Aboriginal Storytelling in Early Childhood with Jessica Staines

Jessica Staines a Wiradjuri woman, early childhood teacher and passionate educational community member, with ties to many advocacy groups on both national and international platforms. Jessica is the Director of Koori Curriculum.

Jessica has worked in early childhood for over fifteen years for a range of service providers in both urban and regional communities. Whilst working in early childhood Jessica naturally found herself supporting educators to become culturally aware and confident in embedding Aboriginal perspectives in their program.

In 2017 Jessica featured on Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnawali platform where she advised educators in several videos on how they could begin their journey. Jessica is passionate about Reconciliation, social justice and Anti Bias and encourages all early learning services to sign up for a RAP.In 2018 Jessica was supported by Early Childhood Australia and Educational Experience to take part in the World Forum Foundations Global Leaders Program and she later became the National Representative for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This experience allowed Jessica to network with First Nations People around the globe, learn about their programs and how we can potentially benefit from them in the Australian context. Jessica was the Boolarng programs ambassador for Educational Experience from 2018-2020.Jessica has written for several early childhood journals and texts including “The Anti Bias Approach in Early Childhood”, “The Aboriginal Early Childhood Practice Guide” and Educator Yarns. 

In 2019 Jessica became the Aboriginal early childhood advisor for TV’s Playschool and collaborated on the making of the Kiya Doll. She has advised on many episodes to ensure the inclusion of Aboriginal perspectives  and is especially proud of the shows Acknowledgement of Country episode. Jessica is passionate about having Aboriginal culture reflected, included and celebrated on TV to foster a sense of pride in young Aboriginal children today. Each year Jessica supports vulnerable and disadvantaged Aboriginal families through running the Koori Curriculum Christmas Drive. The drive has been running for four years and in that time Jessica in partnership with Petersham TAFE has supported hundreds of families within in the Inner West. In 2021 Jessica became part of the AIATSIS Education Advisory Committee and HIPPY Reference group where she continues to support the development of resources and programs that support Aboriginal children and families in the early years.