National Reconciliation Week is an annual celebration of respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. It is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements. We can explore how each of us can join the national reconciliation effort.

Cool Burning Teaching Resources

Get involved in National Reconciliation Week by investigating traditional Indigenous land management with your students using the Cool Burning resources. 

These resources have been developed in partnership with the Nature Conservancy and have been designed to educate students about the importance of traditional knowledge in caring for Country and feature rich video content of Indigenous rangers telling their story.

These resources are an Australian first in that they cover both the cross-curricula priorities of ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures’ and ‘Sustainability’, while explicitly linking to specific learning areas of the Australian Curriculum.

These lessons include assessment and reflection lessons with engaging tuning in lessons to establish what your students know and what they have yet to learn. Through these Primary and Secondary units you will explore and develop an understanding of new concepts, then use and consolidate that new knowledge to reach conclusions about cool burning

Who We Are: Brave New Clan Teaching Resources

Reconciliation Australia and Cool Australia have teamed up to create new teaching resources designed to support inquiry into the histories and cultures of Australia’s First Peoples.

The teaching resources harness the power of the ‘Who We Are: Brave New Clan’ films, which follows the lives of six exceptional young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as they share stories about their communities, history and cultures in contemporary Australia.

The films tell the story of a new generation of high achievers as they navigate life in urban, regional and remote settings. The young people in the film reflect with pride on where they came from, the courage they needed to get where they are, and the optimism they have for where they are going.

The teaching resources are divided into three primary school units; People , Culture, and Country/Place. Each unit contains classroom-ready lesson aligned with the organising ideas of the Australian Curriculum’s cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. Each lesson contains engaging activities, factsheets, teacher background information, tips and assessment ideas.

These resources support schools taking action for reconciliation, as supported by Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Schools and Early Learning, a program designed to help schools develop environments that foster a higher level of knowledge and pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions.