Indigenous Female Educational Leaders in Northern Territory Remote Community Schools: Issues in Negotiating School Community Partnerships
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INDIGENOUS FEMALE EDUCATIONAL LEADERS IN NORTHERN TERRITORY REMOTE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: ISSUES IN NEGOTIATING SCHOOL COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS Submitted by Martha Sombo Kamara Higher Teachers’ Certificate (HTC), B.A.Ed, M.Ed. Admin. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Educational Leadership Faculty of Education Australian Catholic University August 2009 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP AND SOURCES I hereby declare that this thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy received the approval of the relevant Ethics committee and is the product of my enquiry. The ideas and references of texts and other researchers have been acknowledged, and the work contained in this thesis has not been submitted for any other degree at any other university. ………………………………………… Martha Sombo Kamara Date: August 2009 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS An acknowledgement section is an opportunity to reflect and express appreciation to those who contributed significantly in many ways during the research and writing process of this thesis. The research in this thesis was a component of an ARC Linkage Grant (LP0561753). For their support and access to their scholarship, networks and resources, I wish to thank the Research Partners, Australian Catholic University and Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and the Collaborating Organisations in the Linking Worlds Project: Catholic Education Office, Darwin Northern Territory Department of Education and Training, and Principals Australia I wish to thank the five resolute women who collaborated in this study without whom it would not have been a reality. To Leah, Miriam, Kilipayuwu, Esther and Dhaykamalu, in relatedness I thank you for your cooperation, patience and unreserved trust. A special acknowledgement to my supervisors Professor Tony D’Arbon, Dr Jack Frawley, and Associate Professor Lyn Fasoli for informed guidance and support throughout the study. To my husband Aloysius my heartfelt thanks for your unrelenting patience, financial and moral support without which I never would have survived the rigours of an exercise of this magnitude. Thanks also to our loving daughter Antonia (Pos), our grandson Austin (Cucu) and all other family members in Sierra Leone and abroad. Lastly special thanks to friends and colleagues who contributed in various ways either as part of panel teams, editorial work or just keeping a sense of humour. This study would not have been possible without your unconditional support. ii PREFACE In this study the researcher has chosen to follow the tradition of using the third person instead of the first person “I” to avoid personalising the study. As much as possible the researcher wanted the study to accommodate the voices of the Indigenous female principals in a context that would not compromise their worldviews or disempower them. Throughout the study the terms “Aboriginal” and “Indigenous” are used interchangeably in the study to refer to Australian Aboriginal people since this group of people are being referred to as either “Aboriginal” or “Indigenous” in various Aboriginal and non Aboriginal texts. iii ABSTRACT Over the years in the Northern Territory, there has been a growing interest among educators and Indigenous people in remote communities to improve community school leadership and school community partnerships as a means of improving Indigenous school outcomes. This study has investigated and recorded the stories of five Indigenous female school principals in the Top End of the Northern Territory on their leadership approaches in negotiating school community partnerships in their respective communities. The female principals are in many ways regarded as pioneering leaders of their remote community schools in their own right, and are held in high esteem in their communities – qualities which made them ideal participants for this study. The study utilised a Biographic Narrative Interpretive Methodology (BNIM) to record, interpret and analyse the data for the study. Three interviews were conducted with each participant over a period of time. While the study revealed that Indigenous female principals have achieved major advancements in their individual and collective ways in working collaboratively with school communities, they also experienced enormous challenges and constraints in their efforts to demonstrate good educational leadership and work in partnership with their communities. Some of the challenges included their roles as women in an Aboriginal community; balancing school leadership, family and community commitments; and, complexities of working with the mainstream. In narrating their stories, the female principals maintained that cultural values play a significant role in building such relationships and advocated for language and culture to be supported through commitment at the system level. Additionally, they revealed that community school leadership should be flexible and context bound as rigid bureaucratic structures are inappropriate for Indigenous community setting. As such they advocated for culturally appropriate relationships between systems and local communities. Notably, among many other issues, they maintained that all appointments of principals in remote community schools must, at all times, be accompanied by iv adequate consultation and effective participation of community leaders and/or their relatives and community representatives. Such collaboration and cooperation between communities, schools, and the system is likely to improve relationships between schools and communities. Additionally, the Indigenous female principals in this study emphasised the importance of supporting dimensions of leadership, for example, shared leadership as a reflection and relatedness of their culture. Such dimensions they believe are required for developing and sustaining school community partnerships. v GLOSSARY OF TERMS Indigenous: The term Indigenous as used in this study refers to the original inhabitants of Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. It also includes other Indigenous peoples of the world Aboriginal: From the Latin word Aborigines, ab meaning from and origo meaning origin or beginning, the word has been in use since the 17th century and in Australia it is used to identify its Indigenous people as early as 1789. In contemporary Australian society, the term is used broadly to refer to the many regional groups that identify themselves under various local Indigenous languages Black: Definition of Black in this study refers to a diverse group of people characterised by dark skin colour. In this study, it includes Indigenous Australians, people from African American background and sub Saharan Africa Yolngu: It is a term used to refer to the people of north-east Arnhem Land Tiwi: The Tiwi Islands comprising two major Islands located 100kms north of Darwin are home to approximately 2500 Aboriginal people known as the Tiwi Balanda: Etymologically, this word comes from “Hollander” or “Balanda” meaning non-Aboriginal or white person. It is reported that during the trade with the Macassans in Indonesia Aboriginal people from Arnhem Land saw the Balandas who were white people and over time, the white person became known as Balanda vi ACRONYMS ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ACCO Australian Council of State Schools Organisation AIATSIS Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies ARC Australian Research Council ARIA Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia ASSPA Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness ATEC Aboriginal Teacher Education Program ATSIC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission BDC Biographic Data Chronology BDA Biographic Data Analysis BNIM Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method CDEP Community Development Education Program CEO Catholic Education Office CMS Catholic Missionary Society DAA Department of Aboriginal Affairs D-BATE Deakin-Batchelor Aboriginal Teacher Education Program DCC Darwin Community College DEET Department of Employment Education and Training DET Department of Education and Training DEST Department of Education Science and Training IESP Indigenous Education Strategic Plan vii MCEETYA Ministerial Council for Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs MOM Methodist Overseas Mission MSC Missionary of the Sacred Heart NATSIEP National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy NT Northern Territory NTDE Northern Territory Department of Education PaL Parents and Learning PEPP Partners in Education Parent Policy PINS Particular Incident Narrative RATE Remote Area Teacher Education SAL School of Australian Linguistics TSS Text Structure Sequentialisation SQUIN Single Question aimed at Inducing Narrative viii Figure 1 Map of Northern Territory indicating Research Communities ix TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP AND SOURCES ......................................................i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...........................................................................................ii PREFACE....................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................iv GLOSSARY OF TERMS ............................................................................................vi ACRONYMS ..............................................................................................................vii MAP ............................................................................................................................ix