The problem faced here is the traditional view of education - that is, put a whole lot of children in a room with a teacher in charge. With indigenous communities I believe that we need a completely different approach. With western education we presume that the parents themselves are educated even if only at a basic level. This is often not the case in remote communities. Children with illiterate parents face a huge disadvantage. For this reason I believe that we need to educate the mothers along with their children. Start at the pre-school level and provide literacy tutors for the mothers. Some type of carrot needs to be involved such as extra payments to mothers who successfully complete literacy courses. If children see their mothers learning, they will naturally be motivated to learn as well. Pour lots of resources into development of culturally appropriate reading materials. I don't know if these ideas have already been trialled and I'd be quite interested to hear from someone with more information.

Aboriginal education is a contested field that engenders divergent, often volatile, responses from a range of commentators. What is clear is that everybody wants the best for the next generation of Indigenous young people. Wyatt and Fogarty agree on this fundamental point. What is also clear is that the education ‘system’ that has been in place for a number of generations in the many different Indigenous domains (urban, regional and remote) has not always yielded the expected results. One has to assume that all parents, Indigenous or otherwise, want the best for their children and that all parents want their children to learn the competencies needed to make the transition into successful adult life.

Perhaps the time has come to acknowledge that there may be a variety of pathways that will lead to successful adult life, of which schooling is one, and that the skills and competencies required for adult life can be acquired in a variety of ways. Rather than focus always on the failure of schooling, we could draw inspiration from the many different pathways to successful learning that many Indigenous parents, children and communities have forged over the generations and seek also to learn from these successful experiences and models.

"...education provision throughout Australia’s remote areas is replete with instances of neglect, infrastructure shortfalls and systemic underfunding....." Bill Fogarty ommits another factor, the bureaucratic sabotage of bi-lingual programs through ignorance and/or malice.
When the head of the NT Education Department in the Northern Territory can in an interview with 4 Corners a few years ago come out with "English is the language of learning, it is the language of living...." one despairs.
Many years ago I thought that one of the reasons bureaucrats and even teachers aren't prepared to accept that teaching in the vernacular is the most efficient way to impart knowledge, is that it results in a diminution of their power and control. I still think that.
To be in favour of bi-lingual education isn't to deny Ben Wyatt's expressed imperative that "...Aboriginal children in remote communities need a 'full Western education'..." On the contrary if children whose first language is Warlpiri for example are to get a chance at a 'full Western education' the most effective way to achieve this is by a stepped well executed well funded bi-lingual programme, instead of spending the first few years being addressed in what to those Warlpiri children is effectively gobbledygook.
To talk about immigrant children having to learn English is a furphy. I myself learned English as a third language in a class of English speaking Australians where I was one of less than a handfull of foreigners. That is called learning a language by 'immersion'. In a class of Warlpiri children the only person being 'immersed' is often the white teacher. Immersed in Warlpiri that is.

An excerpt : Wednesday, 4 April 2012 (Alice Springs) House of Representatives Page 37
ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Language learning in Indigenous communities-
Mr Rice: "I grew up in Yuendumu, learning both in Walpiri and English. I work in the language centre in Yuendumu, and my main work is translating and recording stories for new books. I have brought some of them here for you to maybe check out later. They are in language. When I was growing up, since I was in preschool, there were two teachers, a European and a Yapa—an Aboriginal—and they both helped, in my opinion, in my education. I think Walpiri language is a vehicle to move me further towards where I need to go, even in learning
different languages such as English. Language keeps me grounded, it gives me identity and a sense of belonging, because I know where I stand, and it gives me a strong sense of pride.
I had the opportunity to pick up the English language as I was growing up in the school. I learned both ways, English and Walpiri. I can read and write in both English and Walpiri both, so it helps me to learn both ways, to fit into both cultures, English and Walpiri. I think it helps. I think it is important, especially in younger children because they soak up knowledge very quickly. Especially when they have English coming in and they do not know much about this new language, they have to be slowly fed knowledge. I think the Walpiri language is the way to help them learn about with English—using both as a way of gaining knowledge, growing up strong and grounded. It helps them get to where they want to go in life. So I think it is important that we keep both languages. That is what we had when I was growing up in Yuendumu."

