Aboriginal education needs more political commitment and local input if its success stories are to multiply, reports Steve Packer.

Talk to the experts, and the report card on Aboriginal education is very mixed. While there are many positive programs in schools and individual stories of success, the overall picture is that Indigenous children continue to be the most educationally disadvantaged in the nation.

The number of Indigenous students completing year 12 is less than half the national average of 76 per cent and as little as eight per cent in some regions. The statistics are stark: 57 per cent of Aborigines are aged below 24, and 48 per cent of those aged 15 to 19 are not in any form of formal education.

It is not just about getting a job. Poor educational opportunities create third world outcomes in infant mortality, life expectancy and intergenerational poverty. "For too many Aboriginal students, the main transition from school is to a dependence on welfare and CDEP claims," says Kevin O'Keefe, Executive Director of Aboriginal Education Training in WA's Department of Education and Training.

"We have a fairly good idea of the programs that will make the difference and the models of mainstream successes we can apply," he says (see box on page 27). "There are clear success stories and we've got to find ways to replicate that for more students in more schools."

O'Keefe believes it is time to reassess the fundamentals of how Aboriginal education is delivered. That means ensuring government funding is properly targeted, as well as encouraging more input from Indigenous communities. It is also about fighting racism, and promoting inclusion, in the broader social arena. "The needs of Aboriginal students must be addressed as part of the mainstream responsibility of the system," says O'Keefe.

The challenge is also to transform the culture of accepting Aboriginal underperformance, says Darcel Moyle, AEU Federal Aboriginal Education Officer. "Systemic reform is needed to substantially close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal results in education," she says. "But everyone is still waiting."

Charline Emzin-Boyd, Aboriginal Education Coordinator for the NSW Teachers' Federation (NSWTF), agrees the situation is urgent. "If nothing is done right now, we will be seeing the perpetuation of low literacy levels for increasing numbers of Aboriginal children, leading into the next generation.

"It is not only a national responsibility—all state governments must take responsibility to ensure that all Aboriginal children are given an equal opportunity to access public education at all levels," says Emzin-Boyd. "To bring our Aboriginal kids up to speed with non-Aboriginal children, we need everything from quality teacher training programs at university level, to the appropriate funding to resource the programs and personnel in schools. It's a matter of starting on the line with everyone else and, if it costs $100 million, it needs to happen," she says.

Slow progress

Professor Paul Hughes, Dean of the Indigenous College of Education and Research at the University of South Australia, can see gradual progress in Aboriginal education outcomes arising from 20 years of policy. But he concedes that "it's slower than everyone would like".

Hughes says the results are better across the board for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and there are now more Indigenous students enrolling at university and TAFE. "But," he says, "the results are still very low."

From Hughes' perspective, the way to move forward now is through localised research and microanalysis of data to take into account local nuances and the "realities of the world", especially in remote and more traditional communities.

The days of making policy and designing programs based on broadly collected statistics and comparing them to the general Australian population are over. "We need to look at each area or situation, be they kids in Adelaide or kids in the country, and work out what is good and practical for each of them."

More urgent than ever

It's not simplistic to claim that improving life chances for Indigenous Australians depends entirely upon providing quality education for all. "We know that post-secondary qualifications give us the ticket to the future," says O'Keefe.

"In my department, we see literacy and numeracy as the foundations for all academic learning, and we need students to be at school every day. There is a gap between the achievement of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students, and as they get older that gap gets bigger."

In WA in 2003, attendance was above 90 per cent for all students in the system, but only about 70 per cent for the state's 24,000 Aboriginal students, and worse for those in remote areas. "That's three days in 10 missed," says O'Keefe. "That's three years in 10. It's very difficult to imagine how any person who is missing three years of schooling up to lower secondary could keep up."

The problems start early, hence O'Keefe's special concern about Years 1 and 2. "We must ensure young students have the start they need," he says, "because if students fall behind from there, it gets a lot more expensive to try to bring them up to speed later."

O'Keefe fears that, if the next generation is allowed to grow up with the same levels of illiteracy, truancy and so on, it will be as disadvantaged as the last.

And the Aboriginal population is increasing: since 1995 it has grown from 283,000 to about 460,000 people due to natural increase and social changes leading to more people identifying themselves as Aboriginal.

A welcoming place for kids

Priorities for O'Keefe include bringing Aboriginal communities into discussions—"and these are hard discussions to have"—about making sure their children attend regularly.

"In our department since 2003, we have said to all schools that they must have a plan for Aboriginal students which focuses specifically on numeracy, literacy, attendance and retention. Some schools are struggling their way through. In addition they need to make sure their school is culturally inclusive and a welcoming place for kids and their families to be. They need Aboriginal perspectives across the curriculum, and they can't do it by themselves. They need to be talking to the Aboriginal community. Some people do that very well, others need to learn how."

While some schools are not very welcoming for Aboriginal students, they aren't solely responsible for low attendance rates, he says. As much a challenge is changing Aboriginal attitudes and approaches. "It's not helpful for Aboriginal communities to start bad-mouthing public education. We want them to value the institution."

Seven priority recommendations

In 2004, the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, in partnership with the NSW Department of Education and Training and supported by the NSWTF, worked on a lengthy review into Aboriginal education. Its findings, released late last year, made 71 recommendations, which the NSWTF believes would cost about $100 million to implement.

While the review is widely regarded as a valuable resource for improving Aboriginal outcomes nationwide, the NSW state government's response so far has been disappointing, says Emzin-Boyd.

"Consultation for the review was fantastic and people were enthused for the first time. It has resulted in a lovely book of recommendations," she says. "But no extra funding was attached, so what can be done?"

The NSWTF and the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group worked together putting forward a list of seven priority recommendations that are reflected in the Review of Aboriginal Education.

The recommendations include establishing programs from schools to support parents and preschool children, thereby building early links with the community; creating preschools in all schools with significant Aboriginal student populations; establishing a genuine inter-agency program ensuring the school is the centre of the community; providing resources for individualised learning plans; earlier appointment of teachers and principals to ensure continuity of programs; and employing more Aboriginal people in schools to improve cultural understanding and learning outcomes.

"The review also recommended that 'Welcome to Country' and 'Acknowledgement of Country' be observed as an introductory item at all school and TAFE events," says Emzin-Boyd.

No consultation

The AEU's Darcel Moyle is similarly concerned about proposed amendments to the federal Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. In this case, funding changes have been decided, with little or no consultation with Aboriginal communities, schools, TAFE colleges and other parties.

In its submission on the changes, the AEU says they are either a cynical, ideologically driven exercise in cost-cutting or one of the poorest examples of policy implementation it has ever seen.

"We are dismayed at this government's attempt to 'cherry pick' the pieces of reports it finds palatable and use them to make ideologically driven changes while ignoring their serious consequences," says the AEU submission. "For example, shifting resources from urban and rural to remote areas will impact on those successful programs that are producing outcomes in cities and country towns."

The AEU says the government has tried to establish the paradigm that the "real Aboriginal people" live in remote areas. But most Indigenous students live along the eastern seaboard, and it is they who will be disadvantaged by the government "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

The AEU is also concerned about large numbers of Indigenous students who have no access to schooling whatsoever, particularly in the preschool sector nationwide and the secondary sector in the Northern Territory. Estimates of those missing out range from 3,000 to 9,500 for preschoolers nationally and up to 6,000 of secondary age in the Northern Territory. The submission also quotes figures that only 0.8 per cent of teachers are Indigenous, despite 4.7 per cent of the school population being Indigenous.

Putting pressure on governments to show some political will on Indigenous education is a vital role of teachers and the wider community. While there are serious challenges ahead, there is hope. "Some Aboriginal people are starting to achieve success, and that affects a range of things," says Moyle. "People start thinking, 'Maybe the school system is something I can work through, because my cousin has done it.'"

STEVE PACKER is a freelance writer.