Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory
Bruce Wilson
Chapter Four: Two systems
One of the striking outcomes of the review’s analysis is the understanding that Government
schooling in the Northern Territory consists in effect of two education systems. One of these
systems is concentrated in the towns (Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs, Katherine,
Nhulunbuy and Tennant Creek). The other is concentrated in other remote and very remote
communities. A list of schools notionally distributed across the two categories is at Appendix
6. The argument for two systems is based on dramatically different patterns of enrolment,
attendance and achievement across the two groups of schools, matched by patterns of
socio‐economic disadvantage. In this chapter and throughout the report, the largely urban
system is described as ‘town’ and the largely remote and very remote system is described as
‘bush’. The term ‘bush schools’ may not be considered appropriate, but no alternative term
has yet been identified.
Terminology used in the report
Although the categories ‘town’ and ‘bush’ cut across geolocations, much of the discussion in
this chapter is based on geolocations. This is because key data are collected by geolocation,
and there is considerable overlap between the very remote geolocation and bush schools.
The review report uses several different forms of terminology to refer to schools and those
who work and learn in them:
Schools
where the report concerns data collected by geolocation, it uses the language of
geolocation: ‘provincial’, ‘remote’ and ‘very remote’;
where the discussion concerns analysis or recommendations for the two ‘systems’,
the terms ‘bush’ and ‘town’ are used to define them. The basis for allocation of
schools to these categories is outlined in this chapter; and
where the report makes general points about schools in relatively isolated locations
(ie all remote and very remote schools), it sometimes uses the term ‘remote’ as a
generic descriptor. Where ‘remote’ is used alone, it is always used in this broad,
generic sense (and not to refer specifically to the remote geolocation).
DRAFT
Northern Territory schools are classified by geolocation. Leaving aside distance education
providers there are 151 schools, of which 43 are provincial (all in Darwin and Palmerston),
28 remote and 80 very remote. This review uses the characteristics discussed in this chapter
to allocate these schools to the two categories, town schools and bush schools. Schools
demonstrating the characteristics associated with greater remoteness (lower enrolment,
attendance and achievement and higher socio‐economic disadvantage) are classed as bush
schools.
The report identifies 86 bush schools, consisting of 76 of the 80 very remote schools (the
four schools in Nhulunbuy and Tennant Creek are categorised as town schools) along with
10 remote schools. It also identifies 65 town schools. As explained in Appendix 6, there are
some schools that sit on the cusp between these two classifications. The three distance
education providers are unclassified.
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