Teacher background

The Waste in the classroom guides are designed to support teachers by providing easy-to-use, stand-alone activities that develop student understanding about waste issues.  You can also find it at https://wasteeducation-qld.org/

This guide enables educators to connect to and embed:

Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines—QCAA

Australian Curriculum cross-curriculum priorities:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

Sustainability—Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST)—1.4 and 2.4—Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)

Knowledge frameworks of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples—QCAA

It identifies Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge frameworks which support educators to facilitate learning that is culturally respectful and inclusive. More information about these knowledge frameworks can be found on the QCAA webpage above.

Similarly, the Australian Curriculum recognises the importance of embedding understandings about Australia’s First Nations across the learning areas to enable:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families to see their cultures reflected in the classroom learning and practice.
• all students to understand and respect First Nation cultures and the goals of reconciliation.

This guide highlights the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority organising ideas^[1] (OI) relevant to sustainable waste management education in schools:

OI2—Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special connection to and responsibility for Country/Place.

OI5—Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ ways of life are uniquely expressed through ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing.