Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory
Bruce Wilson
Chapter Eleven: Community engagement
There is a widespread view in the Northern Territory that the engagement of communities in the
education of Indigenous children is critical to their success. Community engagement is seen as both a
right and a condition for the effective governance of schools and their capacity to respond to local
culture and meet local expectations. This view has led to a long series of initiatives designed to establish
stronger community engagement. Despite determined efforts, however, engagement remains uneven.
Work undertaken by the review indicates that factors contributing to the difficulty in establishing strong
and effective community engagement include:
matters that schools and the education system cannot control, such as social dislocation in
communities, language barriers and in some cases lack of community experience in formal
governance processes;
lack of clarity in the Department’s expectations about the responsibilities of principals and
teachers for community engagement;
lack of confidence in and support for community engagement at system and regional level,
including the key role played by Indigenous staff;
pursuit of whole‐system engagement models that attempt too much in too short a time;
lack of confidence by some school personnel about community engagement and in some cases, a
degree of resistance;
failure to focus agreements on specific short‐ and medium‐term action and outcomes to establish
a history of success;
weaknesses in cultural training and ongoing support for existing and new staff; and
failure by both the Department and communities to sustain engagement efforts beyond the initial
development of an agreement.
Learning Lessons
Learning Lessons recommendations on partnerships and the self‐managing schools program focused on
the authority of the Indigenous Education Council Northern Territory (IECNT). Learning Lessons
explored options to break down the barriers between schools and communities and proposed the
piloting of local and regional partnerships, under the auspice of the IECNT (Collins, 1999: 164).
DRAFT
Negotiated agreements were to include components such as attendance, retention, flexible schooling,
goals for improved education outcomes, improved facilities and professional development/staffing
programs.
Collins identified two approaches to parent and community engagement in education decision‐making:
School Councils and a program called Aboriginal Student Support and Parental Awareness (ASSPA)
committees. The effectiveness of either of these mechanisms was not known at the time of Learning
Lessons, and the ASSPA program, which was funded through the Australian Government, ceased some
time ago.
In 2005, the then Department of Employment, Education and Training published a Community
Engagement Charter (DEET, 2005). This document set out a broad set of principles for and approaches
to community engagement. Use of the document appears to have ceased, and it is no longer available
on the Department’s website.
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