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Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

E. Barriers to participation and success

[T]here are significant barriers to access and to effective learning by Indigenous children in both primary and secondary education. These barriers include the lack of relevance of the curriculum and education generally, racism and discrimination at all levels in society including the school environment and the classroom, poor health, lack of opportunity for the involvement of parents and community in school based delivery of education, levels of incarceration, unemployment and availability of suitable teachers. These exacerbate the already poor quality or lack of availability of the physical school environment (ATSIC submission, page 21).

[There are] significant shortcomings within the education system which has failed Indigenous people in a number of ways. These include, for example, the lack of relevance to Indigenous needs, culture, knowledge and experience; failure to engage Indigenous children in the learning process, particularly beyond the compulsory years; failure to effectively address the issues of racism and discrimination experienced by Indigenous students, both in the school environment and in the job market; failure to effectively involve parents and communities in their children's education and the inadequate number of teachers with appropriate skills and cultural knowledge and the lack of facilities available to students in rural and remote areas.

Apart from the problems created by a flawed education system, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people also are greatly disadvantaged in other fundamental areas of their lives. Factors such as poverty, substandard housing and overcrowding, poor health, domestic violence, contact with the law and unemployment all adversely affect educational outcomes. The barriers and socioeconomic disadvantages are faced by Indigenous people in both rural and urban areas.

However, in the rural areas they are compounded as a result of geographic isolation. For example, the lack of secondary schools in rural and remote areas means that significant numbers of children generally either have to leave their communities to pursue secondary schooling, pursue secondary schooling through distance education or not pursue such education at all. These options are far from satisfactory.

Leaving home to attend school in a capital city or regional centre can be a traumatic experience for Indigenous children from both rural and remote locations and their absence can have a detrimental effect on the communities they leave behind. For a number of reasons, Aboriginal people have not participated to any meaningful extent in distance education and School of the Air programs. One reason - and this impacts on the delivery of Indigenous education in general - is that many parents perceive their lack of resources and literacy and numeracy skills as barriers to their children's participation in such programs, nor have advances in technology proved the solution they promised to be (David Curtis, ATSIC Commissioner, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

Levels of absenteeism, inappropriateness of the curriculum, the scarcity of teachers with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education expertise, the absolute - I use the word "dysfunctionality" again but the lack of capacity of government departments to coordinate their support for these communities, in my personal view, is a national disgrace, and something needs to be done about that (Ian Mackie, Queensland Teachers' Union, Brisbane hearing, 8 October 1999).

This section summarises evidence to the inquiry under the following headings.

E1 Schools inaccessible

The inquiry heard

  • that secondary schools are not reasonably accessible to a high proportion of Indigenous students in the NT
  • that there is still a further shortfall of reasonably accessible senior secondary schooling
  • that many remote students who board suffer homesickness, are inadequately supported and frequently do not complete their education
  • that even primary schooling is not reasonably accessible for some children
  • that Distance Education is often unsuitable for Indigenous students and that their participation in DE is minimal
  • that resources and facilities at many schools provided for Indigenous students are substandard or inappropriate - for example failing to compensate for high rates of hearing impairment
  • that the quality or standard of education both delivered and expected is sometimes very poor.

E1.1 Accessibility of secondary education

"According to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody as many as 10,000 to 12,000 Indigenous students aged between 12 and 15 years living in remote communities do not attend education facilities because of a lack of post-primary schooling facilities within a reasonable distance of their home. The reluctance of Indigenous students to leave their home town is due to a lack of financial and emotional support in the cities"37 (quoted in ATSIC submission, page 16). An inadequate number of secondary schools, the lack of teachers with appropriate skills and cultural experience, and the failure of the distance education and school of the air programs to meet the needs of Indigenous students mean that Indigenous young people do not have adequate access to secondary and post compulsory schooling. Young people either have to go to boarding school at great distance, which is traumatic for many of them or not go to school. This suggests that greater effort should be focussed on how best to provide educational services in rural and remote communities (ATSIC submission, page 35).

