Importance Of Attendance In Education

‘School attendance and Aboriginal Students’ by G. Partington, J. Gray & M. Byrne is an insightful piece that highlights the lack of attendance in mainstream schooling found amongst the Indigenous youth of Australia. However, the reading does not focus on the negative aspects of this lack of attendance but rather the reasons why these absences may occur. It aims to assist schools in minimising this problem by not only understanding the issue in more depth, but also promoting easy to implement strategies at both a teacher and whole school level.

Another difficulty many Native American students are faced with is high absent rates. “In 2005 Native American eighth graders had the highest rate of absences of any race or ethnic group in the preceding month- 66 % of Native American students had been absent, and 30 % had been absent three of more times in the past month.” (Doak 37) It boils down to the fact that students need to be in school to succeed in school. These absences can be attributed to a uninviting school setting. Often times Native American students are overlooked in classrooms in favor of other students who are seem more likely to do well. A school environment that is unwelcoming can be a strong deterrent for any student. These students need to feel that their education is helping them, and that it is worthwhile.

From the late 1800’s to 1996 more than 100,000 aboriginal children attended residential schools in Canada. At a majority of these government operated schools there were reports of emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual abuse along with punishment for cultural activities. Residential schools were implemented to liberate aboriginal people from their savage ways in order for them to survive in the modernizing society.1 To a majority of the current Canadian population, impacts of residential schooling are a part of a distant past, disassociated from today’s events, this misconception. Long lasting impacts as a result of residential schooling include minimal education leading to poverty, stigmatization by the non-aboriginal public, abuses of aboriginal rights in areas such as land and the environment and the growing loss of Indigenous cultures in younger generations. With the continuing misconception of the history and lasting impact of residential schools conflict between Indigenous people and the Canadian Government has not ceased, but increased.

Students as young as 3 would be sent off to schools where they would be beaten and sexually abused as a punishment for misbehaving. Emotionally, students were traumatized witnessing other students, friends and siblings beaten sometimes to death. Even though the government funded the schools, many still lacked of health requirements that were necessary resulting in overcrowding, poor sanitation and poor food quality, often leading to death. Studies show that 24 percent of children who were put into residential schools died and up to 75 percent of children died after being sent home due to illness and/or completing the residential schooling. Schools started off with as many as 150,000 students with only 80,000 surviving today (Truth and Reconciliation, 2014). Even though residential schools are now closed aboriginal attendee’s still suffer, many induced with depression, PTS (post-traumatic stress), different forms of addiction, and even suicidal

60% of aboriginal children are significantly behind non-indigenous Australians by the time they start years one. Only 40% of aboriginal children stay at school through to year twelve. Causes of this include language because English is their second language, inappropriate context; material being taught does not relate to the aboriginals lives. Over crowed house where aboriginal children cannot learn to do homework is a big factor in them being behind in education.

In this essay we will try to provide a brief overview of educational issues of Aboriginal communities in Australia and Victoria and the elements that influence the educational outcomes of young Aboriginal people, such as culture and contemporary challenges. In addition to this, the inclusion of Aboriginal content in the Victorian curriculum and classroom practices will be explored as well as contemporary government policies.

A lot of aboriginal students are now graduating high school in the past few years. But, now they seem to rank lower in education, higher rates of unemployment, along with higher rates of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, which can lead to needing a lot more health care than the average person. (Dr. Chandrakant P. Shah. 2005, page.3)

The participation and full engagement of all students in education is a ‘key factor affecting the life chances of all Australians’ (Buckley & Armstrong, 2011, p. 62). It is clear from current statistical information, that participation and eventual success in educational studies is particularly vital for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who among us all have the lowest level of participation in education (Buckley & Armstrong, 2011). Ockenden (2014) notes that whilst more Indigenous students are completing Year 12 than ever before, there still exists a significant gap between educational achievement in literacy, numeracy

Firstly, the aboriginal people do not have enough jobs and educational buildings to support the large population of young people. Almost half the aboriginal people in

Teachers in Australia have the responsibility of catering to the learning needs and abilities of the students in their classroom. Additionally they are also responsible for catering to the unique cultural backgrounds of each student, in particular the cultures of Indigenous Australians. The teacher can cater to the diverse and complex Indigenous cultures by creating a learning environment that is based on effective student engagement for Aboriginal students. Studies have shown that Aboriginal students are currently not academically achieving as well as non-Aboriginal students (What Works: Core Issue 5). Closing the academic performance gap is considered a national priority. As a result, the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework has been developed to ensure that schools are delivering the best possible education to all students, specifically those who identify as Aboriginal. During term 3, 2017, I completed my final practicum at Baler Primary School in a year 4 classroom. The students in my class came from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, many of which identified as Aboriginal. Throughout this essay I will use examples from my final practicum at Baler Primary School in South Hedland to discuss how to make learning engaging, accessible and culturally responsive for Aboriginal students.

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada had gone through many situations to get to where they are today with their education system. Pain, sorrow, doubt, and hope are all feelings brought to mind when thinking about the history and the future of Aboriginal education. By taking a look at the past, anyone can see that the right to education for Aboriginal peoples has been fought about as early as the 1870s. This is still is a pressing issue today. Elder teachings, residential, reserve and post-secondary schools have all been concerning events of the past as well as the present. Though education has improved for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, there are still many concerns and needs of reconciliation for the past to improve the future.

Before the nineteenth century, the Aboriginal people had their own way of teaching the children in their community, through organic education. In addition to providing knowledge and skills, organic education kept their culture alive (Ravelli & Webber, 2013: pg. 237). This is because the Aboriginal children would also be taught about their culture and its customs. But the Europeans thought, “Canada’s First Nation peoples were in the way of the relentless onrush of capitalist and industrial expansion (Ravelli & Webber, 2013: pg. 238).” This is when the residential education system was established. Since the organic education was what made the Aboriginal culture

Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within

In the Indigenous community, when the community is faced with a trauma, it takes seven generations for the community to heal (Trimble, 2015). People may underestimate how oppressed and how much suffering the Indigenous communities had to struggle with, and continue to struggle with these issues today. We may underestimate how severe the situation is because many of us were not taught much about the impact of colonization on the Indigenous communities in school. There are many myths people may have concerning Indigenous life experiences, particularly schooling. To address these myths, I would begin by giving a brief history of residential schools. I would then analyze how residential schools have impacted the indigenous community and how they continue to affect them today. I would also mention the current issues children on reserves are facing today regarding school. Lastly, I would mention some of the progress that has been made. I will use the work of Sefa Dei to demonstrate the importance of community in education regarding the Indigenous people.

Throughout the last fifty years two diametrically opposed views have played out. H.C. Coombs argued that the priority was to use the curriculum and teaching methods to rebuild and sustain traditional Aboriginal culture destroyed by colonisation, racism and oppression. He supported Moira Kingston’s view that all Aborigines had a “world view derived from the Dreaming and irreconcilable with the demands of a modern industrialised market economy.” Sir Paul Hasluck represented the opposing assimiliationist view that schools should give priority to literacy, numeracy and technical and scientific knowledge to asssist integration in the workforce.Many theorists and practitioners have focused on the one third of students in Aboriginal schools with a specifically Aboriginal education rather than the majority attending the same schools as non-Indigenous children. In either case major problems were indentified with Aboriginal education by 2000.