Effective Student Engagement

In primary education, student engagement depends on the level of attention, interest, and passion that students show when they are learning (Hidden curriculum, 2014). For Indigenous Australians education is an important factor in enhancing living standards, life expectancy, and employment (Klieve & Fluckiger, 2015). And it is the role of the teacher to develop a learning environment that promotes effective student engagement and make learning engaging, accessible and culturally responsive for such Aboriginal students.

Problematically children from non-English speaking backgrounds are likely to fall into the bottom quartile and the consequences of poor literacy education in the past result in negative attitudes toward teaching. This has a direct bearing on poor literacy standards amongst Aboriginal students (Harrison, 2011; Dunn, 2001). The teaching and learning of literacy skills is seen as a great challenge for teachers of Aboriginal children. Average literacy levels for Aboriginal students are significantly lower than the average levels of Australian students (Harrison, 2011). According to the Department Education and Training Western Australia (2011) the focus is on school responses
The work focus is often on relationships between children, and there is often a strong emphasis to the person rather than to the content (Harrison, 2011). Aboriginal students work best in groups because they learn from each other and more likely to take risks because there is supposed safety in numbers. Harrison (2011) states teachers should obverse the relationships between students as they do to content and methodology as Aboriginal students usually focus on “who they have to talk to, what they are expected to talk about, who is watching and what might cause them embarrassment if they say the wrong thing”. They often focus on the people around