Conceptualising and Measuring the Mobility of Indigenous Students in the Northern Territory

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Taylor ◽  
Bruce Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Student Mobility ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Educational Administrators ◽  
Remote Setting

AbstractThe vexed and ongoing issue of poor educational outcomes for Indigenous students in the Northern Territory continues despite years of successive programs and policies. Much of the debate has been on funding and pedagogy, in particular the merits or otherwise of bi-lingual teaching. Largely omitted from discussions, although well known by teachers and schools in remote areas to be an issue, are high rates of in-term student mobility. Such “unexpected” moves are thought to affect the capacity for students to achieve benchmark outcomes, for teachers to deliver these and for schools to administer their students within the allocated systems and budgets. Up to now teachers and schools have relied on anecdotes to engage in dialogue around the impacts of mobility. This is because adequate conceptualisations for aggregating, depicting and reporting on the size and nature of in-term mobility were not available. This paper documents several years of work into producing these outcomes. Three measures are conceptualised and outlined in this paper which will be of interest to teachers, schools and educational administrators in all jurisdictions where services are delivered in a remote setting. The results clearly demonstrate the high churn of Indigenous students within terms, especially in remote areas of the Northern Territory. The findings from this study can be applied to inform funding and policy making and as a basis for further research to document the impacts for teachers and schools.

Benefits of Community Involvement at the School Level

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
National Average ◽  
School Level ◽  
Student Enrollment ◽  
Indigenous Australian ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Indigenous Student

I would like to begin by providing a context that can be used to place my discussion about experiences at a remote school in the Northern Territory (NT) into perspective.In the NT 53% of schools are located in remote areas and these cater for up to 23% of NT students (Combe, 2000). The NT has the highest proportion of Indigenous students enrolled in schools with 35.2% of the overall student population identifying as Indigenous Australian (Collins, 1999). The next closest state is Western Australia with an Indigenous student enrollment average of 5.1 %, this is compared with a national average of 3.2%.

Improving Indigenous student outcomes through improved teacher education: the views of Indigenous educators

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-152
Author(s):  
Tracy Woodroffe
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Indigenous Student ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Australian Education ◽  
Specialist Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Educators

This article describes an alternative approach to improving Indigenous student outcomes through improved teacher education, expressed through the views of Indigenous educators. The strategies required relate to the need for a cultural shift within the current Australian education system identified by Indigenous educators. The research demonstrates how connections between Westernised education systems and knowledge of Indigenous educators provide a locus of potential for the improved educational outcomes of Indigenous students. Indigenous educators’ knowledge about teaching and their specialist knowledge about Indigenous content place them in a position of epistemological privilege. The vehicle for change in the interests of Indigenous students is teacher education, and the driving force of untapped potential is Indigenous educators.

scholarly journals Working with Aboriginal young people in sexual health research: a peer research methodology in remote Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-28
Author(s):  
Stephen Bell ◽  
Peter Aggleton ◽  
Andrew Lockyer ◽  
Tellisa Ferguson ◽  
Walbira Murray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Community Control ◽  
Remote Setting

In a context of ongoing colonization and dispossession in Australia, many Aboriginal people live with experiences of health research that is done “on” rather than “with” or “by” them. Recognizing the agency of young people and contributing to Aboriginal self-determination and community control of research, we used a peer research methodology involving Aboriginal young people as researchers, advisors, and participants in a qualitative sexual health study in one remote setting in the Northern Territory, Australia. We document the methodology, while critically reflecting on its benefits and limitations as a decolonizing method. Findings confirm the importance of enabling Aboriginal young people to play a central role in research with other young people about their own sexual health. Future priorities include developing more enduring forms of coinvestigation with Aboriginal young people beyond data collection during single studies, and support for young researchers to gain formal qualifications to enhance future employability.

Self-recognitionandWell-being: Speaking Aboriginal EnglishinHealthy Classrooms

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 7-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Classroom Learning ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Aboriginal Students

AbstractThis paper applies the findings of doctoral research undertaken in the Northern Territory. It draws on extended interviews with nine Indigenous students studying at university to produce four findings for classroom learning and teaching, one of which highlights the need to recognise Aboriginal English as a focal point of the curriculum for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students. I take the position that this recognition in schools depends to a significant degree on universities training their preservice teachers to recognise Aboriginal English as necessary to Aboriginal student learning and therefore as a legitimate dialect of the classroom, and this in turn requires universities to recognise the importance of Aboriginal English in their own curricula. Towards the end of the paper, I draw on some literature to suggest ways in which Aboriginal English could be incorporated into the classroom.