Myself, I consider that to deny children to grow up multi-lingual WHEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES EXIST FOR THIS TO HAPPEN is nothing short of a crime.
The additional costs this may entail are nothing compared to the costs resulting from the fallout of disempowering stigmatizing and destroying societies that are still (against all odds) part of the rich diverse tapestry of Australian multi-cultural multi-linguistic society.

Mr.Wyatt is spot on when saying Aboriginal children should receive a 'full Western education'. Monolingual monocultural ("English only") methods are not the pathway to achieve this.

“Cultural survival is not about preservation, sequestering indigenous peoples in enclaves like some sort of zoological specimens. Change itself does note destroy a culture. All societies are constantly evolving. Indeed a culture survives when it has enough confidence in its past and enough say in its future to maintain its spirit and essence through all the changes it will inevitably undergo. ”
― Wade Davis, The Wayfinders
To those that are prepared to "walk in another's shoes" I highly recomment The Wayfinders.

Paul Henderson (the former Chief Minister of the NT) said he wanted remote Aboriginal children to have the same education opportunities that his children had had.
In my own sardonic way I interpreted that to mean that he wanted children to be taught in their mother tongue (as had his). Unfortunately I don't think that is what Paul Henderson meant.
Maybe we'll have more luck with the new Chief Minister (Terry Mills) that has made some pro-bilingual noises.

One can only imagine the soul crushing circumstances of young people in remote communities, with generational poverty and dysfunction their only examples of what is in store for them. To break free and succeed in that "western" (read modern) world, they have to over come some truly monumental obstacles, that to us, are no more bother than what shoes we will wear to work tomorrow. I know policies in the past have ranged from full blown intervention, to isolating them from the rest of us by deeming them special and custodial of the remote areas they live in, two evils that just don't work. The article is correct in that to complete a successful education, people with deeper cultural ties and sensitivities than we possess need to have their own topical subjects woven in the the 3 R's or economics, or computing. Otherwise they will be set up to fail again with nanny state objectives, righteously proposed but ultimately falling short of what these young people really need.
They need an environment free from all the ills currently haunting it, they need an environment where they get back their pride and sense of self and sense of worth, and we as a society have to reciprocate by acknowledging them as equals, with no special circumstances, just honesty and respect. Let them know we value them, and they will thrive. As it is at the moment we tell them what to do, how to do it, we ask them to be caught between 2 worlds but give them no tools to adapt. There is a long way to go, and they need for us to offer more than just pipe dream programs with outcomes already factored in. It is time to think outside the box and have an inclusive agenda, not an aboriginal agenda, verses a "the rest of us" agenda.

Why compare "year 3" results across the states, when remote kids enter school and move to year 3 with very different experiences, in many areas advanced of our city kids. When I taught in an indigenous school, teachers faced a completely new set of students in their class by mid-year. Parents valued schooling when families were present in town but also valued culture when families relocated to outstations. By year 3 the indigenous kids may have experienced a year of western schooling as opposed to five years (including four year old, pre primary, yr 1,2,3 ) schooling experienced by city kids. Direct comparisons of NAPLAN scores are meaningless. When those kids and families returned to town they returned to school and their western schooling continued. If we acknowledge this and celebrate learning lets allow students to continue in schools as long as they need to accomplish their individual educational goals. Our current model for schooling is outdated. We have the opportunity in remote schools to throw out the structures of lock-step year levels matched to curriculum and instead group students as to family group/interest/language...and learning needs.

Michael Dodson

Oh, and a heads-up. There is no such thing as "Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander culture"

Being pro-bilingual somehow is seen by far too many people as being against English. I'm not aware of any pro-bilingual education Warlpiri person that doesn't want their children to learn English,
Similarly when Ben Wyatt stated that remote Aboriginal children "need a 'full Western education', many assdumed that that meant he was against Aboriginal languages and culture.
A bit like when many of us didn't believe in the existense of WMDs this meant that we were pro Saddam Hussein. These are known as non-sequiturs.
Similarly wanting to maintain one's culture is somehow seen as not to be willing to adjust to or step into "mainstream" society. From my observations in a cross-cultural environment I see this as patently untrue. Those most able to navigate that "outside world" are often also the strongest in their Warlpiri Identity.
Countles investigations have shown that there are many advantages (social, intellectual etc.) to those that have had the great fortune of growing up with more than one language, So much the better if they also get to be multi-literate. Those that deny or are not willing to acknowledge this research remind me of climate change deniers or the flat earthers and witch-burners of yesteryear.

