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Welfare stretcher at bottom of cliff

By Sara Hudson - posted Thursday, 9 October 2008


Students attending the NT's 62 Aboriginal schools (known as learning centres and community education centres) are even further disadvantaged. These schools lack basic facilities, have a separate "Indigenous curriculum" and are staffed by fly-in, fly-out teachers or untrained teacher aides.

Few students in these schools achieve results beyond the level of a Year 1 student. Seventeen-year-olds are leaving school with the reading age of a six or seven-year-old. This is an almost insurmountable gap to be overcome.

If the Rudd Government's target of having an additional 100,000 Indigenous Australians in employment is to be achieved, then there needs to be a real understanding of the gaps in ability and the level of support needed.

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Work readiness training and literacy and numeracy programs are "ambulance at the bottom of the cliff" policies. What is needed is a complete overhaul of the education system that has seen so many Indigenous young people fall off the cliff in the first place.

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First published in The Australian on October 8, 2008.



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About the Author

Sara Hudson is the Manager of the Indigenous Research Program at the Centre for Independent Studies and author of Awakening the 'Sleeping Giant': the hidden potential of Indigenous businesses.

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