Aboriginal languages help more stay on (fwd)

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Aboriginal languages help more stay on

Anna Patty Education Editor
September 15, 2007
The Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/aboriginal-languages-help-more-stay-on/2007/09/14/1189276983749.html

LEARNING an Aboriginal language - in addition to English - will become
compulsory in schools with large indigenous populations under a State
Government strategy to improve Aboriginal retention rates and literacy
standards.

The NSW Director-General of Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter, said the
scheme had been tested successfully at Bourke High School this year.

"We would like to expand this program because we think that it works," he
said.

"We do see this as very effective educationally and a practical means of
reconciliation.

"For those schools that serve large Aboriginal communities, it is a
wonderful way of making school more relevant and welcoming to indigenous
kids, their parents, grandparents and communities."

Mr Coutts-Trotter said the language programs would not be imposed on all
schools. Rather, they would be introduced on a school-by-school basis in
consultation with parents and students.

About 35,000 indigenous students are enrolled in public schools and those
with large Aboriginal communities would be considered for the mandatory
language program.

Since Aboriginal language was made compulsory at Bourke High School in year
8, student attendance rates and retention of students to year 9 had
improved, Mr Coutts-Trotter said.

It had also helped improve English literacy and numeracy.

Mr Coutts-Trotter said learning a second language increased a general
awareness of words and recognition of literacy patterns. It also helped
Aboriginal students identify with their culture, which improved their
confidence and sense of identity.

"All this can then lift student confidence in approaching other study
areas," he said.

The language studied at Bourke is Wangkumarra and was chosen after broad
consultation with parents and students.

Mr Coutts-Trotter said 35 per cent of Aboriginal students completed year 12,
compared with more than double that rate for non-Aboriginal students.

He said part of the way to address the crisis in Aboriginal education
standards was to provide greater attention to the needs of individual
students.

"We haven't accommodated ourselves to the needs of individual students," he
said.

"There is no single answer to the challenges of indigenous education, but
the teaching of Aboriginal languages is an intensely pragmatic approach."

Up to 5000 students are learning Aboriginal languages in NSW schools, less
than half of whom are indigenous.

There are 46 Aboriginal-language programs being delivered statewide, with 41
of those in public schools.

Mr Coutts-Trotter said the courses were rigorous and developed by the NSW
Board of Studies.

Evelyn Webb, who was recently honoured by the State Government as one of the
first Aboriginal teachers in Australia, told the Herald in July that she
lamented never being given the opportunity to learn her language at school.

"It's a sadness, actually, and a disadvantage that we were never taught the
Aboriginal language," she said.

"When I went to school, we were taught social studies and you learnt about
other countries - but you didn't learn about the indigenous people in
Australia.

"It would have been really interesting to have Aboriginal language in the
schools."