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ev -
submitted 18/02/2010
I believe that there should be more education about the Indiginous Australians. When I was younger, I went to a school which had a large population of Indiginous Australians, and we were constantly taught about their ways and embraced their unique ways unconciously. I believe society's attitude towards Indiginous Australians need to be changed, and that is the way that this system will work the best. Education into both sides of the story of what an Australian is needs to be taught in the early stages of schooling, and I believe in doing this there will be much more equality, and everyone, not just Indiginous Australians, will have a well-rounded education. Coming from a non- "Australian" background myself, I understand first hand how jsut by your looks you can be seen as an outsider, and from a very young age I had to learn what a true Australian is, and I try to explain to people that I am just as Australian as them, but no one can be as Australian as the Indeginous Australians, but no one seems to understand that. The story needs to be set straight.
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Ev -
submitted 18/02/2010
I believe that ultumately the vote should go towards the Indiginous Australians. Realistically, how many Indiginous Australians sit in Parliment anyway? It is going to affect them, so they should have the final say, rather than the Government deciding. I believe that the education idea is fair enough, but (no offence), the way it has been outlined makes it appear that Indiginous Australians are mainly capable of apprentiships, rather than university. I believe that this system should not be soley based on Indiginous Australians, but all Australians that may not have the means to have a good education. The way this legislation has been presented puts Indiginous Australians in a box, which is not fair, and is not bridging the gap.
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Liam -
submitted 15/02/2010
Just had a few ideas that could greatly enrich the quality of not just education but also the quality of discussion surrounding the issue.
The government needs to subsidize school equipment (bags, stationary, books, textbooks) for students who cannot afford them.
Parents of indigenous children in rural communities needs to be made aware of the role they should be playing in the education of their child. It is one thing for the government to spend money on teacher training, materials and school buildings but if the children aren't staying in school then it will be for nothing. Perhaps an incentives-based system for families with children enrolled in school could be useful here?
The government needs to set up a program to filter teachers into indigenous schools for a short time as part of their teaching training. This would mean simply involving young trainee teachers in teaching rounds in rural schools for, say, 2 weeks in order to give them an insight into how these schools are run and the improvements that need to be made. Obviously 2 weeks is quite short but given the current time restraints placed on Education students it is difficult to see how a 4-5 week teaching round would be viable. More discussion is need on this point of course.
Scholarships for indigenous children to entice them down the path of the teaching profession would be a huge leap forward. Providing young indigenous children with a positive role model would definitely boost moral.
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Miki -
submitted 12/02/2010
The Govt needs to address issues outside of education. Giving more scholarships etc isn't going to help - there are plently around already for Indigenous students. They need to make schools a better place - where Aboriginal kids can speak their own languages and not get in trouble for it; where every single teacher treats Indigenous kids the same as non-Indigenous (including encouraging them and looking for the best in every student) and where Aboriginal culture and history is not a topic taught for a few weeks out of one year in our whole schooling life.
But OUTSIDE of education - the Govt should be working to improve EVERY aspect of Indigenous life. Ultimately you can throw as much money at this as you want, but until you improve everything - living standards, cultural awareness, health, etc - you don't have too much hope of really making any difference, because all these things are so intertwined.
And also (as already suggested here) why doesn't the Govt try asking Indigenous people, rather than coming up with all these ideas themselves? Why don't you visit the rural towns around the country, ones which are primarily Indigenous communities, and actually see how they live and ask THEM what they want the Govt to do. ASK THEM.
(p.s though thanks for letting us have a say too! Hopefully you actually listen...)
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Semara -
submitted 10/02/2010
Indigenous education is an issue that cannot be fixed with a simple answer. In order to fix all that has occurred you are going to need a number of different strategies. Firstly let’s start with the teachers. In education Queensland I know that they offer a small cross cultural awareness to teachers that are going to teach in a remote community, they offer it to graduating teachers from James Cook University and I think a couple of other places. This is effective in that it brings awareness to these teachers. But it is not enough. these only last an hour and a half. How are you meant to fit 230 years of history in that session? Teachers need to understand that today’s kids are the results of the generational impact of colonisation. This needs to be addressed. Secondly, teachers have such low expectations of indigenous students that the students simply reach that expectation but don’t exceed it. If we change the expectations of the teachers then we can change the out comes. Perhaps this needs to be drilled into our teachers from day one of their teacher education. And my last top three things to do is to start educating our kids before they have to go to school. That is by educating our parents to read to their kids and teach them literacy and numeracy. This is only the beginning. More needs to be done. But this is a start. Good luck.