[In the NT] several options exist through which Indigenous students may access secondary education. These include

 

  • attend boarding schools. In the Northern Territory, Yirara,
  • St Phillip's, Kormilda and St John's secondary colleges all offer residential facilities
  • move to an urban area. Some parents have used this option as it enables their children to access formal secondary education through a conventional high school
  • secondary studies through the Open Education Centre. This option is increasingly being utilised by Indigenous students who wish to remain in their home communities. Through the Open Education Centre, students have access to the Northern Territory Board of Studies approved curriculum. Students in most locations also have access through electronic technologies such as the Electronic Classroom, which enables them to talk and exchange written work via computer with their teachers on a daily basis
  • secondary bridging courses. On completion of primary schooling, students attending Community Education Centres (CECs) who are not academically ready for formal secondary studies through the Open Education Centre, may enrol in one of three Northern Territory Board of Studies approved secondary education bridging courses. These courses have been developed in recognition that most Indigenous students in remote areas, as well as being learners of English as a second or foreign language, often do not have the English literacy and numeracy skills to successfully undertake a formal secondary education program.

Another option currently being trialed in conjunction with the Catholic Education Office is the secondary 'area school' trial at Bathurst Island. Should this trial prove to be successful, it will provide a model for the extension of formal secondary education to other remote communities (NT Department of Education submission, pages 11-12).

Another issue was, secondary programs for remote students in the communities are mainly offered by religious colleges, contravening articles 29 and 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

E1.2 Primary schooling

Families travel with their children to Banigala to enable their children to attend school. This means some inconvenience and travel for community members as communities are too far away from each other to be travelled between in a day. No funding requirements apply to the families that must relocate for education (Daguragu NT community meeting, 13 May 1999).

Talking about getting kids to high school is a bit of a dream if we can't get them to Year 6 or 7 (Daguragu NT community meeting, 13 May 1999).

E1.3 Boarding

After completing the NT Pathways Program the students have the opportunity to continue their secondary education in Perth or in Darwin. In the past year we had 6 students in the capital cities. The year before we had 4 students who went to Perth but 3 of them only lasted for one term, they got too homesick and they came home (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

They are away from their families and their culture, the language is different. At times they are inclined to only stay down in Perth about three months or so and then they come back and they don't want to go back [to Perth] because they are away from their families. They should be given a chance for education in their own area, within their own language and to speak their own dialects (Tom Birch, Kimberley Land Council, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

I worked at a boarding school for 15 years. A lot of children who came to boarding school from remote communities did not last there. They left school and went back because they missed their family and friends. These kids have a strong connection with their community so it is difficult for them when they leave. If they had support groups to help them they might be able to cope better at boarding school (Normanton Qld public meeting, 5 October 1999).

I don't want my child to have to leave Normanton after Year 10 to go to boarding school. I would like him to be able to do the last 2 years of school here, not through distance education but at a real school (Normanton Qld public meeting, 5 October 1999).

E1.4 Distance education

The only available education for those mob is School of the Air, which is inappropriate for a lot of them, culturally and in other ways (Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

E1.5 Condition and quality

The general condition of the school facilities available to Indigenous people in rural and remote Australia is poor. An inventory of the conditions of these facilities is urgently required. This includes both the basic structures and internal services (ATSIC submission, page 35).

If you think I'm exaggerating we only need to consider why it is that the teachers in these areas send their own children away to school, provide supplementary education after school in the home or leave the area to ensure their own children receive a suitable education (Sister Gwen Bucknell, Notre Dame University, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

No non-Aboriginal kids go to Boggabilla school. The teachers live in Goondiwindi and they send their kids to school there. It's not a good message though. Boggabilla school isn't good enough for their kids. It's because of the level - the education's not good enough (Boggabilla NSW ASSPA Committee meeting, 5 March 1999).

There are many that are doing courses that wouldn't be considered anywhere else as a secondary course; they're generally dilute and inadequate courses (Peter Toyne, Shadow Minister for Education, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

 

 

E2 Cultural, community and family issues

 

The inquiry heard

  • that school programs sometimes fail to take into account students' and families' cultural obligations
  • that Indigenous parents whose own education experiences were negative are sometimes alienated from the school system
  • that in other respects, too, the home and family environment may not be conducive to the child's education.

