Publications
This list of publications is in relation to our work in the shared development of family-centred ways to prepare young Indigenous children for school.
Playgroups: Playing to get ready for school.
A. Shinkfield & B. Jennings, (2006)
This practical book explains the established model of the family-requested playgroup, developed through over 300 family playgroup sessions during 1995 and 1996.
For the last 20 years, this playgroup model has continued to be the foundation of playgroups for families across the communities– a playgroup within which they can prepare their children for the activities and routines of school.
This booklet has been widely distributed to Indigenous playgroups across Australia and is still a family favourite in the local playgroups.
Note from Anne :
I co-wrote this booklet with my Indigenous colleague, Beryl, bringing together our collective experience and knowledge from working together in the playgroup of 1995 -1998 to assist families who wanted to set up playgroups in their communities.
In this booklet, Beryl and I have written about the significance of each playgroup activity and routine in this bi-cultural ‘learning for school’ playgroup - Beryl’s writing is in the blue dotted cloud, and my writing follows.
Learning for school together at playgroup: - An exploratory case study of the Early Year's Program in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands.
Anne Shinkfield (2022)
Monash University. Doctoral Thesis.
This case study documents my shared learning journey with the Ngaanyatjarra families in developing their requested program through which they could prepare their young children for the activities of school.
The playgroup program began in 1995, and 2015, at the 20-year mark of the playgroup’s development across the communities, it was agreed with the families that it was essential to tell the story of this playgroup program - where we were up to and how we got to this point. By this time, the graduates of the first few years of the playgroup program had become the family adults bringing their children to playgroups.
Consequently, through an exploration of the program's beginnings, its development over the years and the significant events that impacted the participation of the families in the program, my research study asked how the program enabled the families to prepare their children for school.
The findings of this research revealed that with the family adults teaching their children through their home language and cultural ways, and with the assistance of an experienced program facilitator/ educator walking alongside the families in the shared program development, this model of playgroup - a family-centred ‘learning for school’ playgroup program - enabled the family adults to prepare their children for the practices of the different culture of school.
Note from Anne :
The thesis brings to light the significant benefits of a family and community-centred approach to learning. The documentation of the playgroup program through this thesis shares the power and potential of embedding new knowledge in the daily routines of family and community life.
As one of the community elders said, “The story within this study is for future generations so that families will know”. The hope and confidence of the families and their trust in our shared development of the playgroup program have encouraged me to complete this study for both the family and broader communities.
For those interested in the chronological narrative of this playgroup, chapters 1 and 4 of the thesis bear the best resemblance to the storyline of the playgroup development until a more concise story is written.
Family story time in the Ngaanyatjarra early years program.
A. Shinkfield & B. Jennings, (2019)
This chapter provides a definitive description of the development of Family Story Time in the Ngaanyatjarra playgroup from 1995 to 2015.
From the beginning of the playgroup program, Storytime in Ngaanyatjarra was one of the specifically requested activities for the daily playgroup program by the family adults for their children as part of their purpose for this program of enabling them to prepare their children for the activities of the school.
For these families, moving from an oral literacy culture to introducing print literacy to their children, the essential use of their home language in storybooks and storytime routines was consistently demonstrated. Using their home language, the family adults were constantly empowered as their children’s teachers in these early literacy activities. The children were enabled to become familiar with storybooks and storytime routines in their language.
Within the daily playgroup routine, the importance of maintaining the set time and place for Family Story Time was also recognised as a significant contribution to the growing confidence and enjoyment of the activities around sharing storybooks by family adults and children.
Note from Anne :
This chapter was written during my doctoral research at Monash University. I co-authored the chapter with my colleague, Beryl, but as Beryl had retired at the time of writing, I explained our shared roles in this story in this way:
‘Anne Shinkfield is the primary author of this chapter with Beryl Jennings. The work discussed draws directly from Anne’s personal journals and field notes over the history of the program. Beryl Jennings has been included in the authorship of this chapter as she was a pivotal colleague at different times throughout the development of the program. Anne is indebted to her wisdom and input’.
(Shinkfield & Jennings, 2019, p.71).
The development of Ngaanyatjarra story time at playgroup.
Anne Shinkfield (2015)
This brief article captures the enjoyment and confidence of family adults and their young children as they share in their regular Family Story Time activity in their home language each day at playgroup. Within the playgroup program, the process of development from Group Story Time to Family Story Time (illustrated) was made possible in 2009 by the timely and ongoing assistance to the playgroup by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) through their continuing provision of children’s storybooks and their support for printing Ngaanyatjarra translations of these story books which the family adults and local linguist prepared.
For Family Story Time, the consequent increased range of storybooks in Ngaanyatjarra, the continued empowerment of the family adults as teachers for their children using their home language, and the growing familiarity of the young children with the story time routine and the storybooks that they will later use in school, have all contributed to the families’ purpose for playgroup, that through shared participation in the playgroup activities, such as Family Story Time, their children will be prepared for the activities of school.
Note from Anne :
Family Story Time, in Ngaanyatjarra, is a much loved and much-anticipated family activity each day at playgroup. In the early days, Group Story Time was when the children and their parents would listen to and watch a Ngaanyatjarra storybook being read while the children were having morning tea. By 2009, the families wanted more time to look at books in their families together in the new playgroup centre at Warburton. Therefore, Family Story Time was added to the playgroup routine before Group Story Time. With the excellent increase of newly translated books from the ILF around the same time, Family Story Time has continued to provide shared enjoyment for families - with their children more prepared for literacy and story time routines at school.