‘Pirru Thangkuray’ means ‘dream strong’. The NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) has developed the ‘Mentoring Program to support cultural engagement and goal setting with participants. The Program is designed to align with the Premier’s Priority in increasing the number of Aboriginal students completing their HSC, whilst maintaining their cultural identity.
Aboriginal students studying in Years 8-12 are eligible and invited to participate in the program.
The model has been developed using direct engagement with Aboriginal educators and Aboriginal community to encourage students to fulfil their goals and aspirations. To facilitate this, the program incorporates goal setting within a culturally appropriate context and is designed to be engaging and fun, whilst supporting Aboriginal and other school students to build self-esteem, cultural identity and the sense of well-being required to realise their academic potential.
Pirru Thangkuray mentors are matched with participants to deliver the program. Mentoring has been demonstrated to be effective in supporting young people to positively manage opportunity, challenge and adversity in working towards achieving their potential.
Pirru Thangkuray Program cultural engagement activities are mentor led and should be informed by local community context.
The goal setting aspect of the program contributes to building participant self-efficacy, self-determination and self-regulation, resulting in improved well-being and increased levels of achievement. Coaching is incorporated as part of its mentoring process to build confidence and capability with participants to set and achieve goals.
The Pirru Thangkuray Program is supported by Goalhub – a web-based software application which assists participants to set, plan for, and attain goals. Goalhub can link participants with their mentor, teachers, school support staff and parents to share, support and celebrate participant goal achievement. Goalhub can also provide a historical timeline of participant goal setting and achievement.
Goals set within Goalhub can be incorporated into a participant’s Personalised Learning Pathway to better inform parents, teachers and support staff of a participant’s interests, motivations and aspirations.
The Pirru Thangkuray Program can be delivered by mentors with individual participants and/or groups of participants.
Group activities may provide an opportunity for participants to engage with general concepts and experiences, while individualised activities can better focus on meeting the needs of each participant.
The Pirru Thangkuray Mentor resources are designed to complement the Pirru Thangkuray Participant Workbook and provides materials to support mentors in their work. It includes suggested mentoring session plans and structures, coaching support materials, and the program’s evidence base.