Rural and Remote Education - NT
Rural
and Remote Education - NT
Yirrkala Homelands, 12 May
1999 - notes
The Inquiry visited
four of the homeland centres surrounding Yirrkala: GanGan, Dhuruputjpi,
Barraratjpi and Banigala
GanGan
The homeland communities
all have a traditional societal structure. One family takes the role of
leadership in the community. Leadership is different from organisation,
however, and the organisation of the community and community tasks is
carried out by another individual in the community.
There is one school
at GanGan. Twenty-six students attend the school and two teachers provide
the tuition. The children attending the school have a range of skills
and expertise and this requires that the teachers provide education at
a range of different levels.
Children with special
needs
A number of children
at the homeland communities have hearing problems. Mats have been put
on the floors of the classrooms to reduce ambient noise. Children with
more severe disabilities are not accessing education at GanGan. A child
with a disability may be kept at home and therefore not come to the attention
of the school.
Dhuruputjpi
There is no school
at this community. There are 5 children between the ages of 8 and 12;
4 children who fit into the post primary category, 16 to 17 and there
are 4 children under the age of 6. The older children are currently at
Banigala for their schooling. There are other older children at this community
who do not want schooling.
Banigala
Children come from
other homeland communities to attend school at Banigala. There is good
community support and good support from parents. 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.
There are regular
visiting teachers who stay 2 to 3 nights. The community welcomes the visiting
teachers and would like them to remain in the community for longer periods
of time.
The community hopes
for a "strong future" though the Land Council Chairman at Banigala spoke
of the difficulty of living in "two worlds"
The Banigala School
has two separate classes.
- Preschool and
grades 1 and 2
- Grades 3, 4, 5,
6
The school requires
education beyond Year 6, as the secondary age students are not receiving
enough tuition. The educational levels are set in the Homeland Area Centres
using 'Outcomes Profiling' and they do not equate to the year levels elsewhere.
The Department of Education regards the school as a primary school regardless
of the fact that there are a number of secondary age children attending
the school. There are also 19 and 20-year-old students attending the school
in order to improve their literacy in Yolngu and in English. This is known
as 'Catch-Up' education. The difficulty for these students is that there
is no other educational facility for them to attend.
Staffing levels
Staffing numbers
are based on student numbers regardless of the differing age groups and
abilities of the students. Children from the age of 4 to 17 are considered
school age for the purposes of funding. The Homeland Schools cater for
a number of students who are older than 17 and have decided to return
to school to 'catch up'.
The staffing formula
for the Homelands schools is 1 staff member per 17 students. The formula
for visiting teachers is 1 staff member per 22 students. The Homeland
schools want the NT Government to reconsider its staffing formula, and
to reduce the number of students per staff member.
In order to establish
a school there must be 12 school age children. After establishment, if
the numbers drop below 8 the school will be closed. The formula for 12
children per school is based upon attendance over a 6-month period, not
enrolment.
Boarding schools
Homeland children
have tried to attend boarding schools but this has been unsuccessful.
The travelling distances have been too great and the children have found
the separation from their communities too difficult.
Homelands school
proposal
In 199_ the homeland
communities put a proposal to the Northern Territory Government for a
school to be located in the centre of the Homelands. This would mean that
children could board at the school during the week and return home for
weekends. The distances would not be too great and the children would
still feel part of their community. The Homelands residents likened it
to the Batchelor Abstudy funded trips/travel model. No distinction would
be made between Secondary, Tertiary and Vocational Education & Training
students.
The school proposal
was rejected in 1996. The communities would now like to revisit this proposal
with the NT Government.
The schools
The schools at the
Homelands are located at GanGan and Banigala. Both schools provide primary
education.
Teaching is in both
Yolngu and English. Yolngu is used for instruction though English is also
an important focus. The Homelands schools have never been registered as
bilingual schools.
Last
updated 2 December 2001.