Forging New Pathways

Forging new pathways The following photos and article were published in the Lismore Echo on Thursday 14 April, 2016. The story was written by Sophie Moeller. Below: Ngulingah distance education student, Donald Smith engaging with his school work. Ngulingah teachers Alex O’Reilly and Mick Sheather with students Tray Murray, Glen Rhodes and Rex Randall.

AFTER four years in operation, The Ngulingah Southern Cross School Distance Education Program has been closing the gap by helping Aboriginal students at risk of dropping out of school engage in learning.

According to the program’s head teacher, Rob Roberts, the program been so successful, the Prime Minister’s cabinet is interested in duplicating Ngulingah’s program in other areas of the country.

Based in Lismore at the Ngulingah LALC (Local Aboriginal Land Council) the program, which began with six students and now supports 30, caters for those who have not been able to maintain mainstream schooling. The program offers cultural security through innovative lessons which are relevant to the students’ lives.

Students who enter the program had, on average, attendance rates of less than 15%, some as low as 5% at mainstream schools. Other students were consistently being suspended or excluded, and were at risk of not completing their schooling. Some students are also under the direction of Juvenile Justice.

In 2015, Amnesty International reported that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are now placed in juvenile detention at an alarming 24 times the rate of non-indigenous youth, The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are incarcerated at 13 times the rate of non-indigenous Australians.

Community support has played a significant part in the program’s success to reverse such trends with the students having the opportunity to learn from local elders and have input into their educational own outcomes.

Through the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Indigenous Advancement Strategy grant and innovative transport arrangements, the program engages students from the Ballina, Lismore, Coraki and Casino areas. Southern Cross Distance Education have identified by keeping just three students out of correctional detention they are saving the government over $700,000 a year.

“The students are able to feel proud of, and identify with, their indigenous culture,” says Mr Roberts.

“Crucial to the engagement of these kids is that it runs all week,” said Mr Roberts.

“We are able to support the kids a hell of a lot more and make sure they are achieving an education standard. They are developing high expectations of themselves and leaving school looking for pathways to employment.

“They are also developing better relationships with their teachers as these kids are being taught as individuals.”

One student has become an accredited instructor in the MMA program and has secured employment. Another former student has been able to undertake a traineeship as an SLSO (student learning support officer) with the Ngulingah Southern Cross High School Distance Education program.

“These significant achievements highlight the students’ educational potential,” said Mr Roberts.

“It is very rewarding for the Southern Cross Distance Education team to see students engaged with education and realise they have the same opportunities as other students. We are definitely closing the gap of disengaged students,” he said.