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After reading Bill Jefferson’s post on Tribes I got quite a response from Australian Tribes educators (just see the comments section in Bill’s post!) One of the most respected Tribes Trainers in Australia, Coleen Davidge has kindly submitted a guest post on the subject of Tribes TLC to flesh out what was started by Bill.

What is Tribes?…Tribes is a process designed to build inclusion and develop collaborative skills in students, teachers, parents and other members of the school community. It blends the fields of group processing and cooperative learning; prevention and resiliency; learning theory and school change into a comprehensive, meaningful whole.

The mission of Tribes is… “to ensure the healthy development of every child so that each has the knowledge, skills and resiliency to be successful in a rapidly changing world.”

The goal of a Tribes Schools is… “to engage all teachers, administrators, students and families in working together as a learning community that is dedicated to caring and support, active participation , and positive expectations for all students.”

About the Author… The Tribes books were written by Jeanne Gibbs who spent her professional career writing and implementing programs to support children’s development and prevent youth problems. Her perspective on human development is a systems approach that encourages schools, families and communities to create healthy environments in which children can grow and learn. Her primary interest now centres on the potential of cooperative learning across all areas of education. She is known by educators across the world for her warm and generous spirit and her ability to build community amongst people wherever she goes.

Why the ‘Tribes’ name?…Twenty years ago, a group of educationalist led by Jeanne Gibbs began working on developing a process to engage children and teach them the cooperative and social skills to work together in collaborative, productive learning groups. They began to refer to the training/writing groups they were working in as “tribes” simply because of the supportive and nurturing qualities the groups were using and modelling when working together. The name ‘Tribes’ stuck and have been expended to “Tribes Learning Communities” TLC.

I have asked many Indigenous teachers, AIEWs and parents how they feel about the word Tribes, and my overseas colleagues have asked Indigenous community members from other countries what they feel about this name, and all have replied that they are comfortable with the name, that it embodies the ’spirit’ of support and caring that the TLC process is all about.

Tribes does not have a religious basis. It is about cooperative learning, developing supportive learning environments and supporting all members of our learning communities to be their best socially, emotionally and academically.

The Tribes process is used by educationalist across the world in countries including: Australia, USA, South America, Canada, NZ, China, Central America, Dubai and England.

The Tribes Learning Community Process, was first introduced to the Northern Territory in 2002, when the creator and author Jeanne Gibbs, was invited to present her amazing process to participants at the AASE Conference held here in Darwin. Since then, the NT Department of Education and Training (DET) has supported 15 Territory teachers, Assistant Principals and Principals to become Tribes Trainers and facilitate the on going training of Territory educators and parents in both Government and non Government schools. To date well over 850 teachers, parents, Principals and support staff have taken the opportunity to access the 4 day Tribes Basic and/or the 4 day Middle Years professional learning sessions.

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Coleen is a TRIBES Learning Communities (TLC) Trainer, an Art Form of Leadership facilitator and a Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Facilitator. She has trained over 400 teachers, Principals, parents and support staff in how to use the Tribes process to build collaborative learning communities in their classrooms and across their schools. Coleen is passionate about improving outcomes for students, helping teaching staff re invigorate their teaching practice and demonstrating to school leaders how they can re culture their learning communities for the benefit of all.