E2.1 Culture

School numbers can fluctuate at different times of the year because of culture too. Towards mid-year you'll find a lot of the students disappear and go back to their own homelands or where their families come from. So culture plays a very important role in determining students needs as well, because they've got to go to two schools (Martin Bin-Rashid, Department of Family and Community Services, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

E2.2 Alienation

According to the House of Representatives Select Committee on Aboriginal Education, many parents, as a result of their own educational experiences, have mixed reactions to schools. If they failed at school they often see school as a waste of time and do not support their children in school. However, many parents want their children to achieve at school, but are reluctant to become involved themselves because schools often make few concessions to the issue of Aboriginality and parents feel uncomfortable and shy about going into the school as they tend to see teachers as 'figureheads' and consequently may find the school situation threatening.38 Further, the extended family network is crucial to the nurturing role of students and kin members are often ignored in the school setting, which often assumes nuclear families to be the norm (ATSIC submission, page 25).

Part of the problem is that the Aboriginal parents don't understand what is required of the students. There needs to be something in place to assist them in understanding what education is about for their children and where they should go with it. That's a parents education program that needs to be in place. Because their schooling was so different they don't know what their children are required to do (Moree NSW community meeting, 4 March 1999).

There are clear links between attendance and school performance. Many of the parents of the children did not have significant schooling and so the parents' experience of school will affect the views of the family to education. Where the parents and the grandparents have had poor school experiences or experience of 'dormitory' education then they may not have positive views of school education (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

For a lot of Indigenous people, they do not see any sense in the education system and they don't support their kids, mainly because they don't understand it themselves. We have a couple of generations that have been failed miserably by our education system and they are quite unable to teach the children or to even encourage the children to go to school (Judy Adam, Centrelink, Moree hearing, 4 March 1999).

E2.3 Poverty and related issues

... You can change and you can educate a child as much as you want to here but if you are going to throw that child back into a very dysfunctional home environment the chances of that child carrying on or using whatever they learn there is very hard because the support isn't there for them to be able to carry it out ... (Esther Bevan, Catholic Education Aboriginal Committee, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999). It's been said to me on a few occasions that kids won't go to school because they haven't been fed, they don't have clothes to wear, they don't have shoes to wear, and they don't have paper and pen when they get to school. So therefore, they are not going to go (Judy Adam, Centrelink, Moree hearing, 4 March 1999).

The transient nature of Aboriginal students becomes a heightened difficulty, especially as employment becomes more difficult. Our community is travelling around for jobs. It's become obvious that if we are going to produce results in terms of literacy and numeracy, then the kids can't afford to do a restart at every school, we need to develop some sort of mobility tracking so that those students' work and levels can travel with them. There is a program that I think is of some merit, called Tracking Mobility. It was a one-off program which needs further development, so that technologically now those kids can have their results moved with them, so that they can be picked up in programs of literacy and numeracy (Professor John Lester, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999).

Poverty adds considerably to the difficulties of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children seeking to cope with schooling. The home environment can be linked with low educational achievements of Indigenous students. Overcrowding, lack of furniture and poor lighting impact on the Indigenous students' capacity to complete homework. In turn, many Indigenous families in these situations experience difficulties when trying to support their students in matters such as regular attendance at school, homework and wearing school uniforms (ATSIC submission, page 27).

 

E3 Ill-health and lack of services

As a direct result of poverty many Indigenous children suffer from acute health problems such as under nutrition, hepatitis B and anaemia which affects their ability to learn at school as well as their attendance. Vision and hearing difficulties occur very commonly and Indigenous children are susceptible to a broad range of infectious diseases. Major ear diseases such as Otitis Media impair learning ability. Hearing problems may account for some of the classroom 'disruption' where hearing impaired Indigenous children make use of their peers (often seated adjacent) to 'translate'. In conventionally structured class situations, such activity is likely to be interpreted by teachers as disruptive behaviour and the removal of this source can disadvantage a child's progress. Otitis Media and other health problems also account for frequent absences from school for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (ATSIC submission, pages 27-28).

The inquiry heard

  • that, like the Indigenous community generally, Indigenous children are significantly more likely to suffer debilitating health problems and that these impact in substantial ways upon their education prospects
  • that otitis media and consequent hearing impairment is very widely spread among Indigenous children
  • that, as in rural areas generally, specialist health and related services are seriously lacking
  • that there is evidence of discriminatory treatment of Indigenous schools and students.

