Community Kids Blossomvale Early Education Centre

Our vision for Reconciliation strives to build our everyday practices to incorporate and recongise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their contributions to Australian society both in the past and in the present. It involves building mutually respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.   Achieving reconciliation will require raising the awareness and knowledge about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples histories and cultures, and changing attitudes that are often based upon myths and misunderstandings and building a safe and secure space for educators, children and families to grow and learn together.  For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australias colonial history is characterised by devastating land dispossession, violence, and racism. It is our vision to understand what we can do as educators to respectfully move forward in this space.  Reconciliation is an ongoing journey that reminds us that while generations of Australians have fought hard for meaningful change, future gains are likely to take just as much, if not more, effort. In a just, equitable and reconciled Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will have the same life chances and choices as non-Indigenous children, and the length and quality of a persons life will not be determined by their racial background. Our vision of reconciliation is based and measured on five dimensions: historical acceptance; race relations; equality and equity; institutional integrity and unity. These five dimensions do not exist in isolation, but are interrelated. Reconciliation cannot be seen as a single issue or agenda; the contemporary definition of reconciliation must weave all of these threads together. For example, greater historical acceptance of the wrongs done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can lead to improved race relations, which in turn leads to greater equality and equity.