Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory
Bruce Wilson
Chapter Nine: Attendance
The Northern Territory Government has spent incalculable resources over many years to
improve the school attendance of Indigenous attendance, but without material
improvement. Despite the establishment of major policy statements and the development
of comprehensive strategies, attendance continues to lag.
The review has identified a number of reasons for this situation:
factors that are outside the control of schools, such as cultural and ceremonial
activities; family mobility; timing of royalty payments, the Darwin Show and similar
events, football carnivals and rodeos; lack of parent and community support for
attendance; overcrowding; social disruption affecting children including gambling,
substance abuse and violence; lack of employment and the routines and benefits that
accompany employment among parents; and natural events that disrupt attendance;
the failure of schools to effectively achieve educational progress, especially in early
literacy, among some attending students;
the weakness of some secondary programs in schools and their lack of a connection
with valued outcomes; and
a lack of Department and school focus on what schools are best able to do to improve
attendance among their enrolled students.
Learning Lessons
Learning Lessons argued that ‘…children must attend school consistently to progress. In
relation to indigenous education, poor attendance is without doubt the primary cause of
poor educational outcomes’ (Collins, 1999: 141). The issues described by Collins included the
lack of consistent attendance and the lack of expectation from a school, community and
system perspective. A culture of low expectation and low motivation to engage in schooling
was seen a major contributor to poor attendance and education outcomes. The nature and
depth of the attendance story was difficult to quantify. System data did not convey the
seriousness of the issue, nor could it be used to identify trends and patterns of school
attendance.
DRAFT
The situation now
Since the Collins review, the situation has continued to deteriorate. The average attendance
of Indigenous students in 2002 was 70%. By 2012 the percentage was around 68%, while
attendance for Indigenous secondary students in very remote schools had dropped
dramatically, heading towards 50%. A recent report shows that only 40% of Indigenous
students attend school 80 per cent or more of the time (four days a week or more), widely
regarded as a key benchmark for achievement.
This is not for want of trying. Both the Territory and Australian Governments have made
major efforts to improve attendance. The Northern Territory Department’s Every Child Every
Day policy initiative sets out an ambitious and demanding program of action. The Australian
Government’s School Enrolment and Attendance Measure (SEAM) and more recently the
Remote Schools Attendance Strategy both aim to address the problem head on.
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