Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education program (‘Narragunnawali’) has tools and resources for schools and early learning services to contribute to the reconciliation movement.

The Australian National University Centre for Social Research and Methods’ longitudinal evaluation of Narragunnawali has highlighted how one of the ways in which the program is effectively designed to achieve long-term societal change is through harnessing children’s likelihood to form beliefs about reconciliation through their educational experiences and, indeed, to positively influence the views and attitudes of their parents/carers in turn.[1] However, so too has the evaluation emphasised the consistent body of research that demonstrates that “what happens outside of the classroom is as important as what happens within the classroom,” with the views and attitudes of parents/carers reciprocally influencing children’s beliefs and, in instances of attitudinal misalignment, potentially blunting the effects of programs like Narragunnawali.[2]

There is a strong positive association between parents’ and carers’ level of awareness of the concept of reconciliation, and their support for, and personal engagement in, school-based reconciliation activities.[3] As such, this presentation will share key learnings about parent/carer awareness of, attitudes towards, and active engagement in reconciliation in education, as well as share recommendations for the Narragunnawali program and community of practice to proactively leverage school, child and family interrelationships into the future. 

[1] Biddle, N. & Ellen, L. (2022) Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education Paper #17 – Tracking engagement and views on reconciliation in education, <https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2022/8/Narragunnawali_evaluation_and_monitoring_-_Paper_17_-_Tracking_engagement_and_views_on_reconciliation_-_For_web.pdf>
[2] Ibid, p.7
[3] Ibid