Great concern has been given to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people in Australia in the last 50 years, with the 1967 referendum for
indigenous Australians to be included in the census, and Kevin Rudd’s “Sorry”
speech to victims of the ‘Stolen Generation’ in 2008. With the acceptance of
these indigenous Australians officially into our population, however, many
issues have been faced in the schooling of Aboriginal students in Sydney and
across the rest of Australia, who have been historically portrayed as being
less actively intelligent than the white British Anglo-Saxon descended students
in Australia (Vass, 2008, p.4).
The introducing of Aboriginal students to our westernized education
system has been very difficult and controversial. A central reason for this is
the insecurity indigenous Australian students experience in attempting to
conform to a school environment with the knowledge that their ancestors lived
in completely different learning environments (Ford, 2012, p.81), connecting to
the natural world rather than the internet. Additionally, some students of
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent may also come from low
Socio-Economic backgrounds and may, as a result, have financial difficulties
with buying equipment or paying school fees. It is vital, therefore, that
factors of financial instability and cultural insecurity be taken into account
when teaching indigenous students to make them feel as welcome as possible to
their classes.
I was uplifted to learn of the
rising success of Aboriginal students in schools when I found an article
published in The Sydney Morning Herald
on the 11th of August 2013 entitled “More Aboriginal children making
it right to the top” (McNeilage, 2013). The article and its attached video
discuss the teenage life of Lincoln Whiteley, an Aboriginal student from a
rural town called Geurie in Sydney and his transition to being a student of an
independent boarding school in the city. Although boarding school had negative
connotations in separating Lincoln Whiteley from his parents, mirroring that of
‘The Stolen Generation’, it ultimately provided him with a path for the future
as he now intends to follow the footsteps of his brother Mitchell to study
Commerce at Sydney University.
Programs such as the “School to
Work” program sponsored by the New South Wales NRL clubs have been put in place
to ensure the improvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in schools,
providing them with counseling and one on one mentoring. I recently viewed a
video regarding the success of this program entitled “School to Work helping Indigenous students” (Access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hfr7ILaVSp0) which contains interviews and
advice from a number of the participants of the program. The “School to Work”
program assisted these indigenous students in achieving their dreams and
provided a strong foundation for their future life of employment. Brad Tighe is
an example of a success of this program, having achieved his dream job of
playing rugby for the Penrith Panthers through pursuing school until the end of
year 12.
It is crucial, therefore, that
Australia continues to develop initiatives such as the “School to Work” program
for the long-term future successes of indigenous Australian education.
References:
- Vass,
G. (2012). “The racialised educational landscape in Australia: listening to the
whispering elephant”; Race Ethnicity and Education, p.4; doi:
10.1080/13613324.2012.67450
- Ford, M; “Achievement gaps in Australia: what
NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia”, Race Ethnicity
and Education; 16:1; DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2011.645570; (London:
Routledge, 2012).
- McNeilage, A; “More
Aboriginal children making it right to the top”; The Sydney Morning Herald; 11th
of August, 2013; http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/more-aboriginal-children-making-it-right-to-the-top-20130810-2rovd.html
- “School to Work helping Indigenous students”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hfr7ILaVSp0
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