Author Identifier (ORCID)
Jason Goopy: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8766-1458
Narelle Lemon: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1396-5488
Elizabeth Jackson-Barrett: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3662-657X
Abstract
This report presents findings from a case study examining how The Song Room's Deadly Arts Early Years program supports wellbeing literacy in early childhood education through engagement with Noongar culture, arts, and storytelling at Western Australia government primary schools. Conducted on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar at Huntingdale Primary School and Orelia Primary School, the research was co-designed with Indigenous and non-Indigenous teaching artists, school communities, and The Song Room.
The study adopted wellbeing literacy — the capability to understand and intentionally use language about and for wellbeing across contexts — as its theoretical framework. Creative arts-based methods, including draw and tell interviews, were used to explore how participation in a First Nations-led arts program builds wellbeing literacy in young children aged 5–7 years and in teaching artists. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and the Ways of Meaning visual framework.
Four key themes emerged from the findings: Noongar Culture and Arts, Storytelling, Community, and Healing. Across all participant groups, wellbeing literacy was enacted as a relational and cultural capability, expressed through Noongar language, song, dance, visual art, and multimodal meaning-making. Indigenous teaching artists demonstrated wellbeing literacy grounded in living cultural knowledge, while non-Indigenous teaching artists developed deepened understandings of culturally responsive pedagogy through sustained proximity to Indigenous practice.
The study argues that First Nations culture and arts represent a primary pathway to children's wellbeing that generic programs cannot replicate, and that songlines offer a more comprehensive framework for understanding children's flourishing than Western psychological models alone. Recommendations include embedding Indigenous teaching artists as permanent members of school communities, adopting multimodal assessment approaches, and funding Noongar cultural arts programs commensurate with their demonstrated impact
Keywords
Noongar, Indigenous, wellbeing, wellbeing literacy, children, early childhood, education, arts-based methods
Non-Traditional Research Output
Report for External Body
Document Type
Report
Date of Publication
2026
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
School
School of Education / Kurongkurl Katitjin
Funders
The Song Room / Lottery West
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Indigenous Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons
Comments
Goopy, J., Lemon, N., McPherson, M., Jackson-Barrett, L., & West, J. (2026). Noongar culture, arts learning and wellbeing literacy in early childhood education: A case study of The Song Room’s Deadly Arts Early Years program in Western Australia government primary schools. Edith Cowan University. https://doi.org/10.25958/v6yh-7868