E3.1 Ill-health

The World Health Organisation conducted a health survey through the Failure to Thrive committee in Halls Creek entitled Child Malnutrition in the Shire of Halls Creek. This document compares under 5's with severe malnutrition with children in developing countries. "We have higher levels than Cambodia and Kenya and many other countries" (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

We have children here with foetal alcohol syndrome. We are not really sure of their learning capacity. In the younger years it is not so much of a problem but we have one girl here who is nearly 14 and she can barely write her name. This child is also developmentally delayed. She has been tested once before and she once had access to an occupational therapist. Students with foetal alcohol syndrome really need an integration aide (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

Our children do not have much energy. You get a few hours of work out of them and then they say they are 'weak'. 'We are weak, we are slack' (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

There are health factors related to food. There are fizzy drinks and cakes but I don't think the store will take them out. We don't sell that at the school. There is a real problem with the store and it is up to the storekeeper to provide health foods like fruit and vegetables. There are times when there is no fruit or vegetables in the store. The cost of the food is another issue. A tomato can cost $1.00 and pears can cost $3.50 each. I once paid $7.00 for half a cabbage. The store is owned by the community but not run by the community. While they charge huge prices they always leave with debts and this happens again and again. Most of the storekeepers stay only a year. In the last 4 years we have gone through close to 20 storekeepers. That is a reflection on the administrator and whether the storekeeper can get on with the administrator (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

E3.2 Otitis media

The inquiry heard of high rates of hearing loss caused by otitis media among school students in NT, WA, NSW and Queensland.

... the need connected with otitis media and hearing impairment alone would be a very major special education area. At any one time 40% of the students in Yuendumu school had significant hearing loss due to otitis. The best way to find out what that means to a teacher in practical terms is - if you put on a set of industrial earphones or headset like they use, say, at an airport, people that are working around jet engines, and hear what you actually hear, which is a very dead, very lifeless version of sounds around you, that's what those kids are dealing in a classroom... (Peter Toyne, Shadow Minister for Education, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

I heard a report on Radio National about a school in Queensland where only two students had not had hearing loss and some of the other students had quite severe hearing loss, so it wasn't an attitudinal problem when they weren't following instructions, they just hadn't heard. A lot of that was due to hearing infections (Moree NSW community meeting, 4 March 1999).

Quite a number of children have hearing disabilities. We have 6 children who had a referral to the ear specialists out of 40 children. Two of those 6 children have priority one ear operations. We have one child who has no hearing and no speech. He floats between two communities. One child has recently had an ear operation. It might be next year before the ear specialist comes so it might be a long time before these children have an ear operation (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

Clearly, otitis media is a major health issue for Aboriginal families and children and any child with a conductive hearing loss is going to be at a disadvantage in the classroom (George Green, NSW Department of Education and Training, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999).

Approximately 80% of kids have hearing problems. In the primary school we have speakers in the classrooms. We also give the kids education about how to deal with hearing problems. Audiologists visit once a year to do hearing checks but there is no follow-up (Doomadgee Qld community meeting, 6 October 1999).

E3.3 Lack of services

Basic screening happens but there is no real follow-up with specialists and there is no screening for intellectual disability. Screening is focused on pre-primary and Year 1 primary. They will see the other children if they have time. The follow up for children with Otitis Media is poor. It doesn't show up every time. With the changeover of nursing staff there is no continuity (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

There is a teacher of the deaf in Broome. But this person does not have money for travel nor does he have a vehicle. Through lobbying his boss we were able to get money for travel and so he should travel here this year. He has been good in obtaining information about the hearing disabilities of the children here (Billiluna WA school meeting, 14 May 1999).

The school receives departmental support in dealing with student problems. An officer of the Education Department visits the school twice each term to discuss issues. She is also contactable between visits by phone and fax. While she does her best, she is not at the school long enough to have proper talks with students, parents and teachers. We have to share her with eight other schools so this limits the amount of attention she can give us (Normanton Qld teachers meeting, 5 October 1999).

It's a lack of personnel, and funding runs out and programs get discontinued. There's a lack of staff and a lack of training. Maybe it's a matter of community health and the AMS and the hospital getting together and sharing resources (Brewarrina NSW community meeting, 2 March 1999).

