Indigenous Education

There has always been the aim to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students and hence eliminating any form of indigenous disadvantage in education. In 2008, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) developed multiple aims to eliminate the disadvantages faced by indigenous Australians in regards to education. Some of the key aims in the sector of education include:

•    Ensure indigenous students have access to early childhood education by the year 2013
•     Halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy for children by 2018

•   And halve the gap for indigenous students in completing year 12 by 2020. 

To ensure these aims where achieved, COAG endorsed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan in May 2011. The aim of the plan was to commit governments to a unified approach to closing the gap between indigenous and non- indigenous students in education outcomes (COAG, 2008). 

One of the main factors contributing to the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students is school attendance. Daily school attendance is a necessity for every student in order to achieve the required skills in order to move from grade to another every year. It is also important for students attending schools to achieve the core skills, such as literacy and numeracy for them to achieve high results in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). According to Ober (2009), “education is about drawing on and acknowledging skills, language, knowledge, concepts and understandings from Western knowledge systems”. One of the key factors as to why indigenous students face disadvantage is somewhat due to this gap in developing  the key concepts and skills.

According to an article in ABC news (July, 2012), “more than 80% of indigenous students in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Australian Capital territory achieve the minimum national standards”. There is a large number of indigenous students in Australia who are falling below the basic numeracy and literacy tests and according to the NAPLAN results, the results of these students have not improved over the last four years since the start of the NAPLAN tests in 2008. Also, according to the article by ABC news, indigenous students make up 4.8% of all the students attending school in Australia. However, this percentage has almost doubled according to the 2011 census in which indigenous students estimated to be 2.5% of the Australian student population. Statistics on the MySchool website provide information on the results of indigenous students. Out of an estimated 150, 000 indigenous students attending school in 2010, 60, 000 of them are not achieving the minimum national standards.

Status	Reading		Writing		Numeracy
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Year 3
Indigenous	11,743	91.6	11,783	91.9	11,573	90.3
Non-Indigenous	243,586	96.8	243,656	96.8	242,626	96.4
Year 5
Indigenous	11,944	92.7	11,970	92.9	11,762	91.3
Non-Indigenous	247,566	97.1	247,509	97.0	246,620	96.7
Year 7
Indigenous	10,825	90.4	10,840	90.5	10,722	89.5
Non-Indigenous	238,841	96.7	239,045	96.8	238,005	96.4
Year 9
Indigenous	9,941	80.8	10,104	82.1	9,852	80.0
Non-Indigenous	249,491	94.5	250,182	94.7	248,314	94.0

                 
This graph demonstrates the no. and proportion of students participating in the year 3, 5, 7 and 9 NAPLAN reading, writing and Numeracy in 2009.

This then leads to the main question? Why is there a gap between the performance of indigenous and non-indigenous students? Is it because the Australian government is failing to provide cultural practices and resources to enhance these students education.

Reference

§  Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2011). National Report on Schooling in Australia 2009. Retrieved from: http://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national_report_on_schooling/aboriginal_and_torres_strait_islander_education/assessment_naplan2.html

§  Hughes, H & Hughes, M. (2012). Poor education is letting indigenous children down. ABC news. Retrieved from: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4112432.html

§  Ober, R. (2009). Both ways: Learning from Yesterday, Celebrating today, Strengthening Tomorrow. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. p. 34