Remote Australia Online

This article provides the background and context to the important issue of assessment and equity in relation to Indigenous students in Australia. Questions about the validity and fairness of assessment are raised and ways forward are suggested by attending to assessment questions in relation to equity and culture?fair assessment. Patterns of under?achievement by Indigenous students are reflected in national benchmark data and international testing programmes like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Program for International Student Assessment. The argument developed views equity, in relation to assessment, as more of a sociocultural issue than a technical matter. It highlights how teachers need to distinguish the ?funds of knowledge? that Indigenous students draw on and how teachers need to adopt culturally responsive pedagogy to open up the curriculum and assessment practice to allow for different ways of knowing and being.

This article critically examines the possibility of using Problem-Based Learning as an approach to teaching and learning and curriculum design in Indigenous studies. This approach emphasises the potential for Experience-Based Learning or Problem-Based Learning as a model that frames the curriculum and pedagogical activities to encourage student engagement with key issues in ways they find meaningful. It takes the form of an interview with Professor David Boud, a well-known scholar in this area.

The Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs on behalf of the Australian Council of Children and Parenting commissioned the National Child Protection Clearinghouse to undertake a project examining the strengths and barriers to the recruitment, assessment, training and support of carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and the strengths and barriers in the provision of services to Indigenous children in care. A series of papers discussing the findings can be downloaded.

A good education is essential for making a successful life in the modern world. This book argues that Australia's Indigenous students are not being well served by the education systems. There are exceptions and some programs work well, but the system fails the majority of students. The book analyzes the reasons for this failure by looking at the context, history and social realities affecting Aboriginal education. Well researched and strongly argued chapters on the family, language, health, attendance, classroom management and the criminal justice system locate education as a dynamic part of society. The interaction between school and other agencies is given special attention. As well as looking at problems, the book provides directions for solutions. The dilemmas of the remote area school are addressed, and a number of programs are examined which are succeeding in providing a better education for Aboriginal youth.

Objective: This study compares prevalence of obesity, hypertension and diabetes in two groups of Aboriginal adults: those living in homelands versus centralised communities in central Australia. It also compares weight gain, incidence of diabetes, mortality and hospitalisation rates between the groups over a seven-year period. Methods: Baseline survey of 826 Aboriginal adults in rural central Australian communities in 1987-88 with a follow-up survey of 416 (56% response rate, excluding deaths). Each time, they had a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and blood pressure and anthropometry measurement. Deaths and hospitalisations for all of the original cohort were recorded for the seven-year period. Results: Homelands residents had a lower baseline prevalence of diabetes (risk ratio [RR]=0.77, 0.59–1.00), hypertension (RR=0.66, 0.54–0.80) and overweight/ obesity (RR=0.70, 0.59–0.83). The incidence of diabetes was lower among homelands residents (RR=0.70, 0.46–1.06). They were less likely to die than those living in centralised communities (RR=0.56, 0.37–0.85) and less likely to be hospitalised for any cause (RR=0.79, 0.71–0.87), particularly infections (RR=0.70, 0.61–0.80), injury involving alcohol (RR=0.61, 0.47–0.79) and other injury (RR=0.75, 0.60–0.93). Mean age at death was 58 and 48 years for residents of homelands and centralised communities respectively. Conclusion: Aboriginal people who live in homelands communities appear to have more favourable health outcomes with respect to mortality, hospitalisation, hypertension, diabetes and injury, than those living in more centralised settlements in Central Australia. These effects are most marked among younger adults.