E3.4 Evidence of discrimination

This is the same with the school nurse. It is essential that the nurses remain in the school. There is a terrible injustice in that when you consider Indigenous health, we find that the nurses are provided by the NT Government to white schools and not to the Aboriginal schools (Nhulunbuy NT community meeting, 12 May 1999).

There are drug and alcohol programs for young people but they don't address the needs of Indigenous youth (Normanton Qld public meeting, 5 October 1999).

Last year we got no speech pathologist service, no behavioural management service and we have got children with high needs in both of these areas. Recently we made a request for a guidance officer to come to the school and once again we were told that they had to prioritise the town over us (Lajamanu NT community meeting, 13 May 1999).

We've got a lot of special needs students. They need to have a full opportunity and have adequate facilities. Most of them are disadvantaged group. For example in Stuart Park in Darwin they've got a special needs class and a special needs teacher; but in Aboriginal communities we want the same (Rosalind Djuwandayngu, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

 

 

E4 Failure to value and reflect Indigenous experience

 

The inquiry heard

  • that the Australian education system was, on the whole, designed to meet the needs, reflect the culture and fulfil parent expectations of Anglo-Celtic Australians and that Indigenous students are, in the main, expect to accommodate themselves to a system which makes little if any effort to accommodate itself to them
  • that Indigenous knowledge, cultures, values and languages are rarely valued in education
  • that few teachers and other education workers know anything about Indigenous cultures, values or aspirations
  • that the curriculum in most schools pays no more than lip service to Aboriginal history, cultures and languages
  • that one consequence of this combination of factors is Indigenous students' school refusal and 'failure' and parent alienation and hostility.

E4.1 Assimilation

Current mainstream schools perpetuate attitudes and values which do not reflect the culture and lives of Indigenous students (Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

Cummings, who in 1989 stated "the roots of the term education imply drawing out children's potential, making them more than they were. However, when students come to school fluent in their primary language and they leave school essentially monolingual in English we have negated the meaning of the word education because they have made them less than they were" (Sister Gwen Bucknell, Notre Dame University, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

E4.2 Valuing Indigenous experience

There is something like 30 odd languages left in the Kimberleys at this time. So we have such a diverse cultural group of people. That's the other problem in terms of the education is that we tend to be lumped as one group of identifiable Aboriginal people without understanding the nature of cultural subtleties and differences that exist throughout the Kimberleys (Peter Yu, Kimberley Land Council, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

My sister teaches gifted children and if she gets a kid who walks in and can speak two languages in grade one or two they are absolutely ecstatic, they have a genius on their hands. Out in the community schools they have kids that speak five or six languages fluently, none of them being English. We sit them in a classroom, teach them English and then say these kids are a bit thick and off the mark. It is an extraordinary analogy (Bush Talks in South Hedland WA, 20 May 1999).

Single sex classes work well at the school though due to relatively small numbers of children, it is often impractical to run these classes. Culture and tradition dictates that male teachers should teach male children and visa-versa ... there is often a real shortage of male staff in general (Kalkaringi community meeting, 13 May 1999).

E4.3 Staff cultural awareness

ATSIC drew attention to the inconsistency across Australia, but in all jurisdictions the inquiry heard that provision is inadequate.

[E]ach State and Territory has different requirements for the training of teachers to work with Indigenous children, with some systems requiring formal training and others requiring little or none. As a consequence there is considerable variation in the skills and abilities of newly trained teachers, many of whom provide teaching services to communities in remote or rural areas (ATSIC submission, page 28).

Concern is also expressed about the number of teachers and principals who do not have English as a Second Language qualifications and who work in schools that have a high Aboriginal population or where the students vernacular is an Aboriginal language. There is also a lack of pre-teacher training and in-service Aboriginal cultural awareness training provided to teachers and principals (ATSIC submission, page 29).

The issue of initial teacher training and ongoing professional development and reskilling in relation to indigenous education is fundamentally important. Few teachers can report that their initial training and qualification has properly prepared them to either teach indigenous students or to provide non indigenous students with an understanding of the history and culture of Australia's indigenous people (Independent Education Union submission, page 16).

... teachers who take up positions in Aboriginal community schools are generally provided with little or no cross cultural inservicing [and] little or no access to advisors or consultants who can assist with particular teaching and learning strategies for the particular learning needs of their students (Independent Education Union submission, page 15).

