Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

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Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson The situation now The evidence available to this review suggests that the Learning Lessons goal to improve partnership and greater local ownership in education has gained little traction, particularly at the system level. The review has heard stories of success with local level partnerships, but feedback from the Northern Territory Indigenous Education Council (NTIEC) and others suggests that there is limited impact on education policy and planning. Neither the Council nor the Department seems impressed with the outcomes to date on engagement and partnership actions. The Menzies evaluation of the College model drew attention to the long‐established view that Indigenous people need a strong voice in the governance of schools. The evaluation argues that: Whatever the approach, Indigenous people need to have a greater voice in the overall decisionmaking process….It is not appropriate for non‐Indigenous people to continue to be seen to make all the decisions about what is best for the education of Aboriginal children and young people in the Northern Territory, particularly in its Aboriginal Communities (Menzies, 2013: vi). The long term goal should be a stronger voice for Indigenous people at all levels of education in the Northern Territory. One critical requirement for the transition is a cohort of highly educated, articulate, Indigenous leaders in schools and the system. The schools are where these future leaders will be developed and grown, and the education system has a responsibility to identify and support them. That, however, is a long‐term strategy. There is also a need to address the current situation. The review has identified three approaches to community engagement with a history in the Northern Territory: School Councils, formal agreements between the Department (or the school) and the community, and efforts to engage communities through integrated services arrangements. School Councils The Education Act and the Education (College and School Councils) Regulations provide for School Councils in the Northern Territory to have a wide range of functions and powers, including: DRAFT advise the principal on the implementation of Territory educational policies; advise the CEO in relation to the educational needs of their school; advise the principal/CEO on initiatives in community education; advise the CEO in relation to the job description for the position of principal; advise the principal in relation to the job descriptions for teaching and ancillary staff; advise the CEO in relation to the building and facilities needs of the school; determine the purposes for which Government moneys allocated to the school are spent and to spend those moneys; and exercise general control of the buildings, and determine the after school hours use of school building for community purposes (NTG, 2013). In the 2011 – 2014 Strategic Plan, the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training outlined a strategy for developing school governance models: In partnership with the Northern Territory Council of Government School Organisations (NTCOGSO), DET will develop appropriate, contemporary and sustainable options for governance in Northern Territory Government schools and build capacity of regions and communities to further engage in school governance (DET, 2011). 99
Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson The Department has acknowledged that there has been a lack of training in governance for School Council members and in 2012 introduced annual School Council governance training, aimed at building the capacity of School Council members to fulfil their roles and responsibilities under the Education Act. In conjunction with this the Department has funded COGSO to develop and deliver school governance training to all government schools in the Northern Territory. The aim of the training is to work with School Council members and their communities to increase their awareness and understanding of governance processes. Thus all government School Councils have the opportunity to attend the annual Department of Education training and then receive follow‐up COGSO training, which can be tailored to meet the needs of their communities. Feedback to the review indicates that there is some variance in the extent to which governance training is being achieved. Programs offered by NTCOGSO do not seem to have reached most Indigenous communities; evidence suggests that they have not been delivered in very remote communities in the past two years (apart from an activity involving the four schools of Groote Eylandt). While NTCOGSO has made some adaptations to programs to meet the needs of Indigenous participants, there would be value in developing a training program specifically tailored to work with remote Indigenous communities. Information from within the department (internal departmental brief) indicates that remote schools have generally not taken up the degree of autonomy that is available to School Councils. Evidence suggests that remote schools have variable approaches to involving their Councils in part because of the lack of expert support to help them develop and work with their School Councils. Whilst many of their principals spoke of the importance of working with councils, many also echoed views expressed by one principal: I am struggling to get a School Council meeting happening at the moment. We are having issues with getting people to attend….People say they will come but things often happen during the day which means that people don’t turn up….We have tried varying the time when the meetings are held but this has had little impact on people attending so we haven’t had a meeting in some time (Principal respondent to the review). DRAFT There is some distance to go before the goal of the strategic plan is achieved. The review proposes that there are two areas in which new approaches are needed. The first is additional support for principals and teachers in working with communities to set up and operate School Councils, including transition arrangements on the pathway towards School Councils in those communities where councils do not exist or are not effective. For many communities, it is clear that going straight to a modern School Council, with its alien governance arrangements and meeting rules might be too large a step. In these cases, principals should be supported to establish a precursor body with limited responsibilities as a step towards full governance arrangements. It is likely that there are existing decision making processes in such a community, even informal ones, on which a school model could be built initially. Principals will need assistance in how to identify and work with these existing arrangements and to achieve a transition to a full School Council, probably over several years. It is likely that legislation will need to be amended to establish a legal basis for this approach. Secondly, there is a clear need for governance training and support designed for remote communities. The current arrangements for School Council training are based on the needs of non‐Indigenous Englishspeaking communities. The Department should establish a project to design a governance training model that reflects the needs of remote communities, and that takes account of the proposal above that remote School Councils might begin with a much more informal arrangement built on existing community processes and structures. 100
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