Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

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Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson 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 (LLISC, 2005). Measures of early childhood disadvantage There is compelling evidence that the level of disadvantage in the early childhood Indigenous population in the Northern Territory remains high. The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) is a population measure of how children are developing in communities across Australia, collecting data on most five‐year‐old children in Australia. The data make clear that Indigenous children in the Northern Territory are disproportionately at risk on parameters directly related to their learning. The Index measures how children have developed across five domains: Physical health and wellbeing, Social competence, Emotional maturity, Language and cognitive skills, and Communication skills and general knowledge. The AEDI identifies those children who are developmentally vulnerable in each domain, meaning that their score is in the lowest 10% of scores nationally. It aggregates these results to identify the proportion of children who are developmentally vulnerable on at least one domain, and in two or more domains. The Index enables a comparison of the development of Northern Territory children with those of the Australian population as a whole and a comparison of results over time within the Territory. Recently it has provided 2012 data comparable with equivalent data collected in 2009, although some reservations were expressed about the quality of 2009 data suggesting that trend comparisons might not be reliable. The data indicate that a notably higher proportion of children in the Northern Territory are at risk than the national population. 10 In 2012, just over 59% of Northern Territory Indigenous children were developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains (22% across Australia, 43.2% nationally for Indigenous children). This means that these children are likely to experience some difficulty in making the transition into formal schooling. DRAFT Just over 38% of Northern Territory Indigenous children were developmentally vulnerable on two or more domains (11.8% across Australia. 9.6% of non‐Indigenous children in the Northern Territory, 26% of Indigenous children nationally). This means that these children are highly likely to need some kind of special support to keep up with their Year 1 classmates. As Table 2 indicates, there is a strong apparent relationship between remoteness and vulnerability in two or more domains among Indigenous children. At first glance this might be taken to indicate that remoteness is a key factor for vulnerability. The figures for non‐ Indigenous children, however, contradict this view. If remoteness in itself were a significant factor, it ought to affect all children. The fact that it does not affect non‐Indigenous children suggests that remoteness is a proxy for, or associated with, other forms of disadvantage that are the more direct causes of vulnerability. While remoteness undoubtedly impacts on the capacity of the education system to deliver services, it does not seem to be a primary cause of the forms of vulnerability measured by the AEDI. 10 Unless otherwise stated, data are drawn from Department of Education and Children’s Services, 2013A and 2013B. 47
Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory Bruce Wilson Table 2 – Northern Territory student vulnerability by Geolocation Non‐Indigenous Vulnerable % Indigenous Vulnerable % Provincial 10.2 20.6 Remote 11.6 40.8 Very remote 7.1 46.4 Indigenous children are particularly vulnerable in language and cognitive skills. Table 3 – Northern Territory Indigenous and non‐Indigenous developmental vulnerability by domain Non‐Indigenous % Indigenous % Physical health and wellbeing 8.2 26.0 Social competence 9.0 24.5 Emotional maturity 7.5 23.4 Language and cognitive skills 7.4 42.4 Communication and general knowledge skills 7.2 26.3 Early childhood programs in the Northern Territory The review recognises that considerable work has been undertaken by the Department of Education to develop a comprehensive educational response the needs of children before they reach school age. The Northern Territory Government is making a major policy commitment to improving outcomes for children in their early childhood years. The Early Childhood Plan for the Northern Territory 2013–2016, in draft at the time of writing, includes a focus on ‘children’s cognitive, language and social development’ (NTG 2013: 9). This involves a commitment to universal early learning programs including early childhood education and care services, childcare, pre‐school programs and improvement in the academic levels of parents. For vulnerable children (who are mainly Indigenous children), the policy commits to ‘innovative [pre‐school] models for children living in small remote communities’. The policy has a strong focus on integrated service to remote communities (ibid.: 11). DRAFT Information provided for this Review indicates that effort in the early years has been an ongoing priority for Governments. 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, undated: 8‐9). In reviewing the work done to date we have paid attention to the Masters review of literacy policy in the Northern Territory, which suggested that: low average student performance levels in the Territory, particularly among Indigenous students, have their origins in the years before school… The implication for schools, I believe, is that they must become increasingly involved in the learning and development of children in the years prior to school (that is, from birth) (Masters, 2011: iv‐v). 48
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