Rural and Remote Education - Qld
Rural
and Remote Education - Qld
School meeting in Doomadgee,
6 October 1999 - notes
The meeting was attended
by the school principal, teachers and trainee teachers. From HREOC: Chris
Sidoti, Human Rights Commissioner; Lady Pearl Logan, Queensland Co-Commissioner;
and two Commission staff.
School attendance
"School attendance
is a big issue in Doomadgee. About 40-50% of students are regular non-attenders."
"There are a variety
of reasons for non-attendance. Some children get teased at school. Some
are embarrassed because of their bad clothes. Some are from dysfunctional
families with lots of alcohol and gambling and as a result are often awake
until after midnight. Some don't come to school because they don't have
enough money for the tuckshop."
"Some kids come to
school hungry and affected by scabies and poor hygiene. Many come from
families with lots of conflict. All of these things have an adverse effect
on attendance."
"Some children have
substandard clothing. This can make them feel too ashamed to come to school."
"Alcohol has a big
affect on attendance. Some parents are too drunk or hung over to get their
kids off to school in the morning."
"The school operates
a bus system as part of its strategy to reduce non-attendance. However,
this doesn't really address the chronic non-attenders. It has its greatest
impact on those who are on the borderline in their decision about whether
to attend school."
Substance abuse
Much concern was
expressed about the abuse of alcohol in the community and its impact on
children's education opportunities. "Alcohol has devastated a lot of lives
in this community. Drunkenness in the home is one of the reasons why some
parents are not encouraging their children to attend school."
"Alcohol is not the
only form of substance abuse. A lot of glue sniffing, petrol sniffing
and aerosol sniffing goes on in Doomadgee."
Suicide and mental
health
"Suicide is a serious
problem among young people in Doomadgee. There have been cases of suicide
by kids as young as ten. There have also been many cases of attempted
suicide."
"Some of the children
are emulating the older ones in their suicidal behaviour."
"We have a counsellor
here for a week and a half each term plus at request if it is very urgent.
But we really need a permanent counsellor. We need access to both Indigenous
and non-Indigenous counsellors."
"There needs to be
better co-ordination of mental health and other health services across
the community. The people at the health clinic should also be servicing
the school and working in other community settings. This is currently
not happening."
Hearing problems
"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."
School-parent-community
relations
"Teachers need to
do a lot more talking with parents. They need to go into their homes and
get to know them better. They need to work harder at 'selling' education
to the parents."
"The school should
run workshops for parents and families. We need to build up their confidence
in the school and the education system."
"We need to focus
on the parents because many of them had bad experiences at school and
as a result of that don't encourage their children to attend."
"Quite a few young
people have babies and they hand them over to the parents and grandparents
to look after. It is predominantly the older people in the community who
are the caregivers of young children. You often find an older person looking
after 8 or 10 kids. The older people do their best but sometimes they
aren't fit enough to look after the kids properly. When the older people
die, it is very distressing for the younger ones in their care and can
be very destabilising for their lives."
Curriculum
"We need to look
at changing the mainstream curriculum because it doesn't 'cut it' with
the Indigenous kids here."
Sharing of resources
"We try to work with
schools in other communities such as Normanton and Burketown in professional
development and sharing of resources."
Technology
"The school has internet
connection through the Connect Ed program. The cost is cheap - only $60
per month. However, access is not reliable. You can never come into school
in the morning assuming that it will be working."
"Whenever the system
goes down it takes a long time to fix it. Recently the system went down
when lightning struck. We didn't have access for 4 weeks because that's
how long it took someone to come out and fix it."
Sport and community
facilities
"There are some sports
but it is very male-oriented. Mostly football. There are very few sporting
activities for girls."
"The school arranges
excursions and sporting camps for the kids. They have taken the kids on
trips to Mt Isa, Cairns, Kununurra (WA), NT and other places."
"Some money has been
spent on community facilities for Doomadgee but it has not been spent
well. The Community Recreation Centre cost over $1 million but it has
a stage and sloping floor. This means it can only be used as a theatre
and not for sport, recreation or community meetings."
