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Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

H. Recommendations to the Inquiry

ATSIC proposes in its submission three basic principles which should form the basis for progress for Indigenous people in education. These principles are: Community self-determination within the education system is integral to realising education outcomes for indigenous children. This is necessary to ensure acceptance and involvement of Indigenous people in the education system.

Respect for Indigenous knowledge and a recognition of the need for cultural maintenance should be apparent in education provided to Indigenous children. This would provide a foundation and make the education system relevant and appropriate.

And education needs should be seen in relation to and integrated with other requirements of the community such as health, housing, general community infrastructure. This will ensure the effectiveness of education strategies by taking into consideration the range of other factors impinging on educational participation and achievement.

The acceptance of these principles is important to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people own the education system and its processes for the achievement of better education outcomes for Indigenous people. The development of any policies and strategies aimed at achieving better educational outcomes for Indigenous children must be seen within this context (David Curtis, ATSIC Commissioner, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

Recommendations: (1) adoption of the three key guiding principles for Indigenous education, planning and services; (2) a national forum funded by DETYA to consider options for a national Indigenous education organisation; (3) establishment of human rights benchmarks as a basis for monitoring and assessing the achievements of Indigenous education; (4) increase research effort, in particular on the relationship between education outcomes and the various sectors including housing, health, infrastructure, good practice in Indigenous rural and remote education; (5) an inventory ordered of all primary and secondary school resources and facilities available to Indigenous people in rural and remote Australia to be undertaken by federal and state education departments (David Curtis, ATSIC Commissioner, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

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H1 Whole of government response

 

The need for a whole-of-government response to the planning and delivery of Indigenous education recognises the interdependence of health status, culture, socio-economic status and education outcomes.

ATSIC believes that there is a deep and systematic problem in Indigenous education which requires a concerted approach by governments, communities and education providers. ATSIC urges that unless the problems are addressed collectively and underpinned by Indigenous self-determination, efforts to achieve sustainable improvement in education will be ineffective, and it believes that a holistic approach is needed because the barriers that Indigenous people face in education span across other fundamental areas of their lives (David Curtis, ATSIC Commissioner, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

Funding to schools needs to reflect the wider social issues of Indigenous students, transport, provision of food, clothing, accommodation, assistance with counselling, medical support (Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

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H2 Indigenous pedagogy

 

While there was some debate about the existence of different Indigenous learning styles, the weight of evidence favoured the view that at least some adjustment needs to be made.

[C]ultural differences do impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learning processes. Historically, schools have failed to reflect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values and learning styles. Consequently, Indigenous students enter an educational institution where they and their parents have limited or no experience and if any experience, it is usually a negative one. Often the value systems and style of the institutions do not reflect the values of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies and do not always take account of the home experience of Indigenous students. In addition, the language used in educational institutions is often not the everyday language of Indigenous students.48

Cultural differences are also evident in the links between culture and cognitive style, in the forms of culturally preferred knowledge, in cross-cultural communication and in culturally relevant teaching and learning strategies (ATSIC submission, pages 22-23).

Talking and listening is one of the ones that has been the poor cousin of the other two I suppose. I think that's really important, especially in communities with high Aboriginal populations. The oral component of learning is a really important one (Daryl Thompson, Brewarrina hearing, 2 March 1999).

The emphasis is on teaching in a culturally appropriate manner. The teacher should hang back and let the older ways of learning take precedence so that learning is an extension of the daily life. This might address some of the truancy and attendance issues (Halls Creek WA community meeting, 18 May 1999).

When learning a different kind of knowledge ie Western concepts and pedagogy, it is important that the traditional values and knowledge continue to be not only valued and respected but also drawn into all aspects of the education environment (ATSIC submission, page 22).

The kids want more sport and manual arts. They want to go out bush. They need practical training as part of their schooling too. They don't want to spend all of their time in the classroom (Doomadgee Qld community meeting, 6 October 1999).

The argument for cultural immersion was put by a number of witnesses.

... quite clearly, the overwhelming push amongst Indigenous people in education worldwide is for cultural immersion. There is a huge rejection of perspectives to curricula because they believe they're piecemeal and won't work. To quote one of the Maori elders of the time, "We need to bring in and immerse" - he was talking, obviously, about his own culture - "their kids in Maoritanga language and live it and breathe it in the school environment." That has extended and flowed on to tertiary levels; so they now have, right through to tertiary levels and teacher training in Maoritanga. Quite clearly, I see that that's where we need to go and the AECG would be of that opinion . I think cultural immersion through Indigenous schools, publicly funded, are a real option that we need to look at, where we can give back culture and regenerate that in terms that Indigenous people control.

