The aim of this page is to provide information on educational outcomes and policies related to Australia’s Indigenous population. It gives a historical study and provides a Case Study of a Community school run by Indigenous leaders.

• Overview
• Aboriginal Education Policy
• Vocational Education and Training and Tertiary Education
• Indigenous Education Providers
• Case Study
• Resources and Contacts

Overview

Indigenous Australians, for many complex reasons, continue to achieve lower educational outcomes than other Australians. Lower educational outcomes lead to poorer outcomes in later life. Evidence suggests that policies need to take into accout the particular needs of Indigenous Australians to address this disadvantage and to allow future generations of Indigenous Australians and Indigenous culture to thrive.

From the beginning of the Dreaming, education in Aboriginal Australia was community-based and incorporated into daily life from birth to death. Teaching and learning systems passed on through the generations formed a key part of how Indigenous culture developed and have always been highly valued in Indigenous culture.

However from 1788 as British colonisation spread across the Australian continent these practices and Indigenous cultures more generally were considered inferior by the colonialists and Indigenous peoples were considered in need of ‘civilising’ and conversion to Christianity. This was to have a devastating affect on the continuity of these cultures. Education policies of subsequent Governments continued this damage, just as they now hold a key to effective reform and rejuvenation of Indigenous culture.

In 1848, the Board of National Education reported that it was ‘impracticable to attempt to provide any form of education for the children of the blacks’ and from 1883, Indigenous children could be barred from public schools if white parents objected to their presence. It was not until 1972 that this regulation disappeared from the Teacher’s Handbook, the year the White Australia Policy was abolished. The Board set up separate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schools on reserves with untrained teachers, usually managers’ wives, and with lower expectations of educational achievement. The expected level of attainment was Grade 3 primary until 1938.

A major shift came with the adoption of a national policy of Assimilation from 1937. Education became a way for governments to achieve assimilation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into white society and so breaking connections with their culture and history. This policy was heavily intertwined with the removal of Indigenous children from their families, known as the Stolen Generations. However even with these policies, Aboriginal children did not have regular mainstream access to primary schooling until the 1950s, and secondary schooling until the 1960s. In 1969 the Commonwealth provided secondary grants to encourage Aboriginal students to stay on at school, these later became Aboriginal study grants (Abstudy).

Government reports such as Bringing Them Home and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody have highlighted how thes past policies contribute to low secondary school retention rates and low participation rates in tertiary education in the present. The 2002 NSW Public Education Inquiry Report and Kata Kulpa, a Commonwealth report from a Senate Committee inquiry into the effectiveness of education and training for Indigenous Australians, both found that overall outcomes for Indigenous people in education and employment are still unacceptable. There has been more success in ‘Aboriginalising’ the curriculum than improving educational outcomes.

Aboriginal Education Policy

From the 1970s, Aboriginal people working in the education system have campaigned for improvements to ensure better outcomes for Aboriginal students. Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups (AECGs) began to lobby for appropriate education for Aboriginal people. The AECGs lobbied for Aboriginal Education Assistants in schools with high Aboriginal student enrolments, Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers to involve communities, Aboriginal Consultants advising schools on Aboriginal education, and Aboriginal Education Units in head offices.

In 1982, the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) developed the first NSW Aboriginal Education Policy (AEP) in partnership with the NSW AECG. The policy was about educating Aboriginal students, involving Aboriginal communities and promoting culturally appropriate teaching. The policy was made mandatory in 1987 but a large number of schools claimed that the AEP should not apply to them as they had few or no Aboriginal students and/or community. The policy was rewritten in 1995 by the AECG and DET to focus on Aboriginal student outcomes, educating all students about Indigenous Australian history and culture, and implementing mandatory annual school reporting of progress. The new policy is for ‘all students, all staff, and all schools’.

In 2006 the NSW Aboriginal Education and Training manual was released with the goal that “By 2012, Aboriginal student outcomes will match or better outcomes of the broader student population”. This strategy is designed for schools, colleges, TAFE institutes and State Office directorates.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (NATSIEP) 1990, has provided supplementary funding for Aboriginal education across the country. It recognised that Aboriginal students perform better when they are supported by their community and Aboriginal parents and community members have input into the way the school operates. In 1997 all State, Territory and Commonwealth Education Ministers agreed on a national goal which stated that every child leaving primary school should be numerate and be able to read, write and spell at an appropriate level.

In March 2000, the Commonwealth began the National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (NIELNS) with $27 million in funding over four years for strategies to improve Indigenous literacy, numeracy, attendance and retention. NIELNS initiatives include Maths in Context for Aboriginal Students, Aboriginal Community Awareness in School Numeracy Programs, and Successful Transition from Home to School programs.

The Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Program (IESIP) is a further Indigenous education program under the Commonwealth policy. IESIP is a targeted program and provides supplementary financial assistance to providers of preschool, school and vocational education.

Vocational Education and Training and Tertiary Education

From 1983, Colleges of Advanced Education, later universities, began to develop Aboriginal ‘enclaves’ to support Aboriginal students. This recognised that it is difficult to study successfully if you are the only Aboriginal person in a school or course.

In the mid to late 1970s, the NSW Department of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) began providing ‘second-chance’ access courses for Aboriginal people. Over the last decade, there has been a continued rise in Aboriginal student enrolments in TAFE. However this has been offset by declining enrolments in universities, reported to be caused by changes to Abstudy regulations which disadvantage Aboriginal mature-aged students, the people trying to get the ‘second-chance’ education and training.

Today, all Australian universities have Aboriginal centres to support Aboriginal students and promote the education of all students about Aboriginal Australia.

Indigenous Education Providers

Across Australia a network of independent Indigenous education providers offer an Aboriginal alternative in education and training. The oldest of these is Tranby College in Glebe, Sydney, which opened in 1959. Tranby was originally opened as a Hostel for Indigenous students encouraged to study vocational TAFE courses in trades required in their communities. From 1965 the College ran its own syllabus in Co-operatives and Bookkeeping at Tranby.

Over the 1980s the College expanded, offering both foundation education and tertiary level TAFE courses, including an equivalent HSC course.

Today, Tranby Aboriginal College is an independent, Aboriginal-run adult education centre with participants from all over Australia. Since 1998 Tranby has set its own educational agenda, running three VETAB accredited Diploma-level courses in Legal Studies, Applied Aboriginal Studies and Community Development.

Also in NSW, Booroongen Djugun in Kempsey and the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) have been successful in providing vocational education and training to Aboriginal people.

YIPIRINYA SCHOOL – A Case Study in Community Led Reform

Over 25 years ago community leaders determined that the Aboriginal children of Alice Springs were entitled to better education services. It was not a lack of schools that they faced, but rather that the schools available were based on an Australia-wide model that did not fit the needs of local indigenous children. From this need came the Northern Territories first independent Aboriginal school, named Yipirinya.

The idea of an independent Indigenous school, following the “two way” education model, was not supported by the Northern Territory Government that stated at the time that it “did not fund schools it could not totally control”. It took a Supreme Court appeal to over turn the Minister of Education decision not to register Yipirinya as an Independent non-government school. For the next decade the Yipirinya School relied on grant funding and other less regular funding, including help from charities. In the late 1980’s Yipirinya moved onto permanent site with assistance from the Federal Government.

The Yipirinya School, a primary school, teaches English and other mainstream courses as well as teaching Arrernte, Luritja and Warlpiri (local Aboriginal) knowledge. As a part of this the school has a policy of 50% local Aboriginal language and 50% English language in class up until the senior class, which is taught all in English. This reflects a belief that Maths, English and technologies are more effectively learnt by students with strong cultural identity.

Yipirinya continues to provide primary education, in community and English languages, to the children of Alice Springs as a community led and managed school today.

Resources and Contacts

www.dest.gov.au/sectors/indigenous_education/default2.htm
This page outlines the Aboriginal education programs of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations of the Australian Government.

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/indigenous_education/policy_issues_reviews/national_indigenous_english_literacy_and_numeracy_strategy.htm    This is the web location of the National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, and has a useful breakdown of the overall approach into ’key elements’.  

http://www.aboriginaleducation.nsw.edu.au/
This is the website of the NSW Aboriginal Education and Training Directorate. The current NSW Aboriginal Education and Training Strategy can be accessed online at https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/strat_direction/strat_plans/yr2007/aetlongstrategy.pdf

http://www.aeufederal.org.au/Atsi/index2.html
This page provides information on the Australian Education Union’s (AEU’s) activities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, including the AEU’s representative structures which are inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members.

http://www.nswaecg.com.au/                                                                                                                                                           This is the website of NSW AECG Inc., a support group for AECGs in NSW.

http://www.natsiew.nexus.edu.au/lens/index.html                                                                                                                      This is the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Website. It contains loads of great resources and guides in this area, including media and a ‘getting active’ section.          

 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/rciadic/national/vol4/171.htmlNational                        Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (NATSIEP) 1990FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

Aboriginal Programs Unit

NSW Department of Education and Training (61 2) 9244 5383

Aboriginal Curriculum Unit - NSW Office of the Board of Studies (61 2) 9367 8198

NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated (61 2) 9550 5666

Indigenous Programs, CommonwealthDepartment of Education, Science and Training (61 2) 6240 8111

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