Educational Outcomes for Indigenous Has Been Established to Frame the Task of and Non-Indigenous Australians in All Four Closing the Gap in Indigenous Disadvantage
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Indigenous Education and Training, 2007 Indigenous Education and Training, National Report to Parliament on to Parliament National Report National Report to Parliament on Indigenous Education and Training, 2007 National Report to Parliament on Indigenous Education and Training, 2007 © Commonwealth of Australia, 2011. ISSN 1447-588X This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. All other rights are reserved. For copies of this report please contact: Director Indigenous Reporting Team Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Location C12MT4 GPO Box 9880 CANBERRA CITY ACT 2601 National Report to Parliament on Indigenous Education and Training, 2007 on Indigenous Education and Training, National Report to Parliament ii Foreword This is the seventh National Report to Parliament reading, writing and numeracy achievements on Indigenous Education and Training. Reports by 2018 and halving the gap for Indigenous for the period 2001-2006 painted a picture of students in Year 12 attainment or equivalent inadequate progress. These annual reports have attainment rates by 2020. provided a national picture in closing the gap A National Indigenous Reform Agreement between educational outcomes for Indigenous has been established to frame the task of and non-Indigenous Australians in all four Closing the Gap in Indigenous disadvantage. education sectors. It sets out the objectives, outcomes, outputs, This Report of the position in 2007 indicates performance indicators and performance some gradual improvement in levels of benchmarks agreed by COAG. It also provides participation and engagement of Indigenous links to National Agreements and National children and young people but also underscores Partnership agreements across COAG which the importance of the steps that the Government include elements aimed at closing the gap in has taken to intensify and refocus efforts to Indigenous disadvantage. improve educational outcomes. Notable statistics Education is the foundation upon which every for 2007 include the decrease in the proportion individual builds their participation in society, of Indigenous students who achieved a Year 12 builds their capacity to work and their ability Certificate, from 51.3% in 2001 to 44.3% in to lead a healthy and active life. As this report 2007. Since 2001 there has been a substantive indicates, there is much work to be done to change in the enrolment patterns of Indigenous close the gaps in education and training in higher education students, with a 25% order for Indigenous Australians to achieve increase in enrolments in Bachelor and above outcomes similar to their non-Indigenous courses and a fall of 36% in below Bachelor counterparts. This change is perfectly possible degree courses. to imagine. It will not depend so much on the When the Government took office at the end of actions of government as on our ability as a 2007 we committed to seeking fresh ideas and wider community to mobilise a national effort implementing new approaches to the enduring which creates and embeds the solutions in our problems and vast gaps of disadvantage shared life. experienced by Indigenous Australians. Our Government is in a position to lead, to We committed to tackling the educational invest, to innovate and to learn. These are disadvantage of Indigenous Australians important, practical steps which will develop the and made it a key goal of our Education 2007 on Indigenous Education and Training, to Parliament National Report opportunities and build the capacity needed for Revolution program. Indigenous educational outcomes and economic Improvements in Indigenous education participation to improve over the coming years. outcomes can only be achieved by a I commend this report to Parliament. concerted effort by all concerned, and the ‘Closing the Gap’ strategy calls on all Australian governments to commit to closing the unacceptable gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in the areas of health, education, employment and social justice. Peter Garrett The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Minister for School Education, Early Childhood agreed to six ambitious targets for closing the and Youth gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, which include halving the gap in iii National Report to Parliament on Indigenous Education and Training, 2007 on Indigenous Education and Training, National Report to Parliament iv Contents Foreword iii List of Acronyms ix List of Tables xi List of Figures xv Executive Summary xvii Story 1 — Menindee Children’s Centre, Menindee, New South Wales