Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper
Rural and Remote
Education Inquiry Briefing Paper
Indigenous education
The Commonwealth
Government, together with all State and Territory Governments, recognises
that Australia's Indigenous people are "the most educationally disadvantaged
group in the community". Indigenous people participate in and attain significantly
less from education than the rest of the Australian population and this
impacts adversely on their economic and social well-being (DETYA submission,
page 12).
There is a strong
connection between education, language and culture. Thus education is
about a sense of Indigenous identity. Unless identity gains prominence
alongside other educational issues, we are swamped, and our language
and culture will die out. A sense of Indigenous identity must be integrated
in the education system.
Education underpins
our economic participation and contributes to our equality in mainstream
society. It is bound up with how mainstream society understands and
recognises us. It is bound up with being prepared to take our position
in society on the basis of equity. It prepares us for jobs and therefore
for economic development opportunities to lift us out of the poverty
cycle and dependence on government assistance.1
Once the children
know who they are, once they are accepted as equals, we will see Aboriginal
doctors and lawyers working with the white community but also keeping
their own culture intact (Doomadgee Qld community meeting, 6 October
1999).
Objective and outline
This paper discusses
the issues raised in the inquiry's third term of reference which provides
in part that the inquiry will investigate "whether the education available
to Indigenous children complies with their human rights". The paper covers
the following topics
- History
of Indigenous education
- Definitions
- Indigenous
students - a profile
- Commonwealth,
State and Territory Indigenous education policies and programs
- Barriers
to participation and success
- Success
stories
- Indigenous
children's education rights
- Recommendations
to the Inquiry
1 Francis
Tapim, President, National Secretariat of Torres Strait Islander Organisations,
Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board News, April 1999, Education Strengthens
Sense of Indigenous Identity. A statement endorsed by ATSIC in its
submission to the inquiry.
Last
updated 2 December 2001.