A large study shows preschool benefits Aboriginal children's development more than childcare or being taken care of at home. But the benefits of preschool are not as large as for non-Aboriginal kids.
Indigenous owners left their mark on the ANU campus in the form of this scar tree. Now the goal is to increase Indigenous achievements in higher education.
ANU
The tertiary qualifications target requires higher education providers, schools and communities to work together. But higher education can also help close the gap in the other target areas.
Beth Madsen, The University of Queensland; Marnee Shay, The University of Queensland, and Sue Creagh, The University of Queensland
Programs for Indigenous young men's education are funded at a higher rate than for young women. There is little rigorous evaluation for these programs, and what evidence there is isn't Indigenous-led.
Children at Lajamanu, NT, telling sand stories in Light Warlpiri .
Carmel O'Shannessy
Strong language and culture is listed among the fresh Closing the Gap targets. But, as the latest research on speakers and learners shows, language is fundamental to well-being across the board.
The new closing the gap targets are ambitious, especially in the area of early childhood education. But this doesn't mean they can't be met, with the right approach.
A white sucker underwater in the St. Lawrence River.
(Shutterstock)
Children in an Oji-Cree northern First Nation are learning traditional teachings about 'Namebin' (suckers) and working on literacy skills at the same time through a community literacy project.
Despite challenges, teacher education offers a path to begin righting inequities and injustice. Here, people stand on a map from the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada at a launch in Toronto in 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch
Decolonized education means working with settler teachers to overcome guilt and find the courage to acknowledge privilege, racism and colonialism to work in partnership for a better future.
Siena Stubbs, 17, from Yirrkala in East Arnhem Shire reads the Imagination Declaration on behalf of a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students at the 2019 Garma Festival.
AIME
Marnee Shay, The University of Queensland; Annette Woods, Queensland University of Technology, and Grace Sarra, Queensland University of Technology
A group of school students have just shown what real leadership looks like on Indigenous issues – and you'll hear more about their ideas in coming months at your local school, childcare centre or uni.
Isabel, on left, when she was working for Mangankali Housing Company, talking to politicians and/or bureaucrats on the Wollai, the Aboriginal reserve at Collarenebri.
Family collection, provided to author.
Denied an education in 1930s Australia because she was too black, Isabel Flick went on to fight segregation at her local cinema in the early 1960s. She became a powerful campaigner for Indigenous rights.
If we are to close the gap in health outcomes for Aboriginal people, we need to develop and staff culturally competent health-care services.
from shutterstock.com
The program we’ve developed led to a 96% completion rate for one group of Aboriginal TAFE students.
Diminishing racism and the policy failure that it causes requires Indigenous voice at all levels of public policy-making and implementation.
AAP/ Neda Vanovac
Flexischools appear to be doing Indigenous education better than mainstream schooling. To close the gap in education, we should look at what these schools are doing and apply it in the mainstream.
New curriculum resources in Manitoba, Canada, integrate Indigenous perspectives through inquiry, video, images, quotes, arts, activities and exemplars.
(New World Ideas)
Innovative teaching resources in the province of Manitoba, Canada, introduce schoolchildren to concepts of interdependence and reciprocity with the land.
A Simon Fraser University student wears a First Nations Coast Salish woven cedar hat as she and other students wait to receive their degrees during the fall convocation ceremony at the university in Burnaby, B.C., on October 11, 2013.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Education systems around the world are increasingly recognising the value of local approaches to thinking, learning and being.
Barney Williams Jr., a residential school survivor, hugs Santa Ono, president of the University of British Columbia, during the opening of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at Vancouver, on April 9.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ben Nelms
The role of universities in the shameful Indian residential school system needs to be addressed. The president of one of Canada's leading universities explains why it's time to apologize.
Indigenous Australians – just on 3% of the population – comprise at least 10%, and generally 12%, of elite footballers.
AAP/Julian Smith
Students from the Philippines, China and India consistently achieve better results at school than their Australian-born counterparts. This is due to a number of factors, including parents' values.
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Associate Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University