The status and future of bilingual education for remote indigenous students in the Northern Territory

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Devlin
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Student Attendance ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Educational Approach ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
The Status ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Political Decision Making

This article analyses the status and future of bilingual education programs using Indigenous languages and English in remote Northern Territory schools. It explains why this educational approach is so contested at present, resulting in an unresolved situation which can best be regarded as an uneasy compromise on the ground and a stalemate at higher levels of political decision making. If the bilingual education approach was better understood by the current NT Government, there would a strong impetus now to refine and effectively implement a model of schooling that is appropriate for students in remote areas. Instead, current politicians debunk the bilingual approach, thereby robbing schools and literacy plans of any momentum and distracting attention away from the work that needs to be done. Meanwhile, student attendance rates have fallen away to worryingly low levels (Dickson, 2010). The current regime may well resolve the impasse, but in the absence of any meaningful, open negotiation the future looks uncertain. It is too soon to judge the cost of this uncertainty, but it may well result in further alienation and the emergence of non-government alternatives.

Climbing the Educational Mountain: A Metaphor for Real Culture Change for Indigenous Students in Remote Schools

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Hewitson
Keyword(s):  
Culture Change ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Education Centre ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come

AbstractThe history of remote school education in the Northern Territory can best be summarised as years of lost opportunities, pedagogies of discrimination, and diminished lives for those parents and children who trusted and responded to the government’s invitation to come to school. From late 2001 to 2005 historic educational change occurred in the remote Community Education Centre of Kalkaringi and Daguragu in the Northern Territory, the site for the delivery of the Northern Territory’s first Year 12 Indigenous graduates studying in their own community school. At the heart of the historic achievement was a radical change in thinking about education for Indigenous students. This paper discusses some of the policy parameters and educational circumstances that prevented significant change in the delivery model of education for the Community Education Centres in addition to a conceptualisation of how that school circumvented the policy parameters and instituted real change from the ground up. The paper examines, through a critical lens, the nature of the culture change that was crafted and built upon within Kalkaringi School and its communities, despite an initial and significant sense of powerlessness felt by families and to some extent the teachers and principal within the school. Through the development and embrace of a metaphor of possibility and hope - the challenge of climbing the educational mountain formed the foundation for a dedicated and committed enactment of an equitable educational entitlement for remote Indigenous students.

The Intervention of Media Power in Indigenous Policy-Making

2013 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry McCallum ◽  
Lisa Waller
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Response ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Indigenous Policy ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Key Players ◽  
Media Power

This article explores how media power impacts on policy-making in Indigenous affairs in Australia through an examination of the 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER). The article draws on interviews with a range of actors in the policy constellation to discuss three intersecting factors contributing to this media-driven announcement: the Howard government's political and policy aims for Indigenous affairs; policy bureaucrats' increasingly mediatised practices; and the rise of conservative Indigenous spokespeople as key players in debates about Indigenous affairs policy. The article concludes that these factors have made a significant contribution to the manifestation of media power in the Indigenous policy-making process.

scholarly journals Supporting Indigenous Students in Science and STEM Education: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 555
Author(s):  
Qingna Jin
Keyword(s):  
Stem Education ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
Cultural Relevance ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
K To 12

There are a growing number of education programs in science and STEM education with the aim of improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students who have long been underrepresented in current education systems. The aim of this study is to systematically review empirical research from 2011 to 2020 that reported programs to support Indigenous students in science and STEM education. A total of 24 studies were included in this review. These programs involved student participants from all K to 12 grade levels and occurred in both formal and informal contexts. Most of the programs employed multifaced approaches, and cultural relevance and scientific inquiry practice were the two main features of the programs. All the programs had reported positive outcomes in relation to Indigenous students’ science learning, understanding of their own cultures and traditions, and/or the complementarity of Western science and Indigenous knowledge.

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