This report is based on an analysis of available data, relevant literature and wide spread consultations and site visits. The attendance rates of Indigenous students at all levels of schooling, their variation over time, and, a range of variables together with a description of the contributing factors and reasons form the body of the report. A description of initiatives and programmes to improve attendance rates and suggestions for further research and analysis complete the report. Despite initiatives which have been introduced by Commonwealth and State/Territory governments in the last 20 years to improve participation in, and outcomes from, education among Indigenous students, they continue to be the most educationally disadvantaged student group in Australia, with consistently lower levels of academic achievement and higher rates of absenteeism than among non-Indigenous students. The persistence of high rates of absenteeism is a major concern, as it is believed by educators that consistent school attendance is essential for educational success, with low standards of academic achievement, including low levels of English language and literacy skills, almost universally attributed by teaching staff to high levels of absenteeism among Indigenous students. This view, however, is challenged by some writers and researchers, who see it as a classic case of ‘blaming the victim’, and indicative of a reluctance on the part of school authorities to accept that the fault may lie within the education system itself. These authors, in pointing to the fact that the area of English language and literacy learning is a major stumbling block for Indigenous students, highlight the need for the nature of the cause/effect relationship between poor attendance and poor achievement in English language, literacy and other school skills to be established. This, it is believed, will assist in determining what strategies are most appropriate to overcome the problem of poor attendance. The extent and nature of the day to day attendance of Indigenous Australian children at schools and pre-schools is unavoidably speculative. The database is limited to about 28% of Indigenous children in the government school sector. In non-government schools the information available generally did not include the number of students upon which the estimates of school attendances were based and the comprehensiveness of the coverage cannot be assessed. Despite a lack of national school attendance data and a lack of consistency in the definition and measurement of non-attendance it is, nevertheless, clear from the literature that absenteeism among Indigenous students is markedly higher than among non-Indigenous students. Indigenous students also have higher rates of suspension and lower retention rates than non-Indigenous students. It is also apparent that there is considerable variation in the patterns of attendance within the Indigenous student population, with rates of absenteeism reported to be significantly higher in more isolated, traditionally oriented communities where family mobility is seen as a problem.

It has been argued that the main determinant of change in local population size and composition in Australia is internal migration – a fundamental force “shaping and modifying the pattern of human settlement…with significant impacts on the demand for services” (Newton & Bell 1996:1). While this may be the case, there exists a range of factors and aspirations that shape and influence the movements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and populations. In many instances the act of moving is secondary to these motivations for moving. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mobility can be described as an epiphenomenon that reflects the setting within which people live and their situation (Young & Doohan 1989:32- 38). The aim of this project is to develop a better understanding of Indigenous perspectives, experiences of and aspirations for mobility in remote and rural Australia, in order to influence current and future programs and policies that facilitate or inhibit the types of mobility that Indigenous people wish to enjoy. The project considers various spatial (intra-settlement, intra-regional, inter-regional) and temporal (short-term, long-term) scales of mobility that involve a range of settlement types. The study will seek to determine the extent of such movements and any causal factors that underlie them.

Menzies School of Health Research (Alice Springs) Indigenous Health Program (University of Queensland)

Building equity into Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system is a key component of the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training 2004-2010. This book of readings aims to contribute to this important facet of the national strategic plan. The book reviews the achievements equity groups have made, reports on the issues they face, and discusses how to integrate equity and diversity management models into a framework to achieve a more inclusive VET system. It includes chapters on the five recognised equity groups - women, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, people from rural and remote areas, people with a disability, and Indigenous Australians. Additional chapters consider other possible groups such as, early school leavers, older workers, men, people in correctional services, and people with low literacy skills, and examines the merit of these becoming equity groups.

Analyses the underpinnings of government policy failure extending from the demography of remote Australia, land tenure and native title, to program implementation challenges and the institutional underpinnings of Indigenous disadvantage. Beyond Humbug analyzes the underpinnings of government policy failure extending from the demography of remote Australia, land tenure and native title, to program implementation challenges and the institutional underpinnings of Indigenous disadvantage Contents: – Preface – Introduction: The cult of disremembering – Chapter one: The emerging demographic crisis in Indegenous Australia: policy implications – Chapter two: National security and the failed state in remote Australia –Chapter three: The mountains are high, and the emperor far away: implementation challenges in Indigenous Affairs –Chapter four: Negotiating a Northern territory parks settlement: a new approach to resolving native title claims – Chapter five: Town tenure in remote Indigenous Australia: theory, ideology, politics and public policy – Chapter six: A new policy framework for Indigenous housing – Chapter seven: The institutional determinants of government failure in Indigenous Affairs –Conclusion: Plenty humbug.

