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OPENING THE DOOR: INVOLVING ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES IN SCHOOL EDUCATION

GARMA FESTIVAL PRESENTATION

TOM CALMA: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMISSIONER

I would like to acknowledge the Yolngu people on whose land we are today. I would like to thank you and Charles Darwin University for inviting me to speak at this Garma festival where we celebrate the Yolngu culture and world view.

It is relevant to be talking about culture in relation to education as culture and literacy go hand in hand; one augments the other. A classroom that is rich with information and ideas that spring from culture that is known to the child provide the perfect springboard for enriched learning. In other words, a curriculum filled with the child’s culture provides a ‘recognition space’ for our young people so that learning can occur in an environment that acknowledges where the child comes from, and what he or she already knows. These are important building blocks for every child’s future.

There have been some interesting developments and discussions about Indigenous education in recent months. Some of these developments have not been entirely welcome. I am talking about the Menzies Institute and the Centre for Independent Studies reports which argue against Indigenous language and culture in school education despite vast bodies of research and evidence that speak to the value of reinforcing the home culture in the school culture.

I am not interesting in giving too much airplay to the doomsayers and the knockers of indigenous culture. I think we have gone beyond the point of having to stand up to those people who see Indigenous culture as an impediment to learning. That argument is over. The worth of Indigenous culture in school education has been proven over and over.

Two weeks ago I was in New Zealand where they celebrated Maori language week and it involved all Kiwis, not just Maori. The celebration of Indigenous languages could and should occur in Australia. It is important to celebrate, acknowledge and promote the richness of our languages. It is through raising the profile of our languages that we take steps to ensure that our languages and our cultures are valued, resourced and strengthened over time.

I would also remind those who seek to withdraw indigenous culture and language from schools that international human rights standards protect our right to our culture and language. Article 27 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights provides that: minorities shall not be denied the right... to enjoy their own culture... or to use their own language. ...

In terms of school education, Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child sets the human rights standard, specifying that education be directed to: ...the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values...

I know that bilingual schools continue to operate here in the Northern Territory. The local Yirrkala School is a great example of a learning environment where children develop and deepen their knowledge and understanding of Yolngu culture and literacies as a foundation for developing English literacy. Evidence from Territory-wide literacy tests demonstrate that while there is still room to improve outcomes, bilingual approaches like the one at Yirrkala are achieving results in line with the intention of the approach. We must also remember, that schools like Yirrkala are strengthening Yolngu literacies, for which there are no state wide or territory wide tests.

There is emerging evidence that in some learning contexts, Indigenous language and culture strengthen the learning outcomes in other areas of the curriculum. This has been the case in the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunyitjatjara lands where a policy decision in the 1990s to ban Indigenous languages from schools has been overturned because English literacy results declined.

I urge all people in the business of education to capitalise on every opportunity to develop the Indigenous teacher workforce. It is through this workforce that Indigenous culture and literacies are preserved. We must keep the passion and energy for education alive across Indigenous Australia.

In remote Australia, Indigenous teachers and teacher aides are the people who maintain the corporate knowledge of the school and have the long term connection with students.

Recently the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs spoke about the necessity to improve Indigenous school attendance. Maintaining a high functioning, well-resourced Indigenous teacher workforce is an essential element to connect Indigenous students to the school. We must invest in the skills of this workforce.

To this end, all Indigenous teachers and the teacher aides should have ongoing access to first class professional learning and development opportunities. Their worth to the school is immeasurable and every effort should be made to value that worth. I’d like to see an increase in Indigenous personnel across all positions in schools, especially in principal and leadership positions.

Education departments will need to invest heavily in Indigenous recruitment and retention programs to make this a reality. The Indigenous teacher labour market needs to be increasing not decreasing every year. If programs to support recruitment and retention need additional resources or reinvigoration, then this should be an urgent priority. As we know, the real service delivery of education happens in the schools. This is where the majority of resources, funding and our best and brightest people should be concentrated. An investment today will reap rewards tomorrow.

Let’s see strategies and resources commensurate with the challenge - and this challenge is long-term. We need to be focussed on supporting existing Indigenous staff as well as mentoring new recruits to the workforce. Every school community needs a quantum of Indigenous teachers so that liaison between the Indigenous home and school environments is managed by a large, enabled Indigenous workforce.

Having been an educator myself, I know the heavy responsibility that is placed on schools and learning environments to support and solve nearly every social problem of our time. While I know schools cannot possibly deliver all of the solutions to complex problems, they are a good start. In my position I monitor human rights with regard to health, education and child protection portfolios to name a few. Good education is the essential foundation in all of these areas. Educators carry a large responsibility, but it is a joyous one. Education is the most positive of all areas of service delivery.

At this year’s COAG meeting in February, the Minister for Education, Science and Training, and her state and territory counterparts agreed to make early childhood education a priority for young Indigenous Australians.

Early childhood education provides an important link between home and school. It assists in improving the “school readiness” of Indigenous students and their successful participation in primary school education.

If the Commonwealth specifies two years of high quality early childhood education prior to the first year of formal schooling, then let’s make sure that remote communities are the first to receive resources to make this a reality. Let’s look to positively discriminate in favour of those environments that have perhaps the fewest resources.

Given the critical importance of education to all aspects of a well functioning society, I would like to suggest the development of a national think tank with a role to discuss Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school education. A national think tank would provide an authoritative Indigenous voice on Indigenous school education. We need to do some high level thinking and planning about what we want to achieve in Indigenous education in 10 years time and in 20 years time. I’d like to be able to set some targets, and to work with governments to achieve these targets. It means looking across employment and enterprise development to ensure that school education meets the needs of those young people who want to go on to further study, and those who want to use their skills in employment in their communities. I am convening a national summit on Indigenous health, and now it is time to do the same in education.

As educators we must acknowledge that there is there is always room to develop, fine tune and add new approaches to teaching methods, while holding on to and strengthening strategies that achieve results in each local context. As we know there is still a long way to go to bring Indigenous students to the level of their non-Indigenous peers as a minimum.

I’d like to finish by acknowledging and commending the work of the teachers who are here today. I continue to be impressed by your hard work, your willingness to engage with ideas and your capacity to take on the many complex tasks that are required of you. You are the people who have the critical role in realising the learning potential of Indigenous children.

Through the development of a national Indigenous education think tank I hope to be part of a process to support you in your work, now and into the future.

Thank you