Addressing cultural safety in your capital works project
Feeling that your culture is respected and valued is essential to developing a sense of belonging. Within a child safe organisation, all children would feel they and their families are culturally safe and accepted to be themselves. Creating a culturally safe organisation requires commitment, planning and consultation. This fact sheet outlines some considerations for organisations to reflect on when developing a culturally safe early learning environment.
Below are some considerations and practical examples to assist applicants in embedding cultural safety in their proposal to the Building Early Learning Places Program (the program).
Where are we now on the cultural competence continuum?
Embedding cultural safety from the beginning – creating authentic, culturally safe places for all children is a key component of your capital works project.
A good starting point is to consider the cultural competence continuum (PDF 997 KB) (page 24). This is a framework that describes the levels of awareness, knowledge and skills that individuals and organisations can achieve in relation to cultural diversity and is adapted from material developed by Terry Cross.
You should reflect on your current position on the continuum and how your capital works project can support your cultural competency growth.
Key considerations
- Who are the local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Elders and how can an authentic relationship be established?
- If designing a new building, has consultation with the community taken place? What type of consultation would suit the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community? Talk to the people who know the needs of the community.
- What have been the barriers to enrolment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the past and how can these be addressed?
- How can relevant information be shared in community languages?
- Can Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families see themselves when they enter the building? How will their culture be reflected in all parts of the service from the main entry foyer, through to the rooms and outdoor space.
- Has the recruitment process actively tried to recruit, retain and train Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators?
- In what ways do the policies and procedures reflect the input of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and how have they been consulted?
According to the Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework, Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisations (ACCO) survey participants indicated that there were 3 National Quality Standards (NQS) areas that could be most improved for cultural safety. These are:
- NQS 1 – Education and program practice
- NQS 3 – Physical environment
- NQS 6 – Collaborative partnerships with families and communities.
Practical examples for services
Services can meaningfully incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander resources and experiences into their program.
You might be able to address this component with your capital works proposal. For example, a department-funded service in regional NSW included a yarning circle in their capital works project, whose respectful and purposeful use of this space helped promote cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, staff and families at the service.
There could be other appropriate ways of incorporating aspects of indigenous culture into the everyday elements of your centre, such as the inclusion of artwork on play space settings or resources that hold personal significance for the local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people and Elders. You should also ensure that appropriate signage, both indoors and outdoors, is in the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language.
Services should connect with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders within their community and form a genuine relationship with positive outcomes for all parties. Feedback and contributions of all families should be valued.
Sources and resources
This page is provided for information purposes only. Those referring to the information on this page should obtain their own independent expert advice and must rely entirely on their own enquiries.
The Fund Board is under no obligation to advise of changes to this page, and to the extent permissible by law, does not accept any liability to any person for the information or advice in this page.
This page has been created to assist applicants for the program. Use of, or reference to, this page does not guarantee that an applicant will be successful in its application to the program. Applicants for the program should refer to the program guidelines, and to the extent there is any inconsistency between this page and the program guidelines, the program guidelines will prevail.