This paper presents a snapshot of concerns in the field of Indigenous education in the late 1960s as compared with those of today, highlighting areas of improvement. Indigenous people's aspirations are not being met and the gaps between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations on all major educational indicators are unacceptably large. These gaps are mirrored in other areas of social and physical well-being, including life expectancy and employment. Research demonstrates the interrelationships between education, health, unemployment, poverty, and general social disadvantage, exposing social barriers to learning. We describe two small-scale educational programs, which are tailored to the needs of the Aboriginal participants and which aim to assist families through education, mentoring and community development processes to work towards practical ways for meeting their long-term aspirations. The holistic nature of the programs helps people to overcome the social barriers, which have impeded their learning in the past. Synchronised inter-agency,inter-departmental collaboration is required by such programs, which are intensive and expensive to run. But USA Project Head Start, which is similarly intensive and expensive, has demonstrated long-term benefits to society and the participants, which far outweigh the original costs in terms of savings in the areas of criminal justice,welfare, and health.

Education, Indigenous Survival and Well-being: Emerging Ideas and Programs

This paper engages with current educational literature in Australia and internationally, in exploring the implications of the hidden curriculum for Indigenous students. It argues that in schools, most of the learning rules or guidelines reflect the ‘white’ dominant culture values and practices, and that it is generally those who don't have the cultural match-ups that schooling requires for success, such as Indigenous and minority students, who face the most educational disadvantage. Howard and Perry argue that Indigenous students ‘… need to feel that schools belong to them as much as any child’ and that to ‘… move towards the achievement of potential of Aboriginal students, it is important that Aboriginal culture and language are accepted in the classroom’. This paper will also provide a discussion into school-based strategies that are considered effective for engaging Indigenous students with school.

Belonging and learning to belong in school: the implications of the hidden curriculum for indigenous students

Vocational Education and Training (VET) in high schools has had positive effects on the retention of Indigenous students, providing important pathways into further education and the workforce. However, low-level literacy (and numeracy) skills can make successful completion difficult, especially for students who speak Standard Australian English as an additional language or dialect. This article describes research undertaken to inform the development of a second language and literacy needs analysis model designed for high school VET teachers to address the needs of Indigenous students. The study draws on second language acquisition research, which demonstrates the value of using tasks as the basis for language teaching syllabus design, with needs analysis as a fundamental aspect of this. The project centred on Aboriginal high school VET students from remote and rural communities in Western Australia, who speak English as an additional language/dialect. Data collected included: individual and focus group interviews, training materials, and observation field notes on the language and literacy practices in classrooms and workplaces. The major findings focus on the development of oral language (for both job-oriented and social interactions in the workplace) and literacy skills, as well as the need to overcome ‘shame’ and develop confidence for speaking to non-Aboriginal people.

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Addressing the language and literacy needs of aboriginal high school VET students who speak SAE as an additional language

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On the move? Indigenous temporary mobility practices in Australia

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The entangled relationship between Indigenous spatiality and government service delivery

Encouraging positive school experiences is central to the process of lifting both achievement and retention rates among Aboriginal youth. While there is an emerging awareness that more Aboriginal children view school as rewarding and enjoyable than they previously did, this is not the experience of the majority. For most, school remains a place dominated by conflict and/or self-doubt. Explaining such responses is a complex matter, as the causes of non-attendance are constantly changing in accord with developments in modern life (Purdie and Buckley, 2010, p. 3). Chapter 1 explored the theoretical issues behind the often tenuous relationship between Aboriginal youth and school, while other chapters have dealt with the many underlying sociocultural factors.

Gary Partington

Papers

Attendance and non-attendance at school

Classroom Management and Aboriginal Students