The Education Department of WA reported in 1998

Edith Cowan University commenced offering compulsory full education units in Aboriginal Education and Special Needs Education in 1998. Prior to this, graduate teachers may have had little or no knowledge of issues impacting on Aboriginal students ... To date EDWA employees have received little or no Aboriginal cultural awareness training.39 I understand that during training it is only compulsory for teachers to complete one unit in Aboriginal Studies, which is insufficient to prepare them for such a situation (Sister Gwen Bucknell, Notre Dame University, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

[M]y initial research findings would suggest that amongst young teachers quite a sizeable proportion see Aboriginal children as being difficult. They have heard from existing teachers and from the news media and so forth about the difficulties of Aboriginal education and I suspect that, as young teachers, they are mainly concerned with establishing themselves in the classroom as classroom managers and their understanding and interpretation of Aboriginal education tends to be from that perspective; that they see Aboriginal children as a possible threat to them establishing themselves in the career that they have chosen (Peter Reynolds, Edith Cowan University, Perth hearing, 24 May 1999).

E4.4 Curriculum

They teach Indonesian and Japanese but not Kamilaroi, in spite of the high numbers of Aboriginal students (Moree NSW Aboriginal workers meeting, 5 March 1999).

Our children study Indonesian and other languages at school, but they don't learn Aboriginal languages. They should be able to study their own language (Normanton Qld public meeting, 5 October 1999).

[At Jabiru school] - in Languages Other Than English (LOTE) - there's a perfectly viable Indonesian program of work there but to get an Aboriginal language program going there is really difficult and involves heaps of commitment, and commitment to the relation between the community and the school (Michael Christie, NT University, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

A survey of WA government schools in 1997 showed that 88 out of 768 (11.5%) offered Aboriginal Studies and 29 out of 827 (3.5%) offered programs in 19 Aboriginal languages. Six of 25 (24%) Aboriginal pre-schools offered Aboriginal languages.40

Once they arrive at school they're confronted with different culture, different language, different teaching staff, different values, different expectations and quite alien class management techniques. Many have difficulty fitting in and coping (John Roe, Kimberley Work Training, Kununurra hearing, 17 May 1999).

E4.5 Results

It was particularly notable that witnesses referred to the much earlier age at which Indigenous children are expected to take on the responsibilities of adulthood, become independent and are therefore more likely to succeed in adult education models than in traditional schools.

How children are regarded in Aboriginal communities is something that a lot of teachers come into the school situation with kids not understanding that in many instances the kids are expected to be treated as adults ... (John Bucknell, Aboriginal Independent Schools Unit, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

Independence is a wonderful thing and it's probably something that the school system doesn't recognise. Some of those kids are independent from the moment they walk. And self-sufficient in a lot of ways. That independence is sometimes at loggerheads with the school system. It's early days in education for Aboriginal kids I believe (Brewarrina NSW community meeting, 2 March 1999).

I was the principal of the TAFE college at Maclean . you need to walk across the road, you need to walk a path of 20 metres and you can move out of a high school environment into a TAFE environment. The question I'd ask is, why do Aboriginal kids who are excluded from that school walk that 20 metres and all of a sudden become successful in TAFE? I think, quite clearly, in terms of pedagogy, we need to look very closely at the totally different aspects that high school teachers, in particular, have, which is opposite to adult learning techniques that TAFE teachers have as part of their pedagogy. It's an amazing set of circumstances: a kid that's failing and being pushed out can walk in and there not be a discipline problem or anything because of the different way of pedagogy in that environment (Professor John Lester, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999).

Western value systems and Western education reinforce the notion that at this age group, young people are not yet adults. The structures of discipline, paternalism and control can be very insulting to young people who may consider themselves adults (Daguragu NT community meeting, 13 May 1999).

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E5 Lack of role models

 

The school has two Indigenous people on staff. We should have more given that half of the students are Indigenous (Boulia Qld teachers meeting, 4 October 1999).

The inquiry heard of the invaluable education supported provided by Indigenous Education Workers. However, these workers' qualifications are typically undervalued, their skills are not fully compensated, their career options are limited and their workload stressful and ever-expanding.

