Ms ANDERSON - 2005-08-24
Can the minister advise the House if the government intends to undertake a major new focus on improving indigenous eduction and training? Will that focus engage communities in the delivery of education and training to their children?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her question,. because sShe represents an electorate where I hope and trust that the changes we will be bringing to indigenous education will have a most beneficial effect in terms of outcomes. The question was: ‘Will be engaging the communities?’ The answer is an absolute resounding yes. I held a press conference at lunchtime today to announce our second term indigenous education and training agenda. Later on today, I will deliver a comprehensive statement to the House that will flesh out the commitment I gave at lunchtime.
In our first term, we concentrated and focused our effort on implementing the outcomes of the Learning Lessons report. That is now six years old. It was left on the shelf for two years before we gotcame to it as the government, so we are now moving, in our second term, to update the whole indigenous eduction agenda.
At the very heart of the next four year plan, this government is going to engage indigenous communities in the development of education and training contracts. Our focus will be on the 15 community education centre schools based in 15 quite large communities across the Northern Territory. In each of those communities, through a very comprehensive, and what I would imagine, a very intensive process of consultation, we will engage community members, the schools, the government and, of course, the Department of Employment, Education and Training to develop a contract that will describe very clearly the responsibilities and the role that each signatory to that document will play. The desire here is to dramatically lift the outcomes for education and training.
By having those three groups, - the department, the government, and the communities on the other side,- working from the same sheet, we will see the development of a real valuing of education and training in our communities,; a culture of valuing education and training that we do not see now. We trust that if we can achieve that it will effectively change the face of the Northern Territory forever. We would hope that we would see young indigenous school leavers, leaving school at the end of 12 years of education, totally literate, totally numerate, with the ability to undertake training or go straight into the workforce. - tThey will be job ready.
It will take time. However, without that important element of community engagement effort, without the subsequent development of an education and training culture, I do not believe we can make the necessary steps towards that goal. I, and this government, have undertaken responsibility for the appalling outcomes in indigenous education over the first four years of this government.
I have come to realise and appreciate that, despite the best efforts of government, you cannot do it – myselfe as minister, this government, our principals, our department – without a subsequent effort in terms of commitment and a real value being placed on education by the communities as well. We want to get them to the table as equal partners. We want to work through all the issues about the failure of schools to this point - , why their kids do not go to school; , understand these very basic questions in the community - and, hopefully, get these contracts signed off, community by community.
I see them as absolute vision statements for that school and that community that ought be prominently on every classroom wall so that they are visible to the students, the teacher, and any visitor or parent. They should be on the wall in the principal’s office. Every parent of every child at the school should have a copy of this contract so they understand that this is not a one-sided effort by government, but it is a partnership agreement, as I said, between the school, the department, the government and the community.
It will take time, but that is a cornerstone element of a number of areas in which we will be working on indigenous education over the next four years, and I will be talking about them a bit later this afternoon.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her question,. because sShe represents an electorate where I hope and trust that the changes we will be bringing to indigenous education will have a most beneficial effect in terms of outcomes. The question was: ‘Will be engaging the communities?’ The answer is an absolute resounding yes. I held a press conference at lunchtime today to announce our second term indigenous education and training agenda. Later on today, I will deliver a comprehensive statement to the House that will flesh out the commitment I gave at lunchtime.
In our first term, we concentrated and focused our effort on implementing the outcomes of the Learning Lessons report. That is now six years old. It was left on the shelf for two years before we gotcame to it as the government, so we are now moving, in our second term, to update the whole indigenous eduction agenda.
At the very heart of the next four year plan, this government is going to engage indigenous communities in the development of education and training contracts. Our focus will be on the 15 community education centre schools based in 15 quite large communities across the Northern Territory. In each of those communities, through a very comprehensive, and what I would imagine, a very intensive process of consultation, we will engage community members, the schools, the government and, of course, the Department of Employment, Education and Training to develop a contract that will describe very clearly the responsibilities and the role that each signatory to that document will play. The desire here is to dramatically lift the outcomes for education and training.
By having those three groups, - the department, the government, and the communities on the other side,- working from the same sheet, we will see the development of a real valuing of education and training in our communities,; a culture of valuing education and training that we do not see now. We trust that if we can achieve that it will effectively change the face of the Northern Territory forever. We would hope that we would see young indigenous school leavers, leaving school at the end of 12 years of education, totally literate, totally numerate, with the ability to undertake training or go straight into the workforce. - tThey will be job ready.
It will take time. However, without that important element of community engagement effort, without the subsequent development of an education and training culture, I do not believe we can make the necessary steps towards that goal. I, and this government, have undertaken responsibility for the appalling outcomes in indigenous education over the first four years of this government.
I have come to realise and appreciate that, despite the best efforts of government, you cannot do it – myselfe as minister, this government, our principals, our department – without a subsequent effort in terms of commitment and a real value being placed on education by the communities as well. We want to get them to the table as equal partners. We want to work through all the issues about the failure of schools to this point - , why their kids do not go to school; , understand these very basic questions in the community - and, hopefully, get these contracts signed off, community by community.
I see them as absolute vision statements for that school and that community that ought be prominently on every classroom wall so that they are visible to the students, the teacher, and any visitor or parent. They should be on the wall in the principal’s office. Every parent of every child at the school should have a copy of this contract so they understand that this is not a one-sided effort by government, but it is a partnership agreement, as I said, between the school, the department, the government and the community.
It will take time, but that is a cornerstone element of a number of areas in which we will be working on indigenous education over the next four years, and I will be talking about them a bit later this afternoon.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016