Approximately eighty participants came together in Fremantle to attend the AEU's annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Seminar. The theme of the 2005 seminar was “Quality Public Education for Our Peoples' Future” which followed on from the theme of the 2004 seminar, “Quality Educators Produce Quality Outcomes”.

The Seminar was opened by Jeremy Garlett, a traditional owner of the Fremantle area, who gave a thought provoking speech and played song lines of country on his didgeridoo. This was followed by a speech from the AEU's Federal President, Pat Byrne, who reinforced the AEU's commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education.

The keynote address was given by Kevin O'Keefe, Executive Director, Teaching and Learning, Aboriginal Education, Training and Services, Department of Education, Western Australia. Kevin provided an overview of the condition of Indigenous education outcomes in Australia, made all the more startling when he drew on international comparisons, which showed that in spite of some improvements, Australia lags behind other comparable Western nations such as New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

Kevin outlined a range of challenges to educators, some specifically directed towards the education union movement. He dared people to confront the culture of systemic complacency in relation to Indigenous underperformance, find ways to replicate the successes and fundamentally rethink the process of education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. This rethink, he stated, needed to concentrate on school structures, engaging local communities to foster ownership and fostering a sense of inquiry in relation to our professional practice.

Participants then broke up in to workshop groups to discuss issues based around – Funding; Employment; Policy and Planning; and Parent and Community Participation.

The Funding workshop group concentrated primarily on issues surrounding the Federal Government's new funding arrangements for the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Program (IESIP) and the Indigenous Education Direct Assistance (IEDA) program. A range of issues were discussed, including the potential negative impacts of the allocation of funding to the new Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) funding scheme, where students who were previously all entitled to access tutorial assistance funding will now have to fail the year three, five and seven benchmark tests in order to access funding.

The reallocation of funding from urban and rural areas to remote areas was another issue raised. A number of Commonwealth programs, including the new Parent School Partnerships Initiative (PSPI) are now allocated with 50% of available funding targeted to remote areas. The level of indexation of Indigenous specific funding was also discussed. Presently, Indigenous education funding is indexed at a much lower rate than that of other commensurate programs.

The workshop on Employment discussed issues around the role of the AEU in promoting the value of a career in the public education system and the role of the public education system as an employer of Indigenous peoples. It also focussed on the role of the AEU and its Branches and Associated Bodies and discussed a range of strategies to promote the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from within our own Union. A range of strategies to promote employment were discussed, including – establishing targets; creating scholarships, traineeships, cadetships and leadership programs; the creation of identified positions; improving selection processes and improving job security.

In the Policy and Planning workshop, participants concentrated on lobbying all levels of government in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education issues. Participants believed that the following principles should be applied to all aspects of policy and planning in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education: adequate curriculum support and professional development; transparent and genuine involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander parents and community members; consistency between States and Territories; Respect for cultures, values and cultural and intellectual property rights; consistency and continuity of funding; non mainstreaming of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander funded education programs; and local community engagement and responsiveness to local issues.

Ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and school communities have a genuine participative decision making role in their early childhood education centres, pre-schools, schools and TAFE colleges was the focus of the Parent and Community Participation workshop. It was recommended that this participation should be focussed on the improvement of learning outcomes for Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander students with agreed, open and transparent accountability and monitoring processes. Additional issues in relation to the changes in funding were also canvassed. It was recommended that the AEU play a role in lobbying all Governments to ensure that parents and community members have access to up to date information about the funding changes, particularly the Parent School Partnerships Initiative, and receive access to training in order to assist them in being able to engage productively in the submission writing process.

A highlight of the day was the presentation of the AEU's Annual Reconciliation Award, which AEU Federal Conference has now re-named the Arthur Hamilton Award for Reconciliation in Education. The $500 prize was won by Ted Leahy for his Community Dreaming project. The project, run through the Heywood and District Secondary College, focussed on students at risk of disengaging from the education system through the development of group projects that related to the community. The program concentrates on 'TLC' – Teamwork, Leadership and Communication in order to build resilience and self-esteem in project participants. One of the recent outcomes produced by the project participants was a plaque dedicated to the life of Captain Reg Saunders, a Koorie armed serviceman, which was unveiled at Lake Condah Aboriginal mission. A surprise visit by the Hon. Fred Chaney, who spoke about the importance of education to the Reconciliation process, was a highlight of the presentation.

The AEU's annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Seminar remains a feature of the Annual Federal Conference Program. The AEU is proud to host such a seminar and looks forward to the continued participation of AEU members and members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community who come together each year to discuss the big issues surrounding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education.