Background Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have long asserted the health benefits of maintaining close links with the lands and seas to which they have ancestral connections. Objective This article outlines the health findings of the ‘Healthy country, healthy people’ study conducted in central Arnhem Land between 2004–2007, which examined ‘caring for country’ practices in a remote Aboriginal community, and draws out the policy implications for health promotion and sustainable development. Discussion At the request of, and in collaboration with, Aboriginal landowners in central Arnhem Land, the study investigated the ecological and human health outcomes associated with ‘caring for country’ practices. The study demonstrated significant and substantial health benefits associated with greater participation in caring for country, along with a healthier environment.

Within Australia's education revolution lies another, quieter revolution that attempts to raise the profile and status, and improve the learning outcomes, of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: children, young adults, women, and men. Two Way Teaching and Learning addresses the interface where two cultures meet: in the classroom, in the school, and in the community. Most of the contributors are highly experienced Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners drawn from academia, the teaching profession, and the community. They put the spotlight on policies and processes that serve to either facilitate an informed respectful relationship in education, or to reinforce cultural inequity and inequality. The policy implications - which can either be liberating or devastating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australian school systems - are exposed and explored with forensic care. Each contributor clearly articulates specific problems in complex areas - such as school retention, literacy and numeracy, self-concept and identity - and each offers practical strategies that address these issues. Written for teachers, policy-makers, academics, and administrators, Two Way Teaching and Learning works toward embedding a more culturally reflective, relevant, and inclusive agenda in places of learning for the benefit of all. At once confronting and uplifting, where there's an issue, there are also practical solutions and measurable outcomes.

This paper provides Australian, State and Territory governments with strategic advice and strategies from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council (NATSIHC). It focuses on: • maximising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in the health workforce, by promoting and improving pathways between school, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education and • retaining and building the capacity of the existing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce by addressing ongoing support and career development needs. While 2.3% of the Australian population are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, only 1.6% of the national health workforce is made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.2 Health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are poor and, in many instances, continue to deteriorate.3 An accessible and competent health workforce is vital for ensuring that the health system has the capacity to provide culturally safe services that meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and improve their health outcomes. A key way to achieve this is to increase the number and capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people entering into and working in the health workforce. Key reasons for investing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce reform include: • a more effective return on investment from increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in the health workforce than if current incremental approaches are continued • the economic benefits of tapping a previously untapped labour market by maximising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce participation • potential administrative savings accrued by aligning health and education sector priorities and strategies • benefits of higher quality data tracking systems and, critically • equity of health outcomes. Consistent issues that arise in the literature and in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and education stakeholders are: • excellence in student support services • culturally safe learning environments • reforming the system and • leadership. Excellence in student support services will ensure strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders. It includes: • connected support services between institutions • family and community engagement • the importance of mentors and role models and • strengthening financial and accommodation support.

Indigenous education remains of grave concern within Australian society (Fitzgerald, 2002). Systems are currently making limited educational impact in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (Department of Education, Training and Employment, 1999). In particular, Indigenous students’ beliefs about the relevance of education, attitudes towards school, behaviour in school and attendance at school are affecting their educational performance (Bourke et al., 2000; Cataldi and Partington, 1998; Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2002). This chapter reports on the success of a 3-year longitudinal professional learning project in a remote Australian school. Using mathematics as the vehicle, this project set out to improve Indigenous students’ learning outcomes by enhancing their beliefs, attitudes and practices and thus to begin to bridge the current educational gap between them and non-Indigenous students. The chapter reviews the literature relevant to the relationship between beliefs, attitudes, practices and performance, outlines the project generally and, for the particular school Albertown (pseudonym), describes findings with regard to beliefs and attitudes, and discusses the implications for future intervention projects.

