Cultural Understandings as the Eighth Key Competency: Policy and Practice

[Extract] This report presents a current snapshot of policy and practice in the area of Cultural Understandings as the Eighth Key Competency. Specifically, the report comprises three complementary sections. The first section examines policy developments in relation to the cultural understandings competency during the period 1994 to 1996. Particular attention is given to the policy definitions of culture and workplace culture, the choice of contexts for the display of cultural competence, and the thorny matter of evaluative frameworks for judging such competence. The focus of the second section is a Unit of Work, titled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Issues. The Unit was developed for use with a culturally diverse group of Year 12 students attending Sunnybank State High School, Brisbane. During the Unit students completed written self-assessments. This data is the focus of the third section. Our intent in preparing the report is to urge a re-thinking of curriculum in relation to the theories and inter-related pedagogical and social goals that inform our work in classrooms.