I think we're all missing the point. We're debating why our educational system doesn't cater for, or doesn't benefit our indigenous population.

This debate has raged for what, 20, 30, 40 or 50 years? And we're no further advanced. And that's because our educational system is still based on a model created 50-100 years ago.

Our current system doesn't even cater for white anglo saxon children, let alone any other.

Ask any anglo/immigrant child, from age 6 through 18; "Do you enjoy school?" ... and what's the majority answer going to be?

Ask your own kids. You already know the majority answer.

So how can we as adults and bureacrats, continue down the same path, repeating the same mistakes, and yet expecting a different outcome?

My own oldest child, now 25, was home schooled, in a gentle, relaxing, enjoyable environment until he was in grade 6. That's when his "education system" schooling ended. He could read and write english and understood the concepts of mathematics. That's all that was needed. His education was finished.

He is now a computer programmer, self taught, with a few voluntary TAFE courses and a couple of years in Uni under his belt. He now writes android apps for tourism destinations.

He's out there on the cutting edge of technology and innovation, and it had nothing to do with his education or lack thereof.

He can still read, write and use numbers. The same as every other Australian.

What we're really debating here, is the fact that forcing indigenous children to sit in classrooms for 4-8 hours every day, being force fed useless information, just doesn't work. That frustrates our western mind-set.

In reality, all a child needs to succeed in our western culture is the ability to fluently master reading, writing and mathematics. That's it, nothing more. Every other skill that is required to succeed in our culture is acquired in our everyday lives in our communities.

This concept of forcing children into "classes" (should be illegal on racism grounds), based on their age is pre-1900 thinking. And yet we keep blindly doing it, and wonder why it's not working on our anglos and indigenous.

Teaching mindless crap for 8 hours every day just to fill in the time, does not fool even a 10 year old.

I also have a 10 year old, who has attended the standard education system since he was in Prep. He's now 10 and can still barely write words, let alone a sentence. He can only now just work out a clock, with some difficulty and guessing. He's completed 5 years of our educational schooling. And still he finds it difficult to read, write and use numbers.

He happens to be a bit slower than the majority of the kids in his age group. He's not on his own, there are others, but they're not the majority. And it's the majority that our NAPLAN and other scoring uses as it's benchmarks for normality.

Sitting in a classroom for 10 years is not normal. We're forcing an unnatural system upon our children and it shows up starkly when we try to enforce this system on those not culturally prepared for it.

Our education system for our children (white, black, yellow or green), is as "wrong" as forced assimilation has been wrong.

Until we realise this, and change the system entirely from grade 1 onward, this problem with indigenous education will stay as it is. No tinkering or money will make any difference. The kids hate school, fullstop. and rightfully so. It's a boring, intimidating environment where you're constantly compared to your peers. Competition is the name of the game, you against me. Who get's the highest score is all important.

Just what do we come out of 10 years of schooling with once we've learnt how to read, write and add up?

Well said, Shaun King. As a former secondary teacher I was appalled at the lack of actual learning that took place each day. No wonder we have discipline problems. I say indigenous children attend school for a maximum of 10 days in the year and still be promoted to the next grade. Bizarre!
I would add the ability to reason as a fourth major skill required to function in our society.

In very remote locations, what is the desired outcome of the inhabitants? Do they wish their children to become adept at both (Aboriginal and 'western')cultural educational outcomes, which may result in a mass exodus from their remote communities?

In rural farming communities of western nations, the educated young flock to cities, or overseas, and don't choose to continue with the traditional way of life. This in turn has contributed to the decline of these communities. What would happen to the remote indigenous communities if all of the children left? Or, are they expected to get an education in health and education in order to 'come home' and help in those fields? If so, isn't that a contradicition of the purpose of education, in that it empowers individuals to pursue what ever career path or life direction they may be interested in?

I hope there is far more research undertaken in what the people in remote communities want for themselves.