Closing the Education Gap for Indigenous Students in Australia - Essay Example

Closing the Education Gap for Indigenous in Australia Introduction Indigenous Australians also referred to as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are the people who lived in Australian before colonial settlements. Their culture since then has developed and changed overtime. However, as a result of this settlement, aboriginal society has been drastically changed with respect to the land and the ways of life of the people. Indigenous Australians were the main community in Australia before the year 1788 and included Torres Straight Islanders and Aboriginal people (Bainbridge et al, 2014). During this time, population of the indigenous was estimated at 750000 people who spoke 700 languages. However, today the indigenous population makes up 2% of the entire Australian population as a result of European settlement and the effects of removal of people out of traditional lands, impacts of towns and cities’ populations. Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ concern as a disadvantaged community in Australia has been well documented in various studies. This population is disadvantaged in many areas of social concern thus has been left behind in terms of education and employment. The council of Australian government (COAG) in a report entitled (Chapman et al, 3014), “overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID)” The there` exist a gap in life expectancy of 11.5 years for males and 9.7 years for females, an indication of healthcare inequity. According to the report by COAG, there is high infant mortality of about 9.7 deaths in 1000 live births which is more than twice compared to the non-indigenous community (Peiris et al, 2012). Education Gap Access to participation in quality early childhood education is very important as it provides a solid education foundation for young people at school. Research has shown that only 33% of indigenous young children of 3 years had enrolled in preschool compared to 43% of non-indigenous children (Price, 2012). The statistics of early childhood education given above were reflected also with respect to reading writing and numeracy. Data collected from the Ministerial council on education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) showed that smaller percentage of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people met the national minimum standards for reading, numeracy and writing compared to the non indigenous pupils. During the period between 2001 and 2007, the percentage of indigenous year 7 pupils who met national minimum standards were about 74% for numeracy, 65% for reading and 74% for writing which shows a big gap compared to their non-indigenous counterparts. The statistics presented in the above text is an indication of serious education gap between the indigenous and the non-indigenous Australians. A Study conducted by (), to compare literacy levels between indigenous students within cities and those in rural areas show that a greater percentage (85.7%) of those living in towns met the minimum requirements. The same study also reported very small variations in the literacy among the non-indigenous Australians who live in the cities and those living in the villages. It is therefore important to acknowledge that the education gap is becoming wider within the indigenous Australians and between them and the non-indigenous. The gap between education of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people varies depending on the remoteness area for instance, up to 85.7% of all indigenous students in all metropolitan areas met or exceeded the national minimum standards for year 7 reading as compared to 34.9% of indigenous students in very remote areas (Zuchowski et al, 2013). However, their non indigenous students show less variations by the level of their remoteness areas hence the gap is very big in very remote areas than in metropolitan areas. The prime minister through his speech also noted that the disadvantage suffered by indigenous Australian is unacceptable and against the constitution that require full recognition and acknowledgement of the heritage of the nation (Zuchowski et al, 2013). This paper outlines the reason for education gap for young Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and how the gap can be closed referring to Noel Pearsons direct instruction method, its success and failures. Root Causes The history of Indigenous Education has been cited as the major reason behind the education gap between Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their non-indigenous counterparts. According to Jang (2015), inequality of education in contemporary Australia between the Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-indigenous students is based on the history of denial of opportunities and in more recent years, the attempts by the government to absorb or assimilate Aboriginal people into the mainstream society. In this respect, in many years, the mainstream education system in Australia has been based on the foundation of “de-Aboriginalise” Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This policy has been used beginning the year 1824 when Governor Macquarie established native institutions with the mandate of “educating, civilising and fostering” the habit of industry and decay in Aborigines. As stated by Schwab (2012), there was no education in the Northern territory until a century later, 1950 thus there was no provision whatever to educate Aboriginals except for the token gestures by missionaries The period between 1880s and 1930s however made a turning point to education system for Aboriginals. This period showed a series of politics and practices related to Aboriginal education being introduced. In this regard, each state had a responsibility for the management of its indigenous affairs until late 1960s. The consequence of this was the development of their own “protection acts” hence Aboriginal were only offered minimal schooling due to the prevailing contemporary Eurocentric perception that indigenous people had limited potential for educational advancement. Moreover, the historical context in which the education operated was in which racial thought informed social stratification practices in which non-indigenous were seen as intellectually and socio-culturally advanced group. As a result of this, Aboriginal educational policies were based on theories of racial inferiority that formed the basis for justifying the limited provision of education. Education system was adversely affected by the segregation of the indigenous Australians from the settlers hence there was low standards of educational services. It was therefore difficult for the Aboriginal people to learn and catch up with their non-indigenous counterparts therefore leading to wider education gap. According to (Doecke, 2008), parents also complained that many teachers displayed lack of understanding of the needs of their children. This is an indication of lack of appropriate teacher training during the segregation and assimilation eras. Indigenous children are exposed to various informal learning experiences despite the fact that