Page 3764 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 18 October 2005
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government is committed to working towards achieving outcomes for indigenous students that are the same as for non-indigenous students. To this end we are working towards improved participation, retention and outcomes for indigenous students within a context of family, community and government assistance and support. We continue to acknowledge the diversity of the territory’s indigenous community and other factors, such as health or family mobility, which may have an impact on indigenous students in our schools.
The report informs us about the range of programs being implemented by the government to achieve its goals for indigenous students. The advent of the national safe schools framework has brought together many of the principles and policies that underpin strategies already used in ACT schools to counter racism and celebrate the diversity of the community. Schools are broadly examining their current approaches to student and staff safety and implementing programs to address perceived gaps.
In addition, ACT government schools are recognising the achievements of indigenous students through a range of ways, including specific acknowledgement at community ceremonies. This assists in raising self-esteem in recipients, as well as developing a greater understanding of indigenous cultural heritage by non-indigenous students.
We are well aware that indigenous health issues can sometimes have a detrimental impact on student learning at school. The government has funded early intervention programs to support improved health in indigenous children at preschool. This includes ongoing screening for hearing problems, which took place for the first time in late 2004 for three, four and five-year-olds in an effort to stem the occurrence of otitis media and its associated learning difficulties.
The Stanhope government is aware that participation in early childhood programs has long-term educational benefits for indigenous children. Therefore, in the financial year 2004-05, the government provided extra resources to expand the Koori preschool program by increasing the number of available sessions and establishing a new preschool site in Gungahlin. This brings the total number of Koori preschools to five.
At the February 2005 census, 95 indigenous students were enrolled in prior-to-school programs, with 59 students in mainstream preschools and 36 students in Koori preschools. Thirteen students were enrolled in both mainstream and Koori preschools. This compares very favourably with one year earlier, when there were only 68 indigenous students enrolled in pre-primary, with 55 in mainstream preschools, 13 in Koori preschools and four enrolled in both. Preschool staff, teachers and indigenous home-school liaison officers will continue their active engagement of communities to encourage the enrolment of every eligible indigenous child in a preschool program.
The ACT assessment program literacy and numeracy results show that the year 3 cohort in 2004 performed at the same level as non-indigenous students. This is an excellent outcome for this particular cohort. However, years 5 and 7 data reveal that a performance gap persists at these levels. While some gains have been made since the inception of system testing, it remains a concern that a significant percentage of indigenous students fall below the system average at years 3, 5 and 7. This is a challenge and an ongoing area of focus for the department and our schools.
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