Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory
Bruce Wilson
Overview
This is the first comprehensive review of Indigenous education in the Northern Territory since the
Learning Lessons: An independent review of Indigenous education in the Northern Territory (Collins)
reported in 1999. Since that time, another generation of Indigenous children has passed through the
Territory’s schools. Despite substantial investment and dedicated effort, this report suggests that in
some areas the position for many Indigenous children is worse than it was at the time of the last
review. The generation of children since Collins, especially in many remote schools, has failed to gain
the benefits that Learning Lessons anticipated.
The dimensions of the problem are evident in National Assessment Program Literacy And Numeracy
(NAPLAN) results. By Year 3, Indigenous students in very remote schools in the Northern Territory
are already two years of schooling behind Indigenous students in very remote schools in the rest of
Australia in their writing results. By Year 9, the gap is about five years of schooling. These are not
comparisons with the general population, but with comparable students in comparable locations.
The starting point for this review is that the children now in our schools, and those yet to arrive,
deserve better. The review has taken as a non‐negotiable that there must be an explicit focus on
improving unacceptably low outcomes for Indigenous children. Some key initiatives established
since the Collins report have been ineffective. Substantial progress will not be achieved by marginal
improvements.
There is now a large body of research concerning the significance of the early years of learning.
Children who fail in the early years to lay a foundation of basic skills are unlikely ever to recover.
Indigenous students in remote locations in the Northern Territory constitute a test tube
demonstration of that body of research. These children, who have been the focus of improvement
efforts for a decade and more, are still left irretrievably behind almost as soon as they start school.
Unless some means can be found to give Indigenous children in the first eight years of their lives a
base in literacy and numeracy, those children will add to the lost generations of Indigenous
Australians.
DRAFT
One of the key issues facing the Territory is the number and proportion of Indigenous children who
enter school with little or no English. In some schools, the proportion of the cohort in this position
approaches 100%. In some cases, schools have sought to establish initial literacy in the first
languages spoken by these children. The approach to be adopted has been the subject of
educational debate, policy shifts and community disagreement.
This review has made a decision to focus on the English language skills and knowledge that underpin
success in the western education system. Some people will find this a challenging position. The
recommendation is based on the view that Indigenous children learn English in the way that other
children learn English: through rigorous and relentless attention to the foundations of the language
and the skills that support participation in a modern democracy and economy. The review does not
support continued efforts to use biliteracy approaches, or to teach the content of the curriculum
through first languages other than English. This report recommends the explicit teaching and
assessment of foundational elements of English literacy, including phonemic awareness, phonics and
vocabulary.
The Collins review mounted a strong argument to extend secondary education to remote and very
remote schools. In the years since that report, the Northern Territory has spent hundreds of millions
of dollars establishing and supporting secondary provision in these schools. The effort has attracted
dedicated teachers and gained the support of many communities. This review’s visits to schools and
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