Fostering EfS Connections for Community Wellbeing …
439
the Preminganah petroglyphs, which were etched into the large rocks on the west coast of
Tasmania long ago by Aboriginal people. Over the ensuing month of visits, family members and community centre employees and visitors became part of the rug-making circle,
transforming the sheet of brown hessian and acrylic wool into the beginnings of a beautiful
colourful rug.
There was an easy conversation that flowed around the table while everyone worked on their
respective section of the rug. Some people worked together in pairs. One student showed
her mother how to work the felting needle over a felted section of the rug. Students with
better latch hooking skills taught people with less developed skills (like me) how to form
the knots most efficiently. At the same time, around us mothers (and some fathers) with
young children arrived at the centre and children ran off to play in the various play spaces.
I noticed that making the rug seemed to create an intentional space which was safe and in
which conversations could occur with ease.
This rug-making unit was an arts project designed by the educators to support
cultural sustainability. During the SR’s participation in the cultural arts program, she
supported the educators to connect their program to the Australian Curriculum in the
arts, which added ‘curricular legitimacy’ to this program. The explicit teaching of
arts skills and knowledge was part of the program’s curriculum, but within a broader
frame of cultural wellbeing [which was the student researcher’s doctoral study topic],
the program was not simply about content and pedagogy. There was intentional skill
development being taught: creating the rug provided the structure for developing
an array of art skills including knotting (shag and loop pile) and felting techniques.
These skills linked with the making and presenting aspects of the Arts curriculum and
the fibres strand of the Design and Technologies curriculum (Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority n.d.). Students also acquired historical and
geographic knowledge about the history of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and the
Preminganah petroglyphs on the west coast.
Importantly from a wellbeing perspective, social and emotional learning was supported through rug making at the community centre, through students’ engaging with
family and community members. Strengthening students’ connections to community
was an area in which the student networker and artist had identified as a priority for
cultural sustainability. With the rug making project, students had opportunities for
social interaction and meeting people as they worked on the rug alongside members
of their community. In this project students were positioned on an equal footing
with other members of the community, positioned as artists teaching other family
members and community members how to latch hook and how to felt. Through
this cultural arts project, students were given the platform to be visible and active
contributors to their community.
4.2 Children Leading the Sharing of Culture
During the SR’s entanglements with the cultural arts group, the opportunity surfaced
to invite the students into a statewide professional learning forum as presenters and
cultural leaders.
439
the Preminganah petroglyphs, which were etched into the large rocks on the west coast of
Tasmania long ago by Aboriginal people. Over the ensuing month of visits, family members and community centre employees and visitors became part of the rug-making circle,
transforming the sheet of brown hessian and acrylic wool into the beginnings of a beautiful
colourful rug.
There was an easy conversation that flowed around the table while everyone worked on their
respective section of the rug. Some people worked together in pairs. One student showed
her mother how to work the felting needle over a felted section of the rug. Students with
better latch hooking skills taught people with less developed skills (like me) how to form
the knots most efficiently. At the same time, around us mothers (and some fathers) with
young children arrived at the centre and children ran off to play in the various play spaces.
I noticed that making the rug seemed to create an intentional space which was safe and in
which conversations could occur with ease.
This rug-making unit was an arts project designed by the educators to support
cultural sustainability. During the SR’s participation in the cultural arts program, she
supported the educators to connect their program to the Australian Curriculum in the
arts, which added ‘curricular legitimacy’ to this program. The explicit teaching of
arts skills and knowledge was part of the program’s curriculum, but within a broader
frame of cultural wellbeing [which was the student researcher’s doctoral study topic],
the program was not simply about content and pedagogy. There was intentional skill
development being taught: creating the rug provided the structure for developing
an array of art skills including knotting (shag and loop pile) and felting techniques.
These skills linked with the making and presenting aspects of the Arts curriculum and
the fibres strand of the Design and Technologies curriculum (Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority n.d.). Students also acquired historical and
geographic knowledge about the history of Tasmanian Aboriginal people and the
Preminganah petroglyphs on the west coast.
Importantly from a wellbeing perspective, social and emotional learning was supported through rug making at the community centre, through students’ engaging with
family and community members. Strengthening students’ connections to community
was an area in which the student networker and artist had identified as a priority for
cultural sustainability. With the rug making project, students had opportunities for
social interaction and meeting people as they worked on the rug alongside members
of their community. In this project students were positioned on an equal footing
with other members of the community, positioned as artists teaching other family
members and community members how to latch hook and how to felt. Through
this cultural arts project, students were given the platform to be visible and active
contributors to their community.
4.2 Children Leading the Sharing of Culture
During the SR’s entanglements with the cultural arts group, the opportunity surfaced
to invite the students into a statewide professional learning forum as presenters and
cultural leaders.