Indigenous languages are under attack yet again. The federal budget, released on May 13, includes a substantial reduction of A$9.5 million over four years for the Indigenous Languages Support Programme…
Ethnic and Indigenous students report racism in Aussie schools, but who are the perpetrators?
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High-profile cases of racial discrimination on the sporting field and on public transport capture the media’s attention, but we hear less about racism in our schools. One survey of secondary students across…
Efforts to improve Indigenous students’ academic results aren’t working.
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Tony Dreise, Australian Council for Educational Research
Results from the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students has remained the same for the last decade. PISA 2012: How Australia…
Tony Abbott is looking for simple solutions to complex problems in Indigenous education.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The sixth annual update on Closing the Gap provides an unsurprising picture of slow progress on addressing issues of Indigenous disadvantage. The update presents a mixed bag of small improvements in life…
We should acknowledge that the mainstream system of education doesn’t always know what is best for Aboriginal people.
AAP/Neda Vanovac
Indigenous education has been prioritised by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the states at the recent COAG meeting. The focus is on truancy, with a school attendance target of 90-100%. “Punitive” measures…
NAPLAN tests are showing up the gaps in Australian education.
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The latest results from National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests show Year 5 Indigenous students have made real improvements in their reading scores. The national report of NAPLAN…
Can language nests revive endangered Indigenous languages?
AAP/Tara Ravens
More than 90% of Australia’s Indigenous languages are critically endangered and two-thirds of those languages spoken a hundred years ago are now dormant. The seeds of the current situation were sown long…
Hate to burst your bubble but there’s a lot more left to do in reforming early childhood education.
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The latest Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reform council report released this week showing small improvement in the quality of Australia’s early childhood education comes as federal and state…
A new research network launched today aims to increase PhD completion rates among Indigenous people, paving the way for greater numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experts shaping policy in…
Mathematics and Aussie Rules have quite a lot in common, which should be used when considering curricula for Indigenous – and non-Indigenous – students.
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When discussing how to embed Indigenous Australian knowledge and practices into the Australian national curriculum effectively - particularly the maths curriculum - there’s no better place to start than…
For all its faults, NAPLAN is helping Indigenous education.
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Federal education minister Peter Garrett confirmed late last week that education ministers from around the country had agreed to lift national efforts to improve Indigenous education results. Results from…
An Indigenous MP in Western Australia has highlighted the tensions in Indigenous education around culture and.
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Last week the Western Australian Indigenous Labor MP, Ben Wyatt, told a conference in Perth that Aboriginal children in remote communities need a “full Western education”. Wyatt went on to say that the…
After the Gonski review of school funding, the government has been given a new challenge to help preserve Indigenous languages in education.
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Language and Indigenous experts have welcomed a government report that recommends bilingual school education programs for Indigenous communities, saying it will benefit all Australians and help get some…
The government can’t wait any longer, it needs to make changes now to improve Indigenous education.
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In all the discussion, media releases, press conferences and TV coverage of this week’s government response to the Gonski review, it was fascinating that the issue of Indigenous education rated such little…
Any work that shines a spotlight on the appalling state of education for Indigenous Australians is to be welcomed. And so Helen and Mark Hughes are to be commended for their latest effort, a report called…
Aborginal students deserve better.
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There is no excuse for Indigenous education in Australia to be in such a terrible and shameful state. Given the billions of dollars that are allocated to primary and secondary schooling Australia-wide…
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University