...

My vision would be that we need to target no differently than we target schools for those that are intellectually enhanced. So that schools that are selective high schools - and we've been doing that for decades - and schools now where we see - sporting high schools, music high schools - I think, in the same vein, we need to create a number of at least pilots, and I would think in rural locations, well supported by hostel support, these cultural immersion schools, where we can put Indigenous people into these environments, and provide them with the best in terms of executive support staff (Professor John Lester, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999).

This is what we've got to teach children in our first language. There's contents such as social education, bush medicines as a topic, (indistinct) relationship and kinship and relationships, history of our land, significant things. What created the land, that's part of our culture and language. It goes hand in hand (Rosalind Djuwandayngu, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

We need an education that is culturally appropriate, because there's - and it's an issue that was raised by the previous group, and it's a constant issue because education worldwide is coming out of a western paradigm and comes with its own culture, and somehow we've got to include Aboriginal people, include Aboriginal content, to try and nullify, to some degree, that western culture (Veronica Arbon, Batchelor College, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

We supported the concept of Aboriginal schools, that is, schools that would have an Aboriginal focus, would have Aboriginal teachers, not schools that would have an absolutely selective enrolment. What we were prepared to support - I think this was the proposition - would be that the schools would clearly advertise what they had to offer but that others in the community could also attend that so that they would be substantially Aboriginal schools.

I think if it was actually race-based, it would raise concerns about issues like the discrimination laws in the States and apartheid and so on. But we did support the concept of schools that were run by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal students.

...

We certainly have concerns about anything that would close off options. Hopefully the students at any school would have the opportunity to do the School Certificate and the HSC, that they wouldn't have a curriculum that didn't provide them the opportunities that others had; but I wouldn't think that people in the community would want that either, so I wouldn't expect that that would be a problem (Wayne Patterson, NSW Teachers' Federation, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999).

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H3 Bilingual education

 

As noted above, there was strong support for bilingual education for children whose first language is not English.

It is considered that bilingual programs contain significant educational advantages for Indigenous persons whose first language is not English. A bilingual program implicitly recognises and respects the individual's culture and language. In this regard the school or educational setting becomes an agent of cultural continuity. The educational curriculum becomes more accessible to the student who is operating in a familiar language area and therefore feels more secure. The student's language identifies them with their language group and the use of their own language enhances their self-confidence and self-concepts that improves their educational prospects (ATSIC submission, page 24).

The issue of bilingual education is one that has a lot of significance and importance for ATSIC, and we see that as an area that states really should be providing much more leadership in allowing communities to make a decision about how they integrate languages into the education process. ATSIC's view, has been that it is a community's decision on how they want to do it because different communities want to approach education in different ways. Some want to focus on bilingual - being taught in their own language first as a vehicle into learning English, and others would rather go straight into English (Lewis Hawke, ATSIC, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

One of the basic human rights is for a child to experience education in their cultural context and in their own first language, and for many children who are Indigenous, non-English speaking migrants or refugees in rural and remote areas, this simply isn't available. Now, what that does is raise the implications for education departments with a provision of teachers for English as a second language. So there's a professional need (Dr David McSwan, James Cook University, Brisbane hearing, 8 October 1999).

First of all, we don't want people making assimilations. We want to try and work on this to improve children's first language then we'll think about learning the other language, the foreign language which is called English (Rosalind Djuwandayngu, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

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H4 Aboriginal Studies

 

The importance of teaching Indigenous culture, local history and local Indigenous languages to all children was emphasised.

The racism won't change until Koorie culture is compulsory in the curriculum (Bairnsdale Vic Koorie workers meeting, 11 November 1999).

We have Aboriginal Studies and we don't know anything about our culture. They don't get no elders to come in and talk to us. All we do is watch silly little videos. And some things that aren't even involved with our culture. No Aboriginal Education worker participates in Aboriginal Studies. I think we need an Aboriginal teacher in the school who can teach us about our culture (Brewarrina NSW students meeting, 2 March 1999).

Indigenous languages are not taught here. They should bring the old people down to the school so that they can teach the children about language and culture. The school is not really serious about culture. They might employ people to teach it but they are not really committed (Doomadgee Qld community meeting, 6 October 1999).

