Cultural safety exists when Aboriginal children and families experience the service as respectful, welcoming and free from assaults, challenges or denial of identity. The people receiving the service help determine whether it feels culturally safe. A flag, poster or Acknowledgement of Country may contribute to visibility, but cannot prove cultural safety.

What culturally safe practice includes

• Children can express culture and enjoy cultural rights without being singled out.
• Families, kin and community knowledge are respected.
• Racism is recognised, confronted, documented and addressed.
• Staff examine bias, power and the effect of their practice.
• Policies, enrolment, communication, curriculum, complaints and physical and online environments support inclusion.
• Leaders allocate responsibility, learning, time and resources for continued improvement.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not one homogeneous group. Nations, language groups, families, histories, knowledge and protocols are diverse. Identity may connect with family, kinship, Country, community, language and culture, and people may live on or away from their Country.

Privacy and identification

Do not publicly identify a child or family, display cultural information, share photographs or use a personal story without informed authority and appropriate consent. Enrolment information is not permission to make identity public.

Begin by accurately identifying the Country on which the service operates and the appropriate sources of local advice. Boundaries and recognised organisations differ across regions. NERPSA staff must not assume that advice for one service automatically applies to another.

A respectful process

• Check current authoritative mapping and NERPSA approved information.
• Identify the relevant Traditional Owners, Registered Aboriginal Party and local Aboriginal organisations.
• Build relationships over time, not only when a performance, translation or resource is wanted.
• Ask what engagement process is appropriate and allow time for response.
• Clarify purpose, audience, payment, acknowledgement, ownership and permission to record or reuse.
• Report back on how guidance was used and maintain the relationship.

An Acknowledgement of Country may be delivered by anyone. A Welcome to Country is delivered by Traditional Owners or people authorised by them. Staff must not present themselves as speaking on behalf of Traditional Owners.

Before using a book, image, video, artwork, symbol, song, story, language word or teaching kit, check its provenance: who created it, whose knowledge it represents, where it came from, whether it is accurate, and what permissions or conditions apply.

Resource review questions

• Is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander authorship, voice or partnership clear?
• Is the Nation, Country, community or language named where appropriate?
• Does it avoid stereotypes, deficit narratives and treating culture as one generic style?
• Is it suitable for the children, context and intended learning?
• Are copyright, cultural and intellectual property, image and recording permissions respected?
• Are deceased persons, sacred or restricted knowledge, gendered knowledge or community protocols relevant?

Embedding means that perspectives are evident across the year in relationships, routines, environments, planning and reflection. Significant dates can be meaningful, but an event alone is not embedded practice.

Purposeful possibilities

• Learn on and care for Country through local seasons, waterways, plants, animals and sustainable relationships, using appropriate knowledge sources.
• Include books, music and visual works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creators in ordinary daily choices.
• Explore living cultures, family, community, leadership, science, technology, mathematics, art and language without reducing culture to craft.
• Use children’s questions as a starting point, research together and say honestly when further advice is needed.
• Connect learning to VEYLDF outcomes, intentional teaching and the planning cycle.
• Invite participation in ways that are culturally safe, voluntary, reciprocal and properly resourced.

Racism may be overt, casual, systemic or expressed through stereotypes, exclusion, lowered expectations, jokes, silence or unequal treatment. Child Safe Standard 1 requires racism to be identified, confronted and not tolerated.

In the moment

• Stop harmful language or behaviour calmly and clearly.
• Protect and support the person affected; do not require them to educate others.
• Name why the behaviour is harmful in age appropriate language.
• Correct misinformation using reliable sources.
• Record and escalate in accordance with NERPSA policy, particularly where conduct, safety, discrimination or repeated behaviour is involved.
• Review whether curriculum, systems or adult practice contributed to the incident.

Example: “That comment is not respectful and we do not use it here. Aboriginal people and cultures are diverse, living and strong. Let’s use the person’s correct name and learn from a reliable source.”

Evidence should demonstrate what changed and how people experienced it, not merely that an item was purchased or an event occurred.

Useful evidence

• current philosophy, policies, Code of Conduct and action plans
• resource and environment audits with actions and review dates
• planning showing perspectives across the year and all learning areas
• professional learning and critical reflection on bias and practice
• relationships, consultation, permissions and appropriate remuneration
• children’s and families’ voices gathered safely and voluntarily
• records showing racism and concerns were addressed
• QIP actions with responsibility, timing, evidence and evaluation