Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Parallel ...

jurisdictions with more remote communities — are not as great as some had anticipated.However, the data only relate to students who are enrolled; other data indicate that alarger proportion of Indigenous children are not even enrolled in school. 49Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls may attend school less as a result of theirincreased family responsibilities. However, as the data is not disaggregated accordingto sex or region we cannot find out the level of disadvantage that our girls and womenexperience by missing out on school.We recommend that the CEDAW Committee:Recommend that to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander children, the Australian Government ensure that data relating tonumeracy, literacy and school attendance be disaggregated by sex, ethnicity,ability, age and geographical location.Culturally appropriate schools and ways of teachingAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students need culturally appropriate schools andways of teaching. Some forum participants expressed the need for consultation withlocal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, including elders, parents andgrandparents when developing school curriculums. Throughout consultations Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander women told us that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderpeople need to be employed in the education system, from pre-school through to senioreducation departmental positions. As one participant said:Without language and identity - taught by our own Koorie people to ourKoorie children, the school system will not change.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women report that in some remote communities,schools are staffed by inexperienced teachers merely doing a temporary ‘country stint’before being able to move to a more desirable post in the city. These teachers oftenhave no background or special training in teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderchildren. This often leads to our children in communities having fewer opportunities toachieve good academic outcomes.We recommend that the CEDAW Committee:Recommend that, consistent with Articles 4 and 10, the Australian Governmentand state and territory governments develop a national strategy for increasingthe numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people employed in theeducation sector.Recommend that such a national strategy recognise the particular family andcommunity commitments of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people andcreate flexible employment arrangements (such as part-time work and jobsharing) to allow for those commitments.49 Gary Banks, Chairman, Australian Government Productivity Commission, 'Are we overcomingIndigenous disadvantage?’, (Speech delivered at the National Library, Canberra, 7 July 2009) , 7,37