The elders need structured support though. Going into a classroom is difficult for traditional people who are not used to being in the classroom; it is not their natural environment. Nobody would expect these old ladies to take the classes of kids. It is not as though they could go into a classroom and teach 30 children. The elders are eager to teach the language but they need support and they need literacy support (Halls Creek WA community meeting, 18 May 1999).

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H5 Community involvement

 

The role of Indigenous educators was held in general high esteem by witnesses. There were calls for wider involvement by Indigenous culture and language experts in schools. The challenge is to build bridges between the school and Indigenous families and communities.

A really important one, I think, is to recognise the Aboriginal community members as playing a key role in supporting students at school and to provide funding for these people as employees in the school. We find at Yipirinya School that, if the students have got family there, they're more inclined to come to school and to stay there. If there's no-one there, family, you might get them for the odd one or two days a week or a few weeks and then you don't see them again (Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

The involvement of Indigenous parents in their children's education is one of the key ways in which the schooling system can be made more relevant to Indigenous communities. Parents promote student learning through encouragement, expending resources, imparting their own knowledge as to how the education system works and making decisions in regards to the educations options that should be pursued (ATSIC submission, page 24).

The involvement of parents and communities in the school environment and decision making is considered crucial to the improvement of participation, achievement and outcomes for Indigenous students. It is crucial that parents be provided with the skills and resources to effectively participate and to be active partners in the education of their children. This means ensuring that parents of students have access, where necessary, to education or training to ensure adequate literacy and numeracy skills, an understanding of how schools and education systems operate, and most importantly what parental rights are in advocating on behalf of their children in the school environment (ATSIC submission, page 26).

That funding and services to improve education outcomes for Aboriginal students continue to be a priority and that a new initiative focussing on Aboriginal parents as first teachers be developed to enhance literacy and numeracy achievements for Aboriginal children to national standards by the completion of Year 3 (SA Government submission, page 18).

A school-community liaison officer is needed at the school. This is currently not an option for the Kalkaringi School. The NT Government has not allocated funds for this position. Nevertheless, it is often family problems that keep the children at home. It is also important that this role promote the benefits of schooling throughout the communities (Kalkaringi NT community meeting, 13 May 1999).

There is a lack of communication between the school and the community. The teachers need to talk to the parents more. They need to come into the parents' homes and show them respect. If children see the parents and the school working together, attendance will improve and they will respond better to their teachers (Doomadgee Qld community meeting, 6 October 1999).

I really do believe that if we're going to overcome some of the negative experiences that people have had with their education, one way to break down barriers is to get out and meet people (Ruythe Dufty, Principal Brewarrina Central School, Brewarrina hearing, 2 March 1999).

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H6 Family and community ownership

 

While greater parent and community involvement will create a sense of shared ownership, there were also calls for the devolution of real community ownership of children's education.

We want to have ownership of the program; people need to be proud of what they are and what we are. We don't want people coming into our school and changing everything. It happened a long time ago, assimilation, and now we're going backwards again (Rosalind Djuwandayngu, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

Jimmy has mentioned before that we're heading towards the right path, towards running things for ourselves, the Tiwi people. We're heading towards 2010 maybe sooner, to take over the main positions that the non Tiwis have on this island. We are heading towards this position and as you know education is a major key, it plays a major role towards that. So the education has to be one that our children are happy with and we want our children to succeed and to achieve outcomes in that process (Nguiu NT community meeting, 11 May 1999).

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H7 Delivering secondary schooling

 

Recommendations to overcome the lack of realistically accessible secondary schooling for many Indigenous students came principally from the Northern Territory.

... one of the things we would like to see is an innovative way that secondary education is actually provided because a lot of the constraints that governments talk about in terms of providing education in remote areas relate to a conventional model of delivery, and I think they really need to start looking at innovative ways of providing education to relatively small numbers in a diverse group (Lewis Hawke, ATSIC, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

... it's about getting schools or getting education systems to be responsive at that local level because it's a diversity of views and a diversity of communities and a diversity of circumstances that education systems are trying to deal with, and the one size fits all approach which seems to be the common denominator in many of these cases just doesn't work. It does fail. It doesn't assist communities to develop their economic and community and cultural potential that is very much there (Chris Sadleir, ATSIC, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

