Let’s talk about the ‘gap’.

The ‘gap’ I am referring to is the achievement gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students in Australia. I had always been aware of this achievement gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students but, I did not recognise until this year the significant differences between the two groups. As a prospective teacher I hope that the gap widening between indigenous and non-indigenous students have significantly decreased in ways that are effective and I myself can contribute to the decrease through certain methods. The National Australian Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) continues to demonstrate since 2008 the great differences in achievement outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous students. It raises many vital questions for indigenous students on how they can achieve high outcomes similar to their non-indigenous counterparts, is NAPLAN culturally appropriate, or what can be done to help indigenous students with literacy and numeracy skills. In an attempt to answer these questions I explore Margot Ford’s article 'Achievement gaps in Australia: What NAPLAN reveals about education in equality in Australia', and an online article from the Sydney Morning Herald by Anna Patty, Indigenous students are six years behind in literacy and numeracy, report says (2010).

Authorities have claimed that indigenous students from remote areas, such as those in the Northern Territory, have seen significant improvements in literacy and numeracy (Ford, 2012, p. 10). For instance, the Strategic Plan for Indigenous education in 2006 stated that there was an increase in indigenous students achieving the national standard in literacy and numeracy in the Multi-level Assessment Program (MAP) (MAP was replaced by NAPLAN in 2008) (Ford, 2012, p.10). Ford (2012) points out that these results may seem positive for indigenous students, but it definitely conceals the underachievement of indigenous students compared to non-indigenous students. In 2009 the Centre of Independent Studies reported that Year 9 indigenous students achieved similar scores in NAPLAN to non-indigenous students in Year 3 (Patty, 2010).

The Sydney Morning Herald article stated that the My School website announced that “indigenous failure was concentrated in schools attended mainly by Aboriginal children” and writes that the NAPLAN report conducted by the CIS was “appalling” (Patty, 2010). If it is so appalling, what has been done or what can be done to benefit and increase literacy and numeracy skills for Australia’s indigenous students? Strangely, this article mentions that the indigenous background of students who sat for NAPLAN does not determine their performance merely because 60 per cent of indigenous students passed the test (Patty, 2010).

Since the Northern Territory continues to have significantly higher failure rates in NAPLAN compared to any other state or territory (Patty, 2010) there has been suggestions as to why there is a great achievement gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students (Ford, 2010, p. 17). One reason included removing bilingual education in the 1990s due to the fierce opposition from indigenous and linguistics which affected teaching practices, decreased role of Aboriginal Teachers and diminishing connections between an Aboriginal perspective with a non-Aboriginal perspective towards the world (Ford, 2012, p. 17). However, when there have been programs to improve the achievement gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students it is more difficult as it is expected that these programs would instantaneously deliver the intended results (Ford, 2012, p. 3).

As much as we know about this achievement gap that affects indigenous and non-indigenous students there needs to be a solution to decrease the widening of the gap.


REFERENCES:

Ford, M 2013, ‘Achievement gaps in Australia: what NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia’, Race Ethnicity and Education, vol. 16, no.1, pp. 80-102.

Patty, A 2010, ‘Indigenous students are six years behind in literacy and numeracy, report says’, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 April, accessed 20 October 2013, < http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/indigenous-students-are-six-years-behind-in-literacy-and-numeracy-report-says-20100428-tsh1.html>.