Koorie Communications and Engagement Strategy
Victorian Department of Education
Who funded the project
Karabena Consulting was engaged by the Victorian Department of Education to develop an interim Koorie Communications and Engagement Strategy. Families of Koorie children make decisions about early childhood education within the realities of culture, kinship, work, transport, health, service access and trust, and the Department needed a stronger evidence base for how its communication about kindergarten participation, reforms and early childhood workforce pathways is heard, carried, trusted or lost before it reaches families.
To achieve the project aims, Karabena:
Undertook a desktop review of Marrung, Koorie Kids Shine, Best Start, Best Life and related Department documentation.
Undertook a communications channel scan across Department, service, community, Koorie-specific and broader channels.
Facilitated consultation with internal Department staff, internal Koorie Department staff and external community stakeholders, including families and community members.
Developed thematic findings, operating principles, strategic priorities and a practical toolkit to inform the Department's Strategy.
The Strategy reframes Koorie workforce visibility, cultural safety and family participation as strengths-based, self-determined priorities rather than compliance items, and builds a clear line of accountability for how cultural review, local adaptation and community feedback will continue to shape Department communication over time.
Summary
The primary aim of the project was to develop a culturally safe, responsive to community strengths, needs and aspirations community-led, forward-facing interim communications and engagement strategy for different Koorie audiences, including the early childhood workforce, Early Start Kindergarten (ESK) and families.
Project Aims
To achieve the project aims and ensure that the Strategy was evidence-based and responsive to families and communities, Karabena conducted the project using these key methodological elements:
An engagement and consultation plan, focused on Department staff, internal Koorie Department staff and external community stakeholders.
A desktop review covering Marrung, Koorie Kids Shine, Best Start, Best Life and related reform materials.
Consultations using a culturally grounded, mixed-methods approach, including semi-structured interviews, yarning-style sessions and group consultations. Stakeholders consulted included internal Department staff, internal Koorie Department staff and external community stakeholders. Thematic analysis of consultation data identified evidence themes relating to family decision-making, cultural safety, trusted channels, workforce visibility and Treaty-facing accountability.
Karabena developed, documented and presented operating principles, strategic priorities, an audience architecture, messaging guidance, a practical staff toolkit and a future activation roadmap that emerged from the desktop review, channel scan and consultation data
Methodologies
Outputs
The key output from this project was the interim Koorie Communications and Engagement Strategy report, including an evidence base, seven operating principles, strategic priorities, an audience architecture, messaging guidance, a practical toolkit for Department staff and delivery partners, and a future activation roadmap for the Department of Education.
The Department will be using the Strategy's evidence, principles and priorities to guide its review of existing early childhood communication materials, strengthen trusted local delivery, and make Koorie workforce pathways more visible. Implementation of the Strategy's recommendations, including message testing, local adaptation and staff capability building, is anticipated through a future activation phase.
Project Outcomes
#KoorieCommunications
#EarlyChildhoodEducation
#CulturalSafety
#SelfDetermination
#Treaty
#KoorieWorkforce
#BestStartBestLife
#AboriginalEducation
#CommunicationsStrategy
#DepartmentofEducation