Using existing facilities with some minor modifications, finding staff - which can be difficult but not impossible - working out a curriculum negotiating with the community . secondary education is very cultural specific in my view; much more than primary education. There's a whole raft of stuff which is implicit in the way secondary education works and teachers look at their role. So I think we've got to hasten slowly with that (Bill Griffiths, Director of Catholic Education, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

Alternate forms of educating on the communities so that it isn't necessary for students to leave their homes. This is one of the models being worked on . mixed-mode multi-campus model, which is where you have various modes of getting the course material in front of the students. Some of it might be correspondence, some electronically-based through computer contacts and things like video conferencing (Peter Toyne, Shadow Minister for Education, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

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H8 Addressing ignorance and intolerance

 

The adverse impact of racism on Indigenous students and their education prospects has been noted above. Suggestions were made on combating ignorance and intolerance among teachers, administrators, students and parents.

Until it's embedded in the school curriculum and it becomes part of the ethos of the school, at a deeper level, and there's acknowledgment that institutional racism does occur, that teachers can be racist, that children can be racist and school activities can not so much promote racism but do very little to stop it happening - so if there's an anti-racist policy, it's something that then is embedded in the whole curriculum, it's written in black and white, so to speak, and therefore can be accessed by students and teachers alike. There's also an accountability factor then, that the school itself has to be accountable in those terms, in the same way at the moment that many schools hold themselves accountable in sexual harassment cases. The children know and can be educated about a policy (Margot Ford, NT University, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

In terms of potential racism, we cannot forget the front office staff, and we need some affirmative action there to either train existing office staff in terms of culturally appropriate programs, because if an Aboriginal parent's going to be switched off, quite often that happens before they get past the front desk; and quite clearly we need some affirmative action in terms of making sure that Aboriginal people get access to these fairly elite and, in a community, very influential positions, especially the smaller communities (Professor John Lester, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999).

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H9 Addressing specific needs

 

Measures to address specific needs for individual children were proposed including measures to compensate for hearing impairments, nutrition deficits and domestic violence.

Mostly it cycles so that at any one time the 40% that have got a hearing impairment will be a different list of names, year to year and even parts of years. So really you have to have strategies that prepare the teaching space to maximise the teacher's chances of dealing with hearing-impaired kids (Peter Toyne, Shadow Minister for Education, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

[T]he department of education needs to attend to making teachers competent in the understanding of the educational procedures and the hearing disabilities of children. We have, in some communities, 100% of children arriving at school having had otitis media, and would, by then, have lifelong hearing damage, and some will have never heard some of the sounds in the English language, which places them at a disadvantage in terms of being able to read and to spell. It accounts for, in many cases, absenteeism, behaviour problems, and there's a cluster. I think we need to give much more attention to that (Dr David McSwan, James Cook University, Brisbane hearing, 8 October 1999).

... to assist the children that our students teach or will teach we urgently recommend that even at the risk of sounding maternalistic that the nutritional and health needs of the children be met. An emergency measure, maybe the introduction of a breakfast program (Sister Clare, Notre Dame University, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

I had a meeting at the school recently and one of the big issues raised was a lack of communication between the school and the community. They suggested that they should have a full-time counsellor at the school so that the children could talk about their problems, especially about the violence in their lives (Halls Creek WA community meeting, 18 May 1999).

... parents around Halls Creek that was one of the things that they said they really wanted their kids to come out of school with was better conflict resolution skills because they had to learn that fighting wasn't necessarily the way of solving problems; that violence and fighting in the community was a really big issue and that wasn't really reflected in school and wasn't a skill that kids were coming out with (John Roe, Kimberley Work Training, Kununurra hearing, 17 May 1999).

At Yipirinya School, we've implemented a scaffold literacy approach, which we are hoping will address that issue. A higher rate of teachers to students is needed too in the learning situation, as intensive one-on-one work is needed for a lot of our students (Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

Peer mentoring (high-achieving students assisting others) and role modelling (AEAs and other Aboriginal people coming into the school) are very important (Moree NSW Aboriginal workers meeting, 5 March 1999).

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H10 Other recommendations

 

A range of other recommendations was made including needs for further research, greater consultation and accountability and enhanced flexibility.