The scope of the Inquiry - Tracing the history: The Inquiry's term of reference (a) required it to "trace the past laws, practices and policies which resulted in the separation of Indigenous children from their families by compulsion, duress or undue influence". The Inquiry interpreted the term compulsion to encompass removals by officially authorised use of force or coercion, as well as by illegally exercised force or coercion. It extends both to the removal of a child by a government delegate and on a court order. Duress differs from compulsion in that it can be achieved without the actual application of force, although threats or moral pressure are usually involved. Duress does not exclude acceptance by those affected by it. The term undue influence has a meaning similar to duress. It was understood by the Inquiry as an influence by which persons are induced not to act of their own free will. In the context of the Inquiry, this meant placing improper pressure on families to induce the surrender of children. Services and procedures available: Term of reference (b) required the Inquiry to "examine the adequacy of and the need for any changes in current laws, practices and policies relating to services currently available" to those affected by forcible removal. This directed the Inquiry to examine services and procedures available to those affected by reason of experiences of forcible removal or in order to remedy the effects on them of forcible removal. [Recommendations 21-40] Principles justifying compensation: Term of reference (c) required the Inquiry to "examine the principles relevant to determining the justification for compensation for persons or communities affected by such separations". The Inquiry concluded that an appropriate and adequate response to the history and effects of removals requires reparations, including monetary compensation for defined victims. [Recommendations 3-20] Current placement and care: Term of reference (d) required the Inquiry to "examine current laws, practices and policies with respect to the placement and care" of Indigenous children and to "advise on any changes required taking into account the principle of self-determination". The Inquiry found that self-determination for Indigenous peoples provides the key to reversing the over-representation of Indigenous children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and to eliminating unjustified removals of Indigenous children from their families and communities.

This paper describes an established approach for building capacity used for the first time with Health Action Teams (HATs) in three remote indigenous communities in Cape York. A key purpose was to determine if the approach was an appropriate and practicable ‘tool’ in an Aboriginal context. This is not a research study but rather the reflections on a project evaluation to collect and interpret information recorded during workshops to build and measure the capacity of the HATs using eight domains. The domains represent those aspects of the process of capacity building that allow the HATs to better organise and mobilize themselves towards gaining greater control. The analysis of each domain included a description and visual representation of capacity. There were similarities in the measurement of capacity between the three HATs in five domains. This was because each HAT was at an early stage of development and generally had a low capacity. Importantly, each HAT was able to develop a realistic strategy with which to move forward to build capacity with clear roles, responsibilities and timeframes. The key to building HAT capacity was the use of strategic planning based on the eight ‘domains’ and the use of an appropriate means of visual representation. This is discussed in detail in the paper and provides encouragement for an empirical study into the application of capacity building approaches.

A Business Guide for Indigenous People

Can Information Communication Technological Tools be Used to Suit Aboriginal Learning Pedagogies?

This paper, based on an upcoming CRC for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) research project—‘Pathways to Employment’—will canvas the proposition that mobile technology can be used as an effective vehicle for vocational learning in remote communities. This proposition in itself is not new and indeed there are a number of examples in the literature that demonstrate the possibilities of mobile and emerging digital technologies in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia and indigenous communities elsewhere in the world. However, the application of technologies in vocational learning is often applied to the delivery of mainstream training packages for mainstream employment outcomes. The ‘Pathways to Employment’ research project will consider pathways from a different starting point than many other research projects, which take as a given, the traditional notion of pathways to employment—typically linear, mainstream oriented and driven—with all the mainstream assumptions that go along with this notion of ‘pathway’. This paper foregrounds the research with a consideration of the literature on effective application of digital technologies in vocational learning and the intersection between these technologies, vocational learning and their fit within a pathway. The philosophical underpinnings behind the pathways construct are examined and questioned as to their fit within a remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context. The paper suggests that the reason the apparently successful applications of digital technologies in remote VET programs work is because of their fit with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ontologies, epistemologies and axiologies. The data collection phase of the research project will commence later in 2012. However, ahead of the research itself, this paper poses several questions that will form the basis of one part of the ‘Pathways’ project. These will include questions about the scope of using technology for ‘Aboriginally’ constructed vocational training products and processes that fit the breadth of livelihood aspirations in remote communities.