These assistants work in the school. They understand the students' ways and have a wealth of local knowledge to draw upon. They are a rich resource that trainee teachers need to know how to utilise. This raises the question of recognition of these assistants within the schools. These are the ones who stay on, these are the role models the students need, these are the people that represent the community's values and aspirations. How much credit are these people given for their knowledge? (Sister Gwen Bucknell, Notre Dame University, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

There are very few qualified Indigenous teachers anywhere in Australia.

Based on statistics provided by schools in February 1999, we have three Aboriginal teachers in the Kimberley for a total of 1661n Aboriginal students; a ratio of 1: 553 compared with an overall student: teacher ratio of 1:14. There are 2.5 front office Aboriginal positions; a ratio of 1: 664. There are around 73 Aboriginal Education Workers positions in the East Kimberley, although it's very difficult to get accurate figures on the number of these positions as many of them are shared by several community members. This is a ratio of 1:23 but ranges from 1:7 Aboriginal students in some schools to 1:48 in others (Ian Trust, Kununurra hearing, 17 May 1999).

Of particular concern is the lack of suitably qualified teachers with, themselves, an Indigenous background. This means that Indigenous students rarely have the opportunity to experience education opportunities where the teacher can identify with their particular needs from an Indigenous perspective and a cultural perspective (Ian Mackie, Queensland Teachers' Union, Brisbane hearing, 8 October 1999).

The biggest problem that we have is that we are white people teaching Aboriginal kids and we've got 97.5% Aboriginal kids. We are constantly raising teachers' awareness of where these kids come from. We can only try to understand. The teachers that are experiencing the most success at our school are the ones that get out and meet families (Brewarrina NSW community meeting, 2 March 1999).

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E6 Intolerance

 

Ignorance and racism further compound the non-inclusive and alienating nature of mainstream schooling for many Indigenous students.

Racism in educational institutions is experienced in a number of ways including racial abuse and vilification, being treated as children at an educational institution when they are treated as adults in their homes, being spoken to in a domineering manner and being made to feel personally guilty for getting extra money and 'special' benefits. There is also an inherent structural or institutional racism perpetuated in many educational institutions. This characteristic is frequently ingrained in staff members so that they are unaware of its existence. Institutional racism is expressed in many ways; the most common form is the failure to acknowledge the presence of Indigenous students and their culture in the educational setting (ATSIC submission, page 23).

The inquiry heard of intolerance and exclusion throughout Australia.

The racist issue is a big issue in Kununurra. The Aboriginal kids feel isolated or they hang in little groups by themselves (Kununurra WA community meeting, 17 May 1999).

You see people getting discriminated because of their colour down the street. They don't really want to go to school and get it there too (Bairnsdale Vic secondary students meeting, 11 November 1999).

They just can't play together, I don't know why. But it's the same with Caucasian and Aboriginal, its both ways (Bourke NSW students meeting, 1 March 1999).

One of our primary schools had run a unit which was a separate class ... we decided we would try and place as many children in this group in regular classrooms, only to find a lot of them didn't come back because they enjoyed the security ... (Bill Griffiths, Director of Catholic Education, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

So they work together in class. They work together in groups. But on a friendship basis out in the playground, it is still very much Aboriginal groups and non-Aboriginal groups. And that is something we are working on (Ron Sweaney, Courallie High School, Moree hearing, 4 March 1999).

I don't think you'd see a black kid in a job in this town. Previously they might have been employed in the timber industry or on the railways" (Bairnsdale Vic public meeting, 11 November 1999).

Our community is very lacking in cultural diversity and the whole community is very intolerant. We try to redress that by providing the widest education we can at the secondary college. We have policies to try to address racism but you can't catch every incident. We know Koories can't get jobs in the town. We have a work experience program for Koorie students to get them out into the community. It's really hard because a lot of them don't have the confidence to do that. Every time someone does it it's a model for other kids to follow them" (Bairnsdale Vic public meeting, 11 November 1999).

There was even evidence of active discrimination.

When the kids muck up, they get kicked out of school. And it's for a good long period of time. The kids see it as grouse: 'We're out of that system, we don't have to deal with it any more'. White kids get put on in-school suspension which means they sit outside the office and do their work all day. The Koorie kids don't get that opportunity to feel like part of the school. It's 'You follow these rules - and we know you really won't and we know you really can't - or you're out'. The kids need to feel a part of the school, to feel ownership of the school and to feel valued and accepted. Then they might start accepting other cultures in the school and the rules of the school (Bairnsdale Vic Koorie workers meeting, 11 November 1999).

