Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

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Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson including Self‐Managed Schools, Community Controlled Schools, Education Boards, Remote Learning Partnership Agreements (RLPAs) and more recently the Community and School Partnership Agreements. The Government now has, in addition, a policy for Community Driven Schools. Commentary provided suggests that there has been a genuine intent by all parties to achieve better outcomes for Indigenous students. Despite this, where outcomes were achieved they have not been sustained. As one contributor to the review indicated: although… the establishment of RLPAs resulted in more relevant delivery of education services in these communities, the changes were not long lasting and were swallowed up in the next phase of reforms…., leaving those communities feeling disenfranchised, and…result[ing] in disengagement (Review contributor). 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. What is apparent from the feedback received is that at the system and school and community levels, the goal of community engagement remains elusive. Early Years Collins (1999) acknowledged the critical importance of the early acquisition of literacy: ‘….children who fall behind are unlikely to catch up and in fact are more likely to find the gap widening in secondary school’ (ibid: 96). Schooling culture, particularly in remote locations, would need to be developed and supported. Collins found that many schools were lacking the techniques and resources to assist them in working with very young children in the attainment of reading and writing skills. Further, the engagement of families in early literacy acquisition was considered essential, and at the time of Learning Lessons a number of trial programs were running in very remote communities, involving parent participation in the schooling experience (ibid: 97). DRAFT The policy at the time of Learning Lessons made the provision of early childhood and pre‐school experiences difficult for remote schools. Obstacles included inability to staff according to the formulae, lack of early childhood education skills or experience among the teachers and a lack of appropriate infrastructure in many of the schools. Learning Lessons called for guaranteed access to play centres and preschools for all children in the three to five year age group, with multipurpose centres to include child health and child care services: By providing the necessary space, props and developmentally appropriate activities, literacy and numeracy understandings will be developed that will assist the transition into the artificial and disciplined world of the classroom and its modes of instruction, making the transition to school more continuous and ultimately more successful (Collins 1999:99). By 2005 the Australian and Northern Territory Governments were funding initiatives to increase access to early years programs throughout the Northern Territory. The Learning Lessons Implementation Status Report described the mobile preschools initiative and a rollout of childcare facilities and community initiatives to provide health promotion, care and early learning. Information provided for this Review indicates that effort in the early years has been an ongoing priority for Governments. Through Universal Access to early years learning the Northern Territory can now demonstrate that 90% 133
Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson of the preschool cohort has access to services in the year prior to full‐time schooling. The Indigenous enrolment for this cohort is 79.3%. The Australian and Northern Territory Governments have been working to integrate child and family services, particularly in remote communities ‘where the population is among Australia’s most culturally diverse and geographically isolated, with the greatest health, wellbeing, education and infrastructure needs of any Australians’ (NTG Integrated Family Services Initiative handbook, YEAR: 8‐9). Integrating services continues to be a priority to ensure young children and families are engaged in early learning and care programs. Key initiatives include Families as First Teachers, mobile pre‐schools and integrated service delivery through the child and family centre initiative. The Northern Territory Government will need to work closely with the Australian Government to streamline and guarantee targeted and ongoing funding if the success of these early years programs is to be sustained. Access and Provision – Primary school The Learning Lessons report has a substantial focus on language and literacy acquisition. The review reported a view among many Indigenous respondents that children then at school had weaker literacy skills than earlier generations. The review team concluded that: the Standard Australian English oracy and literacy of the majority of Indigenous students in remote and to a lesser extent urban schools are simply not at a level that enables full participation in further education, training or employment (Collins, 1999: 118). The deficit was quantified through data on the percentage of students achieving year level benchmarks in 1998, with remote and ESL Indigenous students performing very poorly: DRAFT 134
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