What is the Aboriginal Perspectives Across the Curriculum (APAC) project?
APAC is a project that aims to broaden and deepen students' and teachers' understanding of Aboriginal cultures and ways of being. Teaching APAC will assist all students to be able to look at the world from an Aboriginal viewpoint and understand the different Aboriginal points of view on a range of issues such as reconciliation, social justice and equality.
Why was APAC developed?
The APAC project has been developed to provide teachers and schools with a wide range of resources, to enable them to improve the academic performance of Aboriginal students. It will also provide resources that will assist teachers to implement Aboriginal Studies.
All Department of Education and Training (DET) staff are obliged to undertake Cultural Awareness training. The APAC site contains resources, links and further information that will support staff to meet their obligations.
Spelling
Few of the 250 Aboriginal languages in use at the time of colonisation were written down until fairly recently and many words have a number of equally acceptable spellings. Where possible, we have tried to adopt consistent spelling throughout the APAC site. For example, the spelling of Noongar words is based upon the Noongar Dictionary compiled by Rose Whitehurst which was based on the orthography agreed at Marribank in 1997.
Acknowledgments
The APAC project has drawn upon expertise and content from a wide range of people: from the Aboriginal Education and Training, Indigenous Participation and Achievement Standards Directorate; from district offices; from schools and universities; and from the community. Their contributions are all gratefully acknowledged.
The APAC websites were developed by DUIT Multimedia at The University of Western Australia. The APAC lessons were edited by Alwyn Evans.