xxvi 1 Reporting on Indigenous Education and Training in 2007 1 1.1 The purpose of this report 1 1.2 Provision of education and training for Indigenous Australians 2 1.2.1 Governments working together 2 1.2.2 The policy context – the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy 3 1.2.3 Delivery of educational services and funding 4 1.3 The framework for this report 5 1.3.1 An annual report and a review of the period 2001-2007 5 1.3.2 Structure of the chapters 5 1.3.3 Indigenous influence, involvement and presence 6 1.3.4 Stories from education providers 6 1.4 Data used in this report 7 1.4.1 National data sources 7 1.4.2 Data from Indigenous Education Program performance reports 7 Story 2 — Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council, New South Wales 10 2 Preschools 13 2.1 Overview 13 2.1.1 Key data on Indigenous preschool education, 2007 13 2007 on Indigenous Education and Training, to Parliament National Report 2.1.2 Key movements in Indigenous preschool education in 2007 14 2.1.3 The provision of preschool education for Indigenous children 15 2.1.4 Data sources 15 2.2 Equality of access and equity of participation 16 2.2.1 Indigenous preschool enrolments 16 2.2.2 Attendance 18 2.3 Equittable and appropriate education outcomes 20 2.3.1 English literacy readiness 20 2.3.2 Numeracy readiness 21 2.4 Indigenous influence, involvement and presence in preschools 22 2.4.1 Involvement of Indigenous people in educational decision-making 22 2.4.2 Indigenous employment in preschools 23 v 2.4.3 Professional Development 25 2.4.4 Culturally Inclusive Curriculum 27 2.5 Conclusion 29 Story 3 — Little Yuin Aboriginal Preschool, Wallaga Lake, New South Wales 30 3 Schools 33 3.1 Overview 33 3.1.1 Key data on Indigenous school education, 2007 33 3.1.2 Key movements in Indigenous school education in 2007 35 3.1.3 The provision of school education for Indigenous people 36 3.1.4 Data sources 36 3.2 Equality of access and equity of participation 37 3.2.1 Indigenous school enrolments 37 Story 4 — Worawa Aboriginal College, Healesville, Victoria 38 3.2.2 Retaining Indigenous students in schooling 41 3.2.3 Equity of educational participation 42 Story 5 — Tatachilla Lutheran College, McLaren Vale, South Australia 46 3.3 Equitable and appropriate educational outcomes 50 3.3.1 Literacy and Numeracy 50 3.3.2 Proficiency levels 56 3.3.3 English as a Second Language for Indigenous Language Speaking Students 57 Story 6 — Catholic Education Office of Western Australian, Leederville, Western Australia 58 3.3.4 Senior secondary outcomes 60 3.4 Indigenous influence, involvement and presence in schools 60 3.4.1 Indigenous participation in decision-making in school education 66 3.4.2 Indigenous employment in schools 67 3.4.3 Professional development 70 3.4.4 Culturally Inclusive Curricula 72 3.5 Conclusions 74 Story 7 — Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, Brisbane, Queensland 76 National Report to Parliament on Indigenous Education and Training, 2007 on Indigenous Education and Training, National Report to Parliament 4 Vocational Education and Training 79 4.1 Overview 79 4.1.1 Key data on Indigenous Vocational Education and Training, 2007 79 4.1.2 Key movements in Indigenous Vocational Education and Training in 2007 80 4.1.3 The provision of Vocational Education and Training for Indigenous Australians 81 4.1.4 Data sources 82 4.2 Equality of access and equity of participation 82 4.2.1 Indigenous VET enrolments 82 Story 8 — Adult Community Education (ACE) North Coast Incorporated, North Coast, New South Wales 84 4.2.2 Equity of Participation 87 4.2.3 Participation in Australian Apprenticeships 88 4.3 Equitable and appropriate educational outcomes 90 4.3.1 Literacy and numeracy 90 4.3.2 Module/competency completions 91 vi 4.3.3 Course completions 93 4.3.4 Graduate outcomes 93 4.3.5 Educational outcomes of Indigenous Australian Apprentices 94 4.4 Indigenous influence, involvement and presence in VET 95 4.4.1 Indigenous involvement in decision-making 95 4.4.2 Indigenous employment in VET 97 4.4.3 Professional development 99 4.4.4 Culturally inclusive curricula 100 4.5 Conclusions 101 Story 9 — Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, Victoria 102 5 Higher Education 105 5.1 Overview 105 5.1.1 Key data on Indigenous higher education in 2007 105 5.1.2 Key movements in Indigenous higher education in 2007 106 5.1.3 The provision of higher education for Indigenous Australians 107 5.1.4 Data sources 107 5.2 Equality of access and equity of participation 108 5.2.1 Indigenous higher education enrolments 108 5.2.2 Equality of Access — the Indigenous access rate 110 5.2.3 Equity of participation — the Indigenous participation rate 112 5.2.4 Other measures of equity of participation 113 5.2.5 Access and participation strategies 115 5.3 Equitable and