Embedding cultural awareness into everyday practice

March 12, 2024

Aboriginal Community Engagement Manager, Judith, knows the children are engaged in her cultural awareness sessions when the enthusiastic stream of questions begin. “Sometimes the questions are a little random! But generally, they’re very culturally curious.” 

Kate who coordinates CatholicCare’s Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) service in Woy Woy says that their relationship with Judith has enabled cultural awareness to become an embedded practice.  

Over the last year, Judith has run numerous cultural workshops across CatholicCare’s OSHC and vacation care services. “The workshops usually involve activities on paper, engaging with various artefacts, and giving the children a story to take home, usually The Rainbow Serpent. 

During the sessions, I show them the Indigenous map and we talk about the land we are on. Recently I’ve been handing out a picture of a young child with different parts of the body labelled in the Darkinjung and Darug languages,” Judith says.  

For Kate, knowing that Judith is available to answer cultural questions and provide guidance has been invaluable. “We have just introduced a native section to our garden, so we are consulting Judith about planting some Indigenous plants,” says Kate. “Judith’s presence at CatholicCare means that cultural awareness initiatives in our program aren’t tokenistic.”  

Committed to avoiding ‘tick-the-box’ activities, the team at Woy Woy OSHC used Reconciliation Week to explore ways they could incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of being, knowing and doing into everyday life. “During the week we made a big jigsaw puzzle that represented ourselves intertwined with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures,” says Kate. 

The children also participated in conversations about reconciliation and what that means today. Parents have commented on how proud they are to see their children engage so openly and enthusiastically in these initiatives.  

As Judith travels across CatholicCare’s OSHC and vacation care services, she is impressed with how openly the children welcome and embrace cultural awareness activities. “Many of them are already very informed which is great to see, especially on the Central Coast,” Judith says. “My focus, moving forward is our Northern Sydney services.”  

Soon, Judith will commence cultural awareness training for staff too. “The better informed the educators are, the more that they can develop their own ideas for cultural learning in the centres,” Judith says.  

As they persevere with their mission to embed cultural awareness into everyday practice, Kate and her team are grateful that Judith is only ever a phone call away. “I know that we can call Judith, and she will lead us down the right track.”