Research

On the one hand, I think we need to have some research into the extent of discriminatory practices in Australian schools, and one way of doing this would be to take a random example of schools across the country and examine discipline records, such as expulsions and suspensions, and match these for gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status, to have a sense of what is going on (Margot Ford, NT University, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

We also think it's worth looking at what goes on in other countries, and the countries that we've named in particular are New Zealand and Canada, where they have certainly - in terms of their Indigenous populations - done some work and there may be some learnings from those. So there's been a fair amount of work done there. There has been stuff done on self-determination. They seem to have advanced to those agendas of reconciliation further than we have at this point, at least in terms of government action, and perhaps there are things we could learn from that (Lynne Rolley, Independent Education Union, Melbourne hearing, 12 November 1999).

Consultation and accountability

We're now in the ludicrous situation where the head of the AECG ... now meets with an assistant to an assistant to an assistant to a director, and they still call the meeting the director-general's meeting. I'm really worried that that level of negotiation isn't taking place. We've ceded, a few weeks ago, with a meeting with the minister, and also with the director-general of education, the same things we've spoken to you about, we are in crisis. Our situation isn't improving. We actually said to him, "We're not saying that the effort isn't being made, but the effort's not being made in the right direction". What we ask from them - and I'm still waiting to hear a reply - is that we need a major search conference, where Indigenous people can get together and critically look at where to next, because the current policies aren't working (Professor John Lester, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999).

We cannot express how important it is to have a monitoring and reporting process in place to achieve equitable outcomes for all Aboriginal people, not only at a state but also a national level so as the state models are succinct with the national priorities, and that a national independent report be conducted and published each year so that the national goals are achieved (Kim Collard, WA Aboriginal Education and Training Council, Perth hearing, 24 May 1999).

Flexibility

The school timetable should be flexible enough to cater for community needs and circumstances. In the summer it gets very hot, so the school would be better off commencing classes early and finishing at around 2.00pm. Another option might be to close the school during summer and have longer hours during winter. ALSO School term dates should also be flexible enough to cater for the wet season, when many children are not able to travel to school because of prolonged flooding (Normanton Qld public meeting, 5 October 1999).

Indigenous educators

Greater support, administrative as well as financial needs to be given to the professional development of Indigenous staff both on-site and through tertiary institutions to assist in redressing this unequal relationship (John Bucknell, Aboriginal Independent Schools Unit, Broome hearing, 20 May 1999).

The last point is support through scholarships, HECS payments to get qualified Aboriginal people employed in the education system, both mainstream and independent (Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

Staffing

Teachers who work in Indigenous communities should be carefully screened for their knowledge and understanding of Indigenous cultural issues (Doomadgee Qld community meeting, 6 October 1999).

Special measures

Education for the, particularly, underprivileged, we would say, multiply underprivileged, means priority for those students, and so they should be getting additional pieces of the cake... It is no longer good enough to say that we will look at the way that we rearrange the crumbs on the table and think that those that fall off will be good enough for our most remote and most underprivileged students (Robert Laird, Australian Education Union, Darwin hearing, 10 May 1999).

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H11 Recommendations of 'Learning lessons'

 

'Learning lessons'

Is the report of the review of Indigenous education in the Northern Territory conducted in 1999 by former Senator Bob Collins. The NT Minister for Education has summarised the key themes underlying the report's recommendations.

'Learning Lessons' reports a growing awareness by Indigenous people, teachers and the wider community that solutions must address a range of factors - that education cannot be treated in isolation from other service delivery areas such as health, housing and policing. I cannot stress enough that poor attendance, poor health and a lack of strong community support directly impacts on educational outcomes.

The Review's recommendations centre on some important themes:

 

  • Developing strong, high level partnerships with Indigenous leaders, communities and other important stakeholders;
  • Increasing school attendance and developing effective tracking systems with the full involvement of Indigenous parents;
  • Improving school facilities, teacher housing and telecommunications infrastructure in remote communities;
  • Expanding and improving the curriculum, particularly in relation to ESL and "two-way learning" programs;
  • Developing further options for secondary schooling and vocational education and training;
  • Improving strategies for recruitment, retention and Indigenous employment; and
  • Recording, monitoring and reporting meaningful data on educational outcomes.

The Review also reaffirms that lasting improvements in Indigenous education outcomes will continue to require whole of government commitment within the Northern Territory, including an enhanced working relationship with the Commonwealth Government.

"Whole of Government" is not a catch phrase Mr Speaker. It underpins an increased effort on our part to see better linkages and cooperative working arrangements between departments and agencies (NT Education Minister, Statement to Parliament, 24 November 1999).

Endnote

48 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, July 1996 Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Indigenous Education, ATSIC, Pg 12.

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Last updated 2 December 2001.