Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT
Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT
Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT
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<strong>Review</strong> of <strong>Indigenous</strong> <strong>Education</strong> in the Northern Territory<br />
Bruce Wilson<br />
Nevertheless, the analysis and recommendations represent a considered, evidence‐based position. It<br />
will benefit most from a broadly based and thorough consultation process.<br />
Approach to recommendations<br />
The recommendations from each section of the report are provided in the Executive Summary and<br />
in the relevant chapters of the report. This review aims to illustrate the kind of strategic approach it<br />
proposes for the DoE. Where ambitious efforts have clearly failed it is proposed that they stop.<br />
Where resources are limited, it does not propose unrealistic demands. Where solving a problem is<br />
beyond the capacity of the Department, it says so. The approach is evident in three characteristics of<br />
the discussion and recommendations in the Draft Report:<br />
1. They are pragmatic. The review makes recommendations based on what is repeatable<br />
across multiple sites and hundreds of classrooms, on what an actual workforce can realistically<br />
deliver in the Northern Territory.<br />
2. The recommendations do not address everything to do with <strong>Indigenous</strong> education. They<br />
cover a relatively small number of major issues and seek to point the way forward for each. The<br />
focus is on those areas where action is most needed, most likely to achieve significant improvement<br />
and likely to require a manageable level of resourcing.<br />
3. The recommendations involve difficult judgments about where to put effort, energy and<br />
resources and, correspondingly, where to pull back. This reflects the view of strategy taken in this<br />
report: it is as much about what you choose not to do as what you choose to do.<br />
So the review argues for a vigorously pragmatic approach, priority attention to a limited range of<br />
areas, and focusing resources where they are likely to achieve the greatest benefit.<br />
It is also important to acknowledge from the outset that this review has made a pragmatic decision<br />
to focus on the skills and knowledge that underpin success in the western education system. Some<br />
people will find this a challenging position. The review has taken as a non‐negotiable that there must<br />
be an explicit focus on improving unacceptably low outcomes for <strong>Indigenous</strong> children and that this<br />
will not be achieved unless there is rigorous and relentless attention to learning English and gaining<br />
the skills that support participation in a modern democracy and economy.<br />
<strong>DRAFT</strong><br />
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