Celebrating Diversity at St Martins

St Martin’s Catholic Primary School, South Australia

By Trish Guazzelli and Mieke Davis (teachers)

Background

During Term 3, as part of Civic and Citizenship Education, years 6 and 7 students explored the concept of identity, with a special focus on Australian identity. Students broadened their knowledge through:

• Group discussions
• Interviewing family members
• Reading and discussing literature
• Viewing prints and posters which depicted the changing image of Australians through history.

As a culmination of this work students demonstrated their understanding by creating a mural during Celebrating Democracy Week, which depicted the multicultural nature of our school. This was done with contributions from the whole school community – students, staff and parents.

Aims of the activity/event

The purpose of this activity was for students to:

• become aware of the many cultures represented in our school community
• acknowledge the contributions made to our society by different cultural groups
• discuss the similarities and diversity in Australian society
• appreciate and value this diversity.

Event preparation

Planning involved:

• years 6 and 7 students collecting data through surveys about peers’ cultural background and verifying the data by comparing it to school records
• sending a letter to all parents outlining the project and asking them to describe or draw some of the cultural customs that they practise in their family.

The implementation of the event

Once the information from parents was returned, groups of children from the same cultural background worked with the art teacher brainstorming ideas about how their cultural customs differed from 'traditional Australian customs' and produced pictures based on ideas contributed by the parent community.

A team of project leaders, from years 6 and 7 classes, worked with the art teacher to:

• select images and texts to incorporate in the mural
• paint the background to the boards
• lead other students in the creation of the pictures for the mural.

These project leaders were instructed in painting techniques, and used this knowledge to support and supervise groups of students from years 5 to 7. This enabled more students to work on the mural at any one time, as it would have been difficult for the art teacher to support such a large group.

The experience for some of the Year 7 students was an ‘added bonus’ as it supported them to further develop their leadership skills.

A number of parents also participated in the painting of the mural.  

The cooperation and flexibility of many staff members was a key to the logistics, given the time frame for this project.  Furthermore, due to the overwhelming response from our school community, the size of the mural that we had anticipated was not able to incorporate all the school community’s contributions. Consequently, in addition to the mural covered by the grant, the school has invested extra funds for materials in order to paint additional panels as part of the Term 4 Art Program.

Student outcomes

Student outcomes through participating in Celebrating Democracy Week included:

• acknowledging factors which contribute to group (Australian) identity
• valuing cultural diversity within Australia.

Outcomes were evaluated by years 6 and 7 students completing a reflection about 'What is an Australian?'

Feedback

Once the students overcame their initial shyness, they shared information about their cultures with great enthusiasm. It was exciting to:

• hear them discussing their culture
• see them realise that other groups in the room from geographically neighbouring countries had similar if not the same traditions as they had.
• hear how they either still practised their traditions or how their families had blended them with Australian traditions.

Parents showed a very high level of interest and enthusiasm in the project, putting time and effort into writing about or drawing some of their traditions, bringing in photographs or items of interest from their cultural background and sharing their stories with students and teachers.

The interest generated by the mural was fantastic. Many children brought in more pictures drawn at home after the brainstorming sessions. Others showed interest in what was being painted by asking questions about the drawings or pointing out things which were familiar to them.

Students and staff received many positive comments about the mural from parents and visitors to the school.

Conclusion

There were many benefits from the activity. Some were tangible and easy to evaluate, such as the finished mural. Other benefits gained through the process included students:

• having the opportunity to discuss with parents their cultural background
• connecting informally with others of the same or similar background, and the sense of belonging through mutual experiences
• having a platform on which to relate their experiences and traditions
• expressing a sense of value and pride in their background
• seeing how the various cultural traditions have been assimilated into the Australian culture
• acknowledging, celebrating, valuing and respecting the cultural diversity which exists in our school community
• in particular, the years 6 and 7s, further developing their leadership through their involvement in a whole school project

The mural is a wonderful celebration of the multicultural nature of our school community. It is:

• a tangible acknowledgement of the 37 cultures that are represented in our community; and
• a constant reminder of the various cultural customs and values that contribute to our harmonious school community.