Boredom
"Boredom is a big
factor for both kids and adults. There are very few activities in the
town for them. They have nothing to do so they play up and get into trouble."
"There's nothing
for young people to do here. There's no motivation to do anything because
we have no proper facilities and hardly any organised activities."
"This is a welfare
town. People here get a lot of welfare, especially if they have lots of
kids. Yet they have nothing to spend it on except VB."
Employment opportunities
"There are hardly
any employment opportunities for young people in Doomadgee. There are
no real jobs in the town. There is a crying need for mechanics, bakers
and other occupations in this community. We need people who can build
bridges so that we are not stranded during the wet season."
"Funding should be
provided to establish real and sustainable jobs for young people."
"The CDEP scheme
employs about 350 people in this area. A lot of them work on the 4 outstations
and only a small number in the town."
"There needs to be
better training and career pathways in the community. Many of the young
people want to stay in the community but they can't because there are
no job opportunities here."
"Money is not the
answer to the problems in this town. We do need more funding but it is
more a question of how the money is spent and how it is managed."
Teacher conditions
"It's hard for teachers
and other people from outside the community to come and work in a place
like Doomadgee. You need to work hard to gain the trust of the local people.
This doesn't apply only to white people. It's also hard for Indigenous
people because there are cultural, tribal and religious differences among
Indigenous people."
"We have 10 Indigenous
staff here. Some local people are employed as teachers' aides through
the RATEP Scheme (Remote Area Teacher Education Program). We need to encourage
more local people into the RATEP scheme. It can be hard for them because
they come from the community and may have an involvement with community
problems through their extended family. Or they may have a connection
with one of the kids in their class."
"Staff turnover is
very high. This year alone there have been 5 changes."
"Housing conditions
for teachers in Doomadgee are very bad. The principal is the only one
provided with his own house. Other teachers have to share. This can be
very difficult, especially if they don't get along with each other. Teachers
have very little privacy and personal space."
"The teachers' houses
are very badly maintained. A lot of them need painting."
"Some houses have
structural problems and are not safe to live in. Any renovations to the
houses are usually only cosmetic changes that will keep it going for a
few more years."
"We have to learn
how to do nearly all of our own home repairs and maintenance because there
is no-one else to do it for us."
"We have termites
in our house. The house is always getting sprayed but we have great concerns
about the adverse effect of all the chemicals being used."
"The temperature
gets up to 40-45 degrees but we don't have proper insulation in the ceilings.
This makes living at home almost unbearable at times."
"Mostly single people
are sent to Doomadgee. If they sent couples there would be a housing shortage.
This means that the community tends to get younger and less experienced
teachers."
"Teacher housing
in Doomadgee is very full. Frequent staff changes mean that existing staff
are often forced to move to accommodate new staff in terms of gender and
couples etc. This causes great inconvenience to staff. I recently had
to move 3 times in 2 months."
"Some teachers have
had to leave the community because they can't cope with the housing situation."
Other teacher concerns
"The cost of flights
out of Doomadgee is astronomical. It costs over $1,000 for a return flight
to Brisbane and $800 to Cairns."
"There are not many
flights out of Doomadgee. They only go out on Monday and Friday. This
means that you often have to waste precious holiday time waiting around
for the next flight out."
"Even if you have
a four wheel drive you can only drive out of Doomadgee at certain times
of the year because of floods."
"Sometimes you feel
trapped and you just want to get out of the community for a while but
you can't."
"The cost and difficulty
of travel makes it very hard for teachers to arrange things like going
to weddings and funerals or visiting a specialist."
"Access to counsellors
is also an issue for teachers who work under very stressful circumstances.
Sometimes you have a problem and you need to speak to an independent person
rather than one of your colleagues or a community member."
Positive experiences
"Doomadgee is not
all doom and gloom."
"Some of the young
people are making good progress at school, despite all of the problems
and obstacles they face."
Last
updated 2 December 2001.