This paper explores how Indigenous community-based natural resource management can generate both conservation benefit and economic development opportunity. We begin by noting that much of the Indigenous estate in north Australia is either thinly populated or unpopulated. There is emerging evidence that, in situations where Indigenous people live on their country, ecological and wider benefits are generated via favourable fire regimes, control over weed infestations, and potentially through feral animal harvesting. When people are on country, they generate economic benefit for themselves by harvesting wildlife for consumption and engage with the market sector by using natural resources in commercial enterprise like arts and crafts production. We argue that there is a strong correlation between such activities and cost-effective natural resource management. Links between landcare, wildlife use and biodiversity conservation need to be recognized, celebrated and supported. The removal of many barriers to enhanced and innovative Indigenous participation in such activities, and equitable public support through programs like Landcare, will facilitate sustainable economic development options that are compatible with Indigenous priorities, while ameliorating Indigenous disadvantage.

This review calls for change. Over the last two decades, a plethora of governmentpolicies have been developed to improve the educational outcomes of Indigenous students. These policies have, as yet, failed to reduce significantly the gap betweenthe educational achievements of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students inAustralia. This review examines the research evidence underpinning currentgovernment policy. It reviews and analyses existing educational research into theprecursors and concomitant factors that contribute to educational achievement forstudents generally and for Indigenous students.

Established more than thirty years ago, the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program has expanded to range from substituting for local government services to offering payment for housework and attendance at funerals. Despite a fall in participation, CDEP expenditure has continued to rise, to more than $550 million a year in 2006–07. Participants often regard CDEP jobs contemptuously as providing ‘sit down’ money for little work. Often, these ‘jobs’ do not even require attendance. Instead of being a transition to real work, CDEP is increasingly acting as an obstacle to employment. In response to mounting criticism of the scheme, the Howard Government decided to move CDEP recipients in urban and regional labour markets to mainstream employment programs from 1 July 2007. These Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were now to receive the same welfare and unemployment benefits and be subject to the same mutual obligation responsibilities as other Australians.

This paper presents selected measures of Indigenous population mobility using 1996 Census data and compares these with equivalent measures for the non-Indigenous population. There are two parts to the exercise. The first comprises an examination of relative propensities to move according to the age and sex distribution of movers, their labour force status and income distribution. The second is an analysis of the contribution of mobility to spatial redistribution of the Indigenous population.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to suffer the intergenerational effects of past welfare practices including the forced removal of their children and dislocation from their communities, country and culture. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people also experience higher levels of poverty and social disadvantage than non-Indigenous Australians. The combined effects of past practices and current disadvantages present Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with extreme challenges in supporting families to ensure children stay safe and are cared for appropriately. Bringing them Home, the inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families reported that: ‘Between 1 in 3 and 1 in 10 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families from 1910 to 1970 ... [M]ost families have been affected, in one or more generations, by the forcible removal of one or more children.’ (Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, 1997, p. 37.) The inquiry found that some of the underlying causes for the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care include: • The legacy of past policies of cultural assimilation; • The intergenerational effects of forced removals; • Poverty; • Cultural differences in child-rearing practices. (Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, 1997, p. 37.) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are almost five times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care compared with non-Indigenous children (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). Yet there is a serious shortage of culturally appropriate placements to accommodate them. Even with intensive recruitment efforts, professionals have been unable to recruit sufficient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers to meet the demand.

Within the Australian Indigenous community, family violence is commonly used as a broad term, encompassing all forms of violence between members of a kinship group or the immediate community. Concomitantly, abuse of Indigenous children, and particularly sexual abuse, is generally viewed as a community issue, rather than within the narrower nuclear family context used in the non-Indigenous community. The two bodies of knowledge (child abuse within the Indigenous and non- Indigenous communities) also differ in terms of their 'ways of knowing' - knowledge on Indigenous issues frequently coming from personal experience.