they share a number of activities with the non-indigenous children. This is done often through kinship systems where a range of women closely connected to them care and nurture them. However, others grow among families that have suffered different traumas leading to involuntary relocation to cities. In this regard, children are exposed to serious social problems with less in touch with their sisters, aunts, brothers or even mothers in severe cases. In some instances there are functional families though children are taught informally in an environment that is conducive to their learning (Warren & Young, 2008). However this type of informal learning focuses on development of listening and observational skills where elders are the educators. Questioning elders and it is not culturally appropriate for children to speak until they are asked to do so. This has made it not possible to encourage formal interactive learning compared to the non-indigenous children thus has widen the gap between Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and the non-indigenous people. The education of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is therefore everybody’s responsibility thus all efforts are being employed by the government to bridge the education gap. According to the prime minister, improving education outcomes begins with good early childhood development, strategies to ensure all children are ready for school and effective parenting, however, one and most important thing is learning while at school (Miller, 2011). The indigenous Australians young people therefore face challenges of trying to cope up with their culture and that of the non-indigenous Australians. The low literacy levels among the Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people calls for alternative teaching methods to enable them catch up with their non-indigenous counterparts. One of the methods that have been proposed by Aboriginal leader, Noel Pearson is the direct instruction method. This method involves providing teachers with scripted lesson plan thus students recite responses to the teacher as a group. In the following section, we are going to discuss direct instruction method, its success and failures in teaching Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Direct Instruction Direct Instruction is a teaching method that was proposed by a prominent indigenous Australian, Noel Pearson. However, some prominent educationists have dismissed it saying it is “pedagogy for the poor”. This education method has been supported by the education minister and has extended the program to other remote areas by adding up to $22 million. Direct instruction is an alternative method for teaching students with special needs especially those children with learning difficulties because it is based on the principles of students’ centered process. According to Curchin (2013), behavioural learning theory forms the basis for the development of direct instruction method of teaching as an intervention. Direct instruction involves breaking learning tasks into the smallest possible components to enable students to master the simpler skills before proceeding to the next little bit complicated skills. Students are therefore taught in groups that are made with members with similar capabilities and achievements. This method therefore ensures that faster learners are taught differently from the slow learners hence all students are given special attention and allowed to catch up with their counterparts. Teachers are provided with lesson plans that are closely scripted with the sole focus on the group. The scripts are often developed and customized to the group hence different teachers teaching various groups will have different scripts (Miller, 2011). Students are also allowed to ask questions and respond to teachers’ questions as a group thus it is a group learning process that allows for proceeding to the next item of learning when all students understand what has been taught. This method has been trialled in the cape and is described by Ford et al (2014) as pure form of direct instruction because its foundation is traced from the work of its originators Becker and Engelmann. This method of teaching has been successfully implemented in the United states of America, Canada and Australia together with other reform programs aimed at helping young learners with difficulties cope. Direct instruction reading program is rated as one of the most effective teaching strategies by leading education researcher John Hattie (McMullen & Madelaine, 2014). Pupils’ cantered learning is cited as the biggest and most important aspect of direct instruction as a learning method. This is because it caters for the needs of all pupils by grouping them according to their abilities. In this regard, learners are given humble opportunity to catch up with their colleagues because their learning needs/difficulties are well catered for. A study by Cobern et al (2010), found that some students are capable of learning this before they go to school either through games or through reading books. Phonics refers to the knowledge about matching these sounds to letters thus ability of learners to combine letters appropriately to represent phonemes. Learners are given an opportunity to decode new written materials unlike cramming or trying to memorize whole words that has been noted to be very challenging to learners of English as a second language. This evidence has been documented by educationists in Canada, Australia, United States and the United Kingdom. Ability of learners to read texts that are not familiar without hesitation, accurately, quickly and automatically defines an individual’s fluency. Fluency is one of the powers of language mastery and the ability of students to be fluent in spoken and written language is therefore a plus to their process of learning. Direct instruction methods are important in developing fluency and mastery of language because it focuses on guided oral reading mainly from teachers. Vocabulary is also a very important aspect of literacy particularly skilled reading and can be taught directly by introducing new words to learners and defining them. The use of word roots, context clues and dictionary are indirect methods of teaching vocabulary. Studies show that these direct methods of vocabulary does not only improves comprehension but also helps learners in making meaning of what they read by relating what they have read with what they have already learned in class. Reading programs are likely to be more efficient and effective when the above aspects of direct teaching; reading, decoding and relating what has been read with what is already known is applied in language. This is the importance of direct instruction as it is built n the above components of teaching, not only in teaching language but also in teaching numeracy. As stated by Pereira et al (2015), Direct Instruction method does not require teachers to develop their own standard through their own knowledge and wisdom but requires them to follow a published program. In this respect, there is reduced variability in teaching process hence very ideal for Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. As