her passion and desire to embed a richer narrative of their culture within her centre and pedagogical practices. This cultural immersion...

Today on Educator Yarns Jessica is joined by Linda Price from Kinglake Ranges Children's Centre on Taungurung land in Victoria Linda reflects on how drawing upon her own passion and understanding of seasons from her home in New Zealand equipped her to use the local Taungurung seasons to embed a deeper connection to local Aboriginal culture in her curriculum.

Today on Educator Yarns Jess speaks with Bandjalang resident Cath Gillespie, educator and Director at Evans Head Preschool. Cath discusses the efforts that are made within the centre to allow children to connect with Country. Cath reflects on how this has created a deeper connection to the local Aboriginal community and has seen not only an increase in Aboriginal staff, but also in the knowledge t...

Today Jess Staines speaks with Alicia Hansen, a Menang Woman of WA country currently residing in Victoria where she works as an Indigenous Preschool advancement strategy facilitator across 83 different centres. Alicia talks about the importance of creating a welcoming and culturally safe service when facilitating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander enrolments. Jess and Alicia also reflect on the...

Today on Educator Yarns, Jessica Staines speaks with Mica Corscadden. Educator at Harrietville Bush Kinder on Dhudhuroa land in Victoria Mica talks about how her passion for country and nature lead her on a journey to connect with local community. Mica yarns about how she engaged the community in consultation to ensure authenticity and respect.

Today on Educator Yarns Jessica speaks with Marnie Omeragic, Director on Wangal Land in Sydney's Concord West. Over the past several years Marnie and her team have worked towards embedding Aboriginal perspectives and creating a greater connection to Country. Marnie has seen their efforts transform their service from a place wanting to acknowledge and respect local Aboriginal culture to becoming a...

Today On Educator Yarns Jessica Speaks to educators Julia Timpson and Benny Thatcher, from Kelly's Place Children's Centre on Cameraygal Land. Julia and Benny discuss their approach to the Anti-Bias Goals as well as how the children they work with drew upon their understanding of identifying unfairness to enact several projects. One of these projects manifested to include other centres across the...

On today's episode of Educator Yarns, Jessica speaks with Casey Goodman, from Wurundjeri Land in Brunswick Melbourne. Casey discusses her journey as Aboriginal Program leader across several services where she has shared her own passions and ideas of how to respectfully and meaningfully embed Aboriginal perspectives. Casey generously shares some of the challenges and celebrations on bringing other...

Today on Educator Yarns Jessica speaks with Alix Hill, early childhood educator on Wurundjeri Land in Sunbury Victoria. Alix reflects on the navigation of inbuilt fears, common misunderstandings and an eventual realisation of obligation which lead to the creation of her teams Reconciliation Action Plan. This began a journey of a deeper more truthful embedding of Aboriginal Perspectives into their...

Today's guest on Educator Yarns is Sue Motley, Director of Armidale Community Preschool located on Anewan country in NSW's New England Tableland. Sue shares with Jessica her extensive journey in embedding Aboriginal perspectives beginning with her visit and subsequent teacher exchange program with educators from Fitzroy Crossing in WA, along with her nature pedagogy network, Nature Play Conference...

On today's episode of Educator Yarns, Jessica speaks with Narelle Avis, Director of Cooma North Preschool, on Ngarigo Land in the Snowy Mountains of NSW. Narelle talks about her journey and the insights learnt in connecting with the local community, the challenges and the rewards of persistence, genuine reflection and the importance of listening when seeking those connections.

Today on educator Yarns Jessica speaks with Donna Morley and tackles the big question, how exactly do we tackle the big questions. Donnas deep respect for children comes through in this interview as she discusses the importance of being honest, and open when answering the questions of children. Not only to establish a relationship of respect but also to acknowledge the big world questions the chil...

In this episode, I sit down and yarn with Kiya Watts, the artist behind ABC Playschool's "Kiya" doll. Kiya Watts is a Menang, Gnudju, and Noongar artist residing in Albany. In this episode we dive into: Why the Kiya doll was an important addition to Playschool The importance of Cultural identity Kiya's collaboration with House of Dizzy Kiya's involvement in 'Trading Blak' How to support 'Trading B...

This episode is a special family day care educator's episode, where I'm talking to Caroline, Renata and Sarah, who are family day care educators scattered across Sydney, and the Northern Beaches in New South Wales. We have pulled together highlights from three separate interviews talking about how family day care educators can best include Aboriginal perspectives in their programme, and connect wi...

We are currently offering a free series on kooricurriculum.com called "Our top 30 tips in 30 days" and today I am sharing our favourite 5 for those who are looking for a little sneak peek into the series. In this episode I dive into: Tip 1: Just Start Tip 2: Reflect on your why Tip 3: Plan Tip 4: Take things slow Tip 5: Be realistic To join this free series and hear all 30 tips, visit our website...

As we start to approach July, our inbox normally gets flooded by educators who enthusiastically starting to plan and programme for their NAIDOC experiences and activities. We thought to make things easier we would put together some of our top tips for NAIDOC Week to get everyone started on the right path. Now, as many of you may know, NAIDOC Week historically is from the first Sunday in July to th...

Tanika is a Mother, Wife and Business owner with so much to offer. She has a background in Indigenous Health Promotion, event management and community program delivery but her business is her everything.  The 'I Am, Movement' was founded after the diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder with her now almost 4-year-old son Slade. The Movement allows other families to feel culturally safe with the reso...

In this episode I interview myself! I often get asked similar questions regarding my business and the work I do supporting educators in Australia, so today I'm sharing my answers to your most commonly asked questions. Let's go! Links mentioned in this episode: Koori Curriculum: https://kooricurriculum.com/

In this episode, I yarn with Kristine Willems. Kristine is a diploma trained educator that has been working in early childhood for 32 years. Kristine usually works at a sessional kindergarten for Wyndham city council. However, she left her family and fur babies behind this year to move to the northern territory to teach in a remote community. So, if ever you have been curious about what that chang...

In this episode, I interview Adam Shipp founder of Yurbay. Yurbay offers a range of services to connect you, your family, friends and work colleagues to local food and medicine plants from the region. Yurbay (You ra bi) is the Wiradjuri word for 'seed'. In this episode we will discuss: Adam's background including where he grew up and what inspired him to start Yurbay. Traditional plan use and how...

We have had lots of conversations recently with educators who are members of the Koori Curriculum Educator Community about authentic Aboriginal fashion labels. Now that everyone is online shopping we have seen educators pull away from mainstream clothing brands and consciously wanting to support an Aboriginal small business with their spending dollars. However, it can be tricky to work out what br...

In this episode, I'll be sharing my top 10 children's books that include or embed an Aboriginal perspective. I'll also share the guidelines I follow when sourcing literature, and share why each book is one I'm happy to recommend, how you can use the books in your centre, and where you can find more information about embedding an Aboriginal perspective into your curriculum.