Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

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Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson Chapter Two: What we can control The report begins with a caveat. Before discussing opportunities for improvement, it is important to recognise the limits of the reach of education in achieving improvement in outcomes for Indigenous young people. The review addresses those elements that schools and the schooling system can influence, and for which they should be held accountable. It also, however, notes the circumstances in which that work takes place and their effect on the capacity of schools to achieve their goals for young people. We do not offer these factors as excuses. Regardless of circumstances, we have a responsibility to offer every child an education worth having, and this review aims to point the way towards that outcome. The Australian Medical Association has commissioned research on the impact of adversity and disadvantage in early life on the development and health of young Indigenous people. The most recent report, issued as part of its Report Card series (AMA, 2013), was viewed in draft. The report notes that: Gestation, early childhood and adolescence are the life stages where environmental conditions have the greatest influence on trajectories of development, learning, behaviour and health over the life‐course (ibid.: 2). Among the health factors identified by research as disproportionately affecting Indigenous children are the following: about 50% of Indigenous children are raised in ‘community and family environments which are replete with early childhood adversity’ (ibid.: 3); high levels of family stress, sub‐optimal nutrition and recurrent infection; higher rates of drug and alcohol use by Indigenous Australians; Indigenous women have a higher birth rate, have children at a younger age, are twice as likely to die in childbirth and markedly more likely to experience pregnancy complications and stress during pregnancy; about half of Indigenous women smoke during pregnancy; twice as many Indigenous babies (12%) are of low birth weight; Indigenous children are twice as likely as non‐Indigenous children to die before the age of 5 and 1.4 times as likely to be hospitalised; Indigenous children have higher rates of stunting, both underweight and obesity in urban areas, and nutritional anemia (AMA, 2013); and Indigenous children are dramatically more likely to suffer from hearing loss. DRAFT In addition, the census data show other forms of disadvantage affecting Indigenous children: the median personal weekly income of Indigenous Territorians 15 years and over is $269, compared with $925 for non‐Indigenous residents (ABS, 2011); and the employment to population ratio 3 in the Northern Territory was 33 per cent for Indigenous and 77% for non‐Indigenous people in 2011. In very remote locations it is below 30%. McKenzie compared very remote schools in the Northern Territory with those in Queensland and Western Australia that the MySchool website lists as ‘similar’. The research found that Northern Territory had many more non‐English speaking households and a much less educated adult population. These factors are among the best predictors of school attendance and reading and writing scores (McKenzie, J, discussed in Silburn et al, 2011: 100‐101). 3 The ratio refers to the number of employed people expressed as a percentage of those aged 15 years and over 23
Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson Clear evidence of the extent of the resulting disadvantage is provided in the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI), a population measure of how children are developing in communities across Australia 4 . In summary terms: 59.2% of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory (compared with 22% of children nationally) are developmentally vulnerable on one of the five domains. This means they are likely to experience some difficulty in making the transition into formal schooling; and 38.2% of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory (compared with 10.8% of children nationally) are developmentally vulnerable on two of the five domains. This means they are likely to need special support to keep up with their classmates. All of these factors have a material effect on some proportion of the Indigenous school population. Factors of disadvantage such as these affect Indigenous children from before birth and throughout their lives. Schools and school systems cannot control these issues and should not be blamed when matters beyond their control limit their achievements. But such factors do not represent inevitable fate. Approaches to Indigenous education from the earliest years should take account of those influences and seek to ameliorate, counter and overcome them to the extent possible. Ambitions for Indigenous children, however, should not be lowered because of the difficulties they face. These are factors of disadvantage, not expressions of inevitable fate. They affect the work of schools and should help shape educational responses, but they do not control what can be achieved and should not limit educational goals. Some Indigenous students already perform at the highest level. The education system should aim to raise levels of achievement in the Indigenous population so that they match achievement in the population as a whole. DRAFT 4 More detailed analysis of the AEDI is provided in Chapter 6: Early Childhood. 24
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