The Excursion Permission Slip and Sorry Business
A Year 11 Aboriginal Studies class of 24 students is scheduled to visit a local Aboriginal cultural centre in week 6. The centre is community-run and has asked that the visit be rescheduled because a senior Elder passed away and the community is in Sorry Business. The school's excursion policy requires 21 days' notice to parents and a risk assessment. The teacher has already collected 22 permission slips. Two students in the class are Aboriginal; one is from the local community and one is from another region. A parent has emailed asking why the excursion 'keeps getting postponed' and whether the class is 'learning anything real'. The principal wants the visit to proceed on the original date to meet the term's assessment schedule.
1. Recommend what the teacher should do, and explain the reasoning using protocols for working with Aboriginal communities.
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The teacher should support the postponement and negotiate a new date with the centre, then manage the school's timetable pressure separately.
Reasoning:
- Sorry Business is a period of mourning with defined protocols. A school excursion is a low priority against a community's grief. Insisting on the original date would treat the community as a service provider rather than a partner.
- The centre set a boundary; respecting it builds the trust that makes future visits possible. Ignoring it risks the relationship permanently.
- The principal's assessment schedule is an internal problem. The teacher can use the original date for a related classroom lesson and hold the visit later.
Steps:
- Confirm the new date with the centre in writing.
- Re-issue permission slips for the new date; the 21-day policy restarts, so the visit may need to move into week 9.
- Tell the principal the reason and propose an alternative activity for week 6.
- Reply to the parent honestly: the visit was postponed out of respect for a community in mourning, and explain what the class has been learning.
- Check with the local Aboriginal student privately whether they want to be involved in explaining Sorry Business, without making them a spokesperson.
2. The parent's email asks whether the class is 'learning anything real'. Draft a short response that addresses the concern while maintaining privacy about the community's loss.
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"Thank you for asking. The visit has been moved because the cultural centre has asked us to come at a different time; the reason is theirs to share, not ours, and we respect that. In the meantime the class has been doing substantial work: students have analysed how Aboriginal communities maintain cultural continuity, examined the role of local organisations, and prepared interview questions for the visit. The excursion is a core part of the course, not an add-on, and the new date will be confirmed shortly. I am happy to talk through the assessment schedule if that helps."
Why this works: it answers the concern with concrete learning, protects the community's privacy, avoids implying the postponement is disorganisation, and offers a follow-up. It does not disclose Sorry Business, which is the community's information to share.