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Odette -
submitted 9/02/2010
I very much agree with the need for Indigenous teachers in schools. Programs to encourage Indigenous students to take a tertiary education path towards a career in teaching, at times when they would usually be deciding whether or not to continue with their education would combat not only the problem of Indigenous students not undertaking tertiary education, but would increase the number of Indigenous educators in schools in the near future. This would create a better school environment for Indigenous students as they would feel less marginalised by the absence of their culture in schools - further encouraging continuation with higher educational studies. This way, a cycle would develop that would improve the overall issue of Indigenous unemployment and lack of education, and would ensure that in the future, the ‘gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy’ would begin to close.
Another way to create a better school environment for Indigenous students would be the teaching of Indigenous language and culture to ALL school students. In doing this, Indigenous students would feel their culture and identity was part of the school environment as a whole, rather than something that sets them apart from the rest of the school population. Therefore, feeling more accepted within their educational community, they would be more likely to continue on the path of education.
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Matthew -
submitted 8/02/2010
I believe that because of the cultural divide that extends to world view and family/kinship constructs, Indigenous education will continue to fail unless their is a dedicated/ flexible framework for which to create content, delviery methods and measures for success that will tie in with Indigenous values and interests. Thsi is extends beyond bi-lingual educaiton into the veyr reason for education. If they aren't showing up, its for a reason. Most remote Indigenous youth who are tied close with culture respect dearly their cultural laws. Tie education in with ths, show respect and provide a role for the adults within the community as experts in language and content development and you have a sure fire winner on your hands. I'm looking at doing it as a Masters project (development of an Indigneous education framework) and think that a good programme with structure and system development, staff training could occurr to a operational level within 4 years from beginning. What are peoples thoughts?
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Olivia -
submitted 5/02/2010
Regardless of race or gender, generally students with a poor primary education consequently struggle more through secondary and higher education despite the amount of assistance . I acknowledge there are many positive points of this proposal. However, without basic numeracy and literacy skills developed in childhood, how can we ever expect a student to succeed in a university-level exam or assignment? Having come from a family of teachers and raised in a rural community, I am disappointed to see that basic primary education appears to be a latter priority in the proposal. The logical action to closing any gaps appears to me as obvious; Targeting the roots of the education system and aiding younger generations will give these children the opportunity to succeed later in education, rather than having to catch up. Not only may they be more confident and proficient with their studies, it could even eventually hinder the need for assistance later on in life.
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Anthony -
submitted 4/02/2010
Canada has a university of first nations which focuses on education of the population as a whole in aboriginal cultures - whether students are aboriginal or not. They also ensure places for aboriginal students to become experts in fields of greatest need such as healthcare and education. We probably need to provide a similar avenue - an Australian university of first nations based on this model - it could even include a technial college. High schools could then offer pathways into these technical schools simlar to TAFE that are focused upon vocational skills development and also offer courses in cultural understanding so that people will have more of an idea of what is important to modern aboriginal people instead of us assuming. I think that this would allow for aboriginal scholars to share the knowledge with the wider public where appropriate, and allow for a sense of pride in culture and educational achievement. Students might be more likely to want to study in an institution that provides a greater understanding of their background, and non-indigenous students that want to close the gap in their studies will be able to find out the best ways to become involved. An Australian university of first nations would perhaps even become a peak research body into aboriginal Australia, and hopefully student leaders of this university will be involved in state and federal politics and eventually lead to increase overall leadership representation.
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Brendan Fugate -
submitted 1/02/2010
It is great that we are finally getting real about changing this
however how many indigenous students are participating in chosing their own future?
just a point of conversation. also perhaps more investment in showing role models, success stories, etc can be more beneficial than giving those students another test, or more school
it would be really great if aboriginal students dreams could be realized as often as those from the city, this would help encourage dreaming big
thx for reading this