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.