Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

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Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson The management of Indigenous education in the Department is a key issue for the future. Following this review there is a need for a strong unit to lead the area and monitor progress with implementation. The unit should be responsible for development and implementation of a strategic plan in the area, development of policy and guidelines for schools, supporting the conduct of a number of reviews and trials as outlined in this report, leading community engagement initiatives, monitoring and reporting on progress and identifying areas for further improvement across the Department. Because this is a key area for strategy in the Department and for Government, a dedicated senior official should lead the unit. This leadership role will take responsibility for developing the plan and ensuring that its intentions are effectively delivered. It will be essential that the official has status and authority within the department equivalent to leaders of other major units because the responsibilities fall across policy and operational units, regions and schools. For these reasons the position should be in the Executive Contract Officer scale. The structure of the unit should be determined by an analysis of the demands of the roles outlined in this review and consequential on workload implied by the implementation of the review. It is clear, however, that the number of staff presently employed will not be sufficient to manage the range of tasks required. Implementation The review has noted the relative weakness within the Department in implementation of major initiatives. One of the reasons for relatively rapid shifts in policy direction is a perception that initiatives launched with ambitious goals are soon seen to have failed. This is true at the level of the whole Department. The mandatory adoption of Accelerated Literacy, then its termination as a Department priority, offers a clear example. More recently, the implementation of the College model is instructive. The Department of Education and Training announced in 2010 its intention to establish a College model to support educational reform and improvement. An evaluation report published in 2013 drew attention to limited successes and a long list of problems and issues. The College experiment now seems to have been abandoned. The key lesson from this experience is the need to take the time for careful, detailed planning and consultation on major reforms so that their potential can be captured and problems can be identified and managed ahead of implementation. This cuts across the desire for early announcements and quick results. DRAFT It is also true at the school level. Many schools are engaged on a quest for the magic bullet. Storerooms are full of discarded literacy and numeracy programs and curriculum resources. Every program ever developed is still being tried somewhere in the Territory. Some schools visited have initiatives that started this year, as though there is always the hope that someday they will crack the riddle. Some have programs that have been in place for years, for which no‐one can remember the evidence. There is a developing research literature on what makes implementation effective. This literature is widely pertinent to human services systems such as education, but is little used. Fixsen et al, in a review of the literature, argue that: In a transformed human service system, services are program‐centered or practicecentered rather than practitioner‐centered. That is, well‐specified practices and 41
Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson programs…are chosen to solve particular problems and are implemented with fidelity in organizations and systems designed to facilitate the implementation of those practices and programs (Fixsen et al, 2005: 72). Among the approaches associated with good implementation, then, the close specification of common practice ranks highly. This is the inverse of the common model of ‘eclectic’ approaches to practice characteristic of organisations that depend on qualified, or ‘credentialed’ professionals. Overcoming this requires not only close specification of practice, but appraisal programs based on adherence to specified practice. The authors note that among other implementation factors, information dissemination and training are ineffective on their own. What is required is a: longer‐term multilevel approach….The strongest evidence concerns skill‐based training and practitioner performance or fidelity measures. Good evidence also supports the need for coaching and practitioner selection (Ibid.: 70). The research indicates that funding is required for: startup costs…intensive implementation services…the service itself on an on‐going basis with an eye to creating a good fit between the service provision requirements and funding regulations, and…the ongoing operation of the infrastructure required for continued fidelity and sustainability (e.g., continual training, supervision and coaching, fidelity measures, outcome data collection) (Ibid.: 73‐4). Implementation can be improved through: a clear strategy that limits the range and number of initiatives; explicit statements of responsibilities at each level of the system; clarity about which programs and approaches are mandatory; phasing of implementation (through trials and introduction of initiatives over time) to ensure that implementation load is managed; providing substantial support for priority programs including training, coaching and continuing funding (and not supporting other programs); providing clear program specification in priority areas and identified areas of weakness; aligning appraisal to delivery of required programs; and treating bush schools and town schools differently, consistent with the ‘two systems’ approach. DRAFT Support for schools The forms of support for schools, and especially bush schools, are in flux at present. The recent decisions to cease both the College model and the Group School management approach raise issues about how support will be provided to schools. Both models were able to provide structural support for leadership teams in small schools through the senior managers of the Colleges and Group Schools. 42
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