Essay on Aboriginal Education and Training Policy
The reconciliation movement in Australia towards the Aboriginal and Torres Islanders began with the 1967 referendum securing 90 percent approval of the non-aboriginal Australians in repealing the clauses of Australian Constitution that had been discriminatory against the Aboriginal community. The landmark referendum granted full citizenship status to the aboriginals of Australia following their right to vote being legislated by the Commonwealth in 1962 and by all states in 1965.
However, despite constitutional equity the aboriginal community was faced with persistent social and economic disparity in employment, income and education. In our study, we shall analyze the effort of the Department of Education and Training (DET), New South Wales in a holistic approach to address the educational disadvantage of the aboriginals in the state. The approach was personified with the flagship program of DET NSW called Aboriginal Education and Training Program (AETP), 2008 aimed at bridging the educational gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal community of Australia by 2012. This critical study is reflective of the appropriateness of AETP with respect to its objective and its impact on the principal stakeholders associated with the program.
Although the intent of DET NSW is welcome, our study attempts to evaluate the aims of AETP and how far it has succeeded in attaining its goals.
Our analysis covers the aims and strategies of the AETP approach, linking it with the historical context of racism against the Aboriginals by the European settlers. The essay will highlight racism as the underlying reason for the disparity of academic achievements between aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities of Australia. However, in spite of reconciliatory policy of DET NSW, the question remains how much it could achieve in improving the access of education to the indigenous students. The reason for impediments in achieving the targeted equity in education are analysed along with its impact on the major stakeholders of the program.
One of the most important commitments of Department of Education and Communities, New South Wales towards strengthening the education system of the Aboriginal community was affirmed as, ‘by 2012, Aboriginal student outcomes will match or better outcomes of the broader student population’ (NSW DET AETP 2008). By recognizing the Aboriginal culture (Muecke, 1992) and custodianship, NSW DET proposed to augment delivery of Aboriginal languages programs and improve their academic status in partnership with communities. By ensuring a smooth passage from education to employment for the Aboriginal students with provision of required trainings with respect to their workforce planning, career development, professional development and mentoring, the New South Wales government contemplated to implement the much anticipated Aboriginal Human Resource Development Plan. The development measures were taken in consultation with the Aboriginal communities aiming for their capacity building and introducing useful academic courses for the Aboriginal students in accordance with the community profiles. The TAFE NSW teachers responsible for implementing the education and training programs were made aware of the high priority attached with the Aboriginal development agenda. Actions were taken for the staff associated with the program to realize the criticality of the situation and the need for the Aboriginal students to imbibe a culturally appropriate education, toeing with the official line of NSW DET AETP 2008 declaration In this context, including Aboriginal education in key leadership and professional development programs had been a landmark policy measure by DET NSW in shaping a futuristic bi-cultural work practices in the state.
As backup measures to this policy a number of developmental strategies were adopted such as introducing personalized learning plans for the Aboriginal students with help of the teachers, parents, caregivers and fellow students along with employment opportunities aligned with TAFE courses for Certificate III and above. To motivate the indigenous students and their caretakers in enrolling themselves to the DET programs, the department made provisions to celebrate the achievements of the Aboriginal students in collaboration with their community. Efforts were made to identify and give incentives to the schools in celebrating the students’ achievements and cutting suspension rates for the Aboriginal pupils. The entire motivational model was monitored through technology driven School Measurement, Assessment and Reporting Toolkit (SMART).
The Aboriginal Education and Training Policy (2008) were chalked out on the basis of the Aboriginal Education Resources Review, where 400 locations across New South Wales were studied involving 4,000 students, parents and teachers. The research was conducted jointly the DET NSW and NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc. (AEGC) (Greenwood, Frigo & Hughes, 2002) and was instrumental in framing the policies of NSW Aboriginal Education and Training Policy (2008).
However, despite commendable efforts by DET NSW and the consistent statewide approach towards their welfare in education (as well as in other spheres) the Aboriginal community is still faced with considerable gap to a fair, just and equitable society.
Historical context is testimony to their disadvantaged status which started since James Cook encountered the ‘natives’ on 29th April 1770. It set off a systematic pattern of victimizing them through ‘white’ discourses (Bourke, 1998) depicting them as intertwined with nature and jungle and as subspecies of human (Spickard, 2005). In nineteenth century their depiction transformed to being primitive humanity (Yengoyan, 2001). They had been consistently portrayed as semi animal, noble savages, sub-humans etc.
Even in the twentieth century, the Australian Aboriginals were the portrayal of imaginary world of aliens by the ‘white’ intellectuals. Until 1950s, systematic direct discrimination (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) against Aboriginal people was ubiquitous in Australia. The Aboriginal children were restricted from joining mainstream schools by the state laws and parent’s of the non-aboriginal students.
However, the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Fredrickson, 2002) made it unlawful for any person to discriminate on racial and ethnic grounds. Nonetheless, there were alleged attempts by the state acts to encourage covert racism through some controversial laws, such as the Section 9 (1) of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, where it was required for a racial victim to prove discrimination committed to him.
Through direct and indirect racial discrimination against the Aboriginals, it was found from a number of surveys that rate of absenteeism of the Aboriginal students is higher than the non-Aboriginal students, although it couldn’t be ascertained that the phenomena was because of racism. Higher absenteeism and its impact on the Aboriginal students with respect to their ability to comply with the school curriculum have had cascading effect on their employment and achievements. Apart, certain issues like the criminal justice system, parent’s unemployment, cultural obligation and poor hearing have impacted the Aboriginal students on their performance in learning chain.
It was only recently that DET NSW focused on promotion of schools that were willing to participate in celebration of achievements by indigenous students and relaxing the maximum absenteeism rate. The department also attempted to get tough on racism in educational layout by including initiatives by TAFE Institute, various school based programs in New South Wales and professional learning.
Hire Expert Writers at Affordable Price
WhatsApp
Get Assignment Help