Many students feel the Koories get so much advantage that they [the white students] are being discriminated against. They feel that the Koorie students get away with things they wouldn't (Bairnsdale Vic public meeting, 11 November 1999).

 

 

E7 Other issues

 

Other issues raised with the inquiry which act as barriers to education participation and success for Indigenous young people include

High rates of involvement in the juvenile justice system

An examination41 of the determinants of educational attainment of young Indigenous Australians has shown that arrest had a powerful effect. The experience of arrest reduced the likelihood of a young person being in secondary school by about 26% for males and around 18% for females. Given that Indigenous people are more like to be involved with police and incarcerated, the implications of this are disturbing (ATSIC submission, page 26).

High rates of early pregnancy

If teenage pregnancy for Indigenous students is a fact, and what we're finding in relation to our conversations with people is that it is a fact . why is this not being planned for in terms of educational provision? There is not a reason why the system could not provide for alternative delivery, programs for reintegration, child-care arrangements and support for these students (Lisa Heap, Australian Education Union, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

Petrol, alcohol and drug abuse

It's been big here - petrol - over the last couple of weeks. It's young people: about 13, 14, even 12. There's some our age too. A range of 10-18 or something like that. They're only doing it because they haven't got money for marijuana. That's why they're doing the breaking in. There is most definitely a drug problem - marijuana, cigarettes, but no heroin although there was a couple of months back when two people came from Sydney (they were doing it in the park where kids were and they left needles in the playground where little kids were running around). Both white and Aboriginal people have been bringing it in. Some people have been waiting to bash them for it (Brewarrina NSW students meeting, 2 March 1999).

Unfair testing

I think many of those children are actually disadvantaged through a system that is driven by a largely Western educational viewpoint ... the Year 3 literacy test ... totally disadvantages Aboriginal children in terms of making judgements about the outcomes that they've achieved and their capacity to learn. There's a complete lack of understanding in terms of that whole process that many of the kids that are being tested in Year 3, and again I talk particularly about the Aboriginal students, for many children it's not the third year of formal schooling for them, it may in fact be their first six months . I think that's a total misrepresentation and I think that the flow-on effect from that from a perception point of view again puts those sets of people at a disadvantage ... (Sister Clare, Notre Dame University, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

Unfair exclusion

I wanted to focus again on the notion of expulsion and suspension as a means of controlling children in schools. Again, there's very little doubt on this but I suspect that the groups that are most affected by this are Aboriginal children, children of colour and children of low socio-economic status. It's a counter-productive measure because it isolates the very children that need the education most (Margot Ford, NT University, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

Time-out centres are not working. They get suspended and agree to go to the time-out centre. But later you see 50 or 60 kids in the street riding bikes. They don't care. They should be kept in class - within the school grounds - and within the responsibility of the Education Department (Moree NSW Aboriginal workers meeting, 5 March 1999).

Inaccessibility of telecommunications

Basic problems exist with the availability of telecommunications in more remote locations in terms of cost and availability. For example, as the NT government believes 'the basic services that are available in many [remote] areas of the NT have insufficient capability or capacity to attach any computing network device, consequently can provide audible service only'.42 This limits the opportunities and access for children in remote communities in the NT and other States with large remote communities to be able to gain the same levels of skills as their urban counterparts (ATSIC submission, page 29).

The NT has been using videoconferencing since 1993 as a Commonwealth supported Aboriginal Education Program (AEP) project. The impact in terms of student outcomes has not been as significant as anticipated, nor has the number of participating communities (ATSIC submission, page 29).

 

 

Endnotes

 

37 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, July 1996 Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Indigenous Education, page 21.

38 Australia House of Representatives Select Committee on Aboriginal Education, September 1985, p75.

39 EDWA 1998, A Profile of Aboriginal Education in Government Schools, page 8.

40 EDWA 1998, A Profile of Aboriginal Education in Government Schools, page 8.

41 Hunter, B and Schwab, R. 1998 The determinants of Indigenous educational outcomes, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 160, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU.

42 Commonwealth Grants Commission Review of General Revenue Grant Relativities, 1997, NT Submission.

Section F:

Success stories

Last updated 2 December 2001.