stated by Cobern et al (2010). Direct instructions is therefore the most effective method of teaching indigenous Australians with the view of bridging the gap because it doesn’t require teachers’ experience with the taught children or longer experience of teaching since the method itself has been standardized. It is also important to note that another reason for low literacy and numerical skills among the indigenous Australia is because there is high degrees of teacher transiency. Direct instruction is however not affected in any way with teacher transiency because it incorporates “structured skills-based literacy programs.” The effectiveness of Pearson’s direct instruction as a method of teaching indigenous people of Australia has been explored through literature and peer reviewed studies. Ryder et al (2006) studied how English grammar attitude and achievement in intermediate classes are affected by the application of direct instruction related programs. The objective of Ryder was to explore the effectiveness of instructional methodology on students’ achievement. In this study, direct instruction method was defined as academically focused, teacher-directed classroom instruction using sequenced and structured materials. This study was done in Cant College for Women Wah Cantt and 52 first years students whose ability in English had been matched (Hackling et al, 2015). The achievement of students in English grammar were then measured during the pre-test and post-test. The study shows that the results of Direct Instruction model were consistently better than those of the traditional instructions including in achievement and attitude. These findings show that implementation of direct instruction as a method of teaching Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Hicks (2011) investigated the effects of direct instructions in teaching prepositions among students with intellectual disabilities. Their findings showed that direct instruction was an effective way of teaching prepositions. Previous studies have suggested that teaching students with learning disabilities require explicit instruction of language skills which include effective use of preposition. Disadvantaged children are among those children with learning disabilities thus effective implementation of direct learning among indigenous Australian people can help improve not only reading but also writing. Attitude towards learning is a major contributing factor to the widening gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian Education. Kousor (2010) also examined the relationship between direct instruction method and improvement in English literacy including reading, writing and comprehending English students of an intermediate class. The purpose of his study was to explore the relative effectiveness of instructional methodology on students’ achievements and attitudes towards English grammar. This study showed that direct instruction model is superior to traditional methods of teaching English grammar and many students scored higher grades in terms of attitudes and achievements. Research has also revealed that direct instruction method is also effective than traditional instruction in immediate and delayed retention as well as development of positive attitudes towards the subject of English grammar. In this respect, direct instruction is equally beneficial for students of varying abilities (Kousar, 2010). However, despite the fact that many studies are in support of direct instruction method of teaching as the best alternative for teaching disadvantaged children, critics argue against application of such program among indigenous Australian people Critics of direct instruction method are concerned that it takes a way human connection between young leaners and teachers and also doesn’t allow teachers to be exceptional. The effectiveness of direct instructions in teaching different basic skills including English grammar, numerical skills, basic science and arts has been acknowledged by many researchers and educationists leading Australian Literacy (Celik & Vuran, 2014). However, they have also acknowledged the weaknesses of this method citing that it is not complete thus requires review from one time to another depending on the taught group and its dynamics. The other disadvantage of this method as cited by its critics is that the scripted lesson plans are specific and customized towards the group being taught hence teachers do not apply their long term gained experience or recognize the cultural knowledge. In this regard, teachers are not capable of reacting to the inherent differences within the group being taught. In this respect, the indigenous Australians and their cultural way of life is likely not to be reinforced thus giving difficulties in teaching. It is however important to acknowledge that in the cape, the shift to direct instruction method is still young and its assessment cannot be used to gauge long term better test scores. Current research by Australian Council for educational research shows that community and schools reported that direct instructions was effective resulting into positive impacts on students’ outcomes though whether it impacts on the students learning is not yet known. Conclusions Access to participation in quality early childhood education is very important as it provides a solid education foundation for young people at school. Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ concern as a disadvantaged community in Australia has been well documented in various studies Data collected from the Ministerial council on education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) showed that smaller percentage of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people met the national minimum standards for reading, numeracy and writing compared to the non-indigenous pupils. The gap between education of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people varies depending on the remoteness area of the area in which they live. Direct instruction promises a turning point to the ever widening education gap between young indigenous and non indigenous Australians. However, it has its own challenges that must be addresses even before it is introduced in other schools to teach indigenous Australians as proposed by Noel Pearson. In this regard, learners will be given humble opportunity to catch up with their colleagues because their learning needs/difficulties are well catered for. However, despite the fact that many studies are in support of direct instruction method of teaching as the best alternative for teaching disadvantaged children, however critics of direct instruction method are concerned that it takes a way human connection between young leaners and teachers and also doesn’t allow teachers to be exceptional. Nevertheless, direct instruction seems to be a turning point in bridging the gap between indigenous Australian children and their non-indigenous counterparts. Further studies therefore need to be done to explore the effectiveness of Pearson’s direct instruction. References Bainbridge, R., Tsey, K., McCalman, J., & Towle, S. (2014). 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