Aplan Case Study

The reading focuses on two main points regarding Indigenous students school attendance. The first of which calls attention to the fact that Aboriginal students are at the highest risk of regular non-attendance due to a range of cultural, medical and school-based related issues. This is a statement that is supported by numerous journals and articles including, but not limited to; ‘School attendance and retention of Indigenous Australian students’ (Purdie & Buckley, 2010) and ‘Indigenous school attendance: Creating expectations that are ‘really high’ and ‘highly real’.’ (Dreise, Milgate, Perrett, & Meston, 2016). The 2006 Australian census also found an alarming difference in attendance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students that only grew as the children aged (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010).

For children, a bilingual education links up with enhanced numeracy and literacy skills. For Indigenous children, the teaching of their culture along with Australia’s modern cultures, throughout learning and development, children are better able to engage with the general culture, while still maintaining their own cultural identity (Gugu Badhun Limited, 2012). Thanks to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Indigenous people are being given back their rights in regard to their language and in turn cultural identity. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act (2003) is a new promise that the cultural heritage of the Indigenous people will be recognised, protected and managed in Queensland. These are just a few of the reconciliatory ways Australia is giving the Indigenous back the respect and rights they

With the world renown hallmark as the ‘lucky country’, it can be difficult to comprehend how the very people we have to thank for the prosperous land on which we live, are amongst the most disadvantaged in the world, rivalling many from developing countries. The dispossession of land, displacement of Australia’s first people and unremitting discrimination since European settlement, has given rise to intergenerational disadvantage in areas such as education, employment and health (***). Whilst the three areas are intertwined, education is unmistakably a quintessential vehicle for building resilience and improving socioeconomic outcomes for Indigenous Australians(***). Teachers and schools alike play a key role in acknowledging and addressing past and present injustices through:

This $340 million-dollar program could have applied its money more effectively elsewhere, instead of expecting an improvement in literacy and numeracy while effectively holding back resources that allow parents, students, and teachers to do so. The extra pressure faced by students in the creation of such a test based education system is expected to contribute to wider segregation of underperforming and academically successful students, which may see HSC turnout numbers plummet. NAPLAN results are grossly inadequate to elect students which are deemed “below the standards” and we should be doing more to act on information gained on NAPLAN, instead of using it as a

With the NCLB’s focused emphasis on English and math standards, other educational areas such as the arts and sciences have been overlooked. The No Child Left Behind Act also focuses on bringing the lower scores up and not helping in raising the scores of those students who are already at higher levels leaving these higher achieving students behind in a push for equality. Although test scores have risen and the achievement gap between minority and white students has decreased, the No Child Left Behind Act has damaged the United States educational system by not addressing the needs of all students, forcing curricula to exclude arts, civics, foreign language and sciences, and emphasizing testing and not learning. It is time for a change.

Despite the challenges and changes that still need to be made to insure no Aboriginal Child is left behind, there are changes currently being made that show the benefits of a culturally responsive program and bring hope to the future of Aboriginal early childhood education. The Aboriginal Head Start early childhood education program is slowly expanding. As well other programs have developed, like Awasisk Cultural Development Program in Prince George, British Columbia that uses Metis curriculum and Mannawasis AHS programs that teaches both Cree and English (Nguyen, 2011). I believe that these programs are the foundation for a future where all Aboriginal children have an opportunity to be educated through their cultural traditions and language.

Perhaps it is no surprise that, not providing libraries etc. within the Attawapiskat temporary schools due to poor funding, leads Indigenous student to have a low academic achievement. Therefore, poor funding and under resources of schools on reserves like Attawapiskat is another direct reason why Indigenous students are more likely not to finish high school in comparison to non-indigenous (Pidgeon, 2015). Hence, their inability to finish high school will affect their ability to obtain greater life chances of employment.

“The world’s greatest problems do not result from people being unable to read and write. They result from people in the world-from different cultures, races, religions, and nations-being unable to get along and to work together to solve the world’s problems.” These statements by James A. Banks have made a profound impact on my view towards multicultural education and the nation’s current trend of standardization and high-stakes testing. Scholarly research shows that the emphasis placed on testing and standards, mandated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, is causing teachers to focus entirely on basic skills in reading, writing, and math (Banks & Banks, 2010). This focus on basic skills is taking much needed time and attention away

Closing the Gap progress report based on the data from the 2006 and 2011 Censuses Year 12 completion is to ‘Halve the gap for Indigenous people aged 20-24 in year 12 attainment and this target was on track (Biddle, p 4). One of the Closing the Gap targets is to ‘halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for children with in a decade’. Progress in reading, writing and numeracy had been less positive as compared to Year 12 attainment (Biddle, p 7). Very few Indigenous students achieved the national benchmarks for Reading (e.g. for Year 3, 68.3 per cent of Indigenous students versus 93.5 per cent of

While advances have been made since residential schools, Aboriginal communities still face challenges in the delivery and content of educational programs and services to their children and face barriers with attempting to have their opinions taken into consideration (Greenwood et al., 2007). One example of this is that there is still a deficiency in education systems in teaching Aboriginal children about the culture and language specific to their traditions and values (Greenwood et al., 2007). Specifically, many high school curriculums still lack teaching about the history of Indigenous peoples or their culture and practices. They also do not account for the fact that Indigenous students may have different learning styles than non-Indigenous students (Postlethwaite, 2007). Additionally, the barriers that many Aboriginal youth and children face from social determinants are rarely taken into consideration by mainstream education (Greenwood, de Leeuw, & Fraser, 2007).

The education system has demonstrably undermined the educational needs of Indigenous students in the past (Fletcher, 1989 and Eades, 1995 as stated In Hanlen; 2002). Though there has been much support invested through the use of money, programs and time, all working towards a decent objective in Indigenous education, there has still been minor developments in the results of indigenous education (Hanlen, 2002).

People see this as them being lazy and unintellectual. We don’t think about the factors that may lead Aboriginals to struggle in our school systems now days such as: before the Europeans showed up, Aboriginals learned orally in their communities. This changed dramatically because in school systems now it’s all taught through writing and doing assignments, (Hutchings. C, n.d). Racism against Aboriginals is still quite common in our society today, which could make it a difficult learning environment for them.

Though this policy attempts to achieve a support of diversity and an increase of equity among the Victorian community, its affects are hindered by an education system that favours the middle class and above. As stated by Reid (2013, p. 13), the equity espoused within policy ‘is produced by policy processes which are counterproductive to the achievement of equity.’ This means that, in order to really achieve equity for all students, the education system needs to

Despite Australia’s ever-growing multiculturalism, it has been found that ‘monolingualism is extraordinarily common in Australia throughout the general population and all occupational levels (Bostock, 1973).’ With such an array of cultures present, one would assume that Australian education systems would have endless bilingual programs in place. However, this is not the case. Despite the successes of bilingual education on a global scale, little effort has been made to preserve any Australian languages, meaning that language death has become an everyday factor that Indigenous individuals have to deal with (Wurm, 1991). This paper discusses the concept of bilingual education and its faults in the transition from theory to

In contemporary Australian education, students’ achievement standards are compared nationally and globally, establishing them in the educational landscape. Education is identified and applauded as a strong component in lifting socio-economic disadvantage. Yet, high-standards and excellence often struggles to change the nature and outcomes of educational failure in various groups, including Indigenous people. This essay discusses whole school and classrooms practise that supports educating Indigenous students. Indigenous placement and displacement, the impact of socioeconomic status and how it effects Indigenous students and their health and well-being is explained and illustrated with examples of resources and tools for educators.