The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy

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The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy Introduction The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education policy: joint policy statement presents a cooperative effort among the Commonwealth, State, and Territory government of Australia to develop more effective processes to enhance education for Aboriginal people. The policy depicts the need for a national policy and its backing to advance education for indigenous communities. One long-term goal outlined in the 1989 policy is the involvement of Aboriginal people in educational decision-making. The critical essay analyzes the extent to which the participation of aboriginal people in educational decision-making has been achieved to promote learning among indigenous communities and putting forward recommendations for primary or secondary schooling.

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Involvement of Aboriginal People in Educational Decision-making a) Effective Arrangements for Participation of Aboriginal Parents and Community Members in decision making The policy has been aimed at establishing practical arrangements for the participation of Aboriginal parents and community members in decisions regarding the planning delivery, and evaluation of preschool, primary, and secondary education services for their children. As posited

by Higgins and Morley (2014), studies indicate that when parents and communities are involved in schools, students perform better, attendance improves, and lower dropout rates. To this effect, Australia has made remarkable gains in terms of including parents and communities in decisionmaking (Common Wealth of Australia, 1989). Examples of programs that have both, directly and indirectly, support indigenous parents’ engagement in their child’s education include the Aboriginal Parents Engagement Program, the Home Instruction Program for Pre-school Youngsters, Indigenous Parent Factor, Let’s Start, Play and Learn, Parents/Families as First Teachers, and Parents and Learning (Higgins & Morle, 2014).

These programs have been remarkable in engaging parents and communities regarding aspects affecting educational decision-making. The success of these programs is attributed to the empowerment of parents to support their children's learning, actively engaging parents in children's programs and involvement of communities, and coordinating education with relevant communities.

The critical analysis shows that despite these programs to engage parents and communities in their children’s education, these measures have only been effective in making short-term gains (Trudgett et al., 2017). It is, therefore, recommended that stakeholders in

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Aboriginal education planning and decision-making work towards the implementation of longterm programs that can lead to sustained improvements in educational programs and decisionmaking. b) Increase Number of Aboriginal People Employed in the Education Setting The second aspect addressed in the Involvement of Aboriginal People in Educational Decision-making is to increase the number of Aboriginal people employed to serve as educational administrators, teachers, curriculum advisers, teacher assistants, home-school liaison officers, and other education workers (Common Wealth of Australia, 1989). The goal is to include Aboriginal communities in teaching to impart the learners with knowledge about the Aboriginal culture, the history of indigenous communities, the manifestation of the culture in contemporary society, and the adoption of Aboriginal languages.

Based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020) statistics, there have been significant achievements made in terms of education gains for Aboriginal communities in terms of educational attainment. For example, it is estimated that 49% of Aboriginal people aged between 25 and 34 have education levels up to certificate III, up from 28% in 2008. On the other hand, data indicated that 3708 aboriginal people had a postgraduate level qualification in 2016, up from 682 in 2001. However, data also shows that 26% of aboriginal people aged above 20 years in 2015 wanted to study in the last 12 months but do not get the opportunity (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2020).

These statistics indicate low education gains for the Aboriginals, which translates to a lower number of indigenous people qualified to take up school education administration and teaching jobs. The statistics indicate that the number of Aboriginals enrolling for higher education training has been growing over the years but remains significantly low compared to

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the other communities (Pitman et al., 2017). The recommendation, therefore, is to offer higher education and training roles for Aboriginals so that they can take up teaching positions to address the noted disparities. c) Establish Effective Arrangements for the Participation of Aboriginal Students in Decisions Making The goal is to put into place adequate arrangements for the proper structure for engagement of Aboriginal students and community members in decisions related to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of post-school education services, including technical and further education colleges and higher education institutions. In this effect, the Achievement of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP) has been aimed at outing into place practical arrangements for the engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people in Educational Decision making (Bishop et al., 2021).

The goal is to increase the number of indigenous people engaged in institutional governance and decision-making agencies through membership in committees and boards.

Significantly, many institutions have made provisions to include aboriginal students as representatives in decision-making positions to take up leadership. Nonetheless, Fahey (2021) asserts that there are still inherent gaps in the representation of Aboriginals in decision-making, thus creating school environments that value and welcome the input of indigenous communities in leadership. d) Increase the number of Aboriginal People Employed as Administrators, Teachers, Researchers, and Service Officers In the quest to ensure the inclusion of Aboriginals in education decision-making, there have been efforts to grow the number of Aboriginal people taking up roles as administrators,

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teachers, researchers, and student service officers in technical subjects (Common Wealth of Australia, 1989). There have also been efforts to empower Aboriginals to further education in college and higher education institutions to take up administrative roles.

Despite these initiatives, however, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have advanced education remains significantly low, hampers the attainment of the goal. Aboriginals have lower education attainments compared to other communities. Barriers to Aboriginal education include inappropriate teaching materials, and lack of effective policies to support their inclusion, and the unavailability of role models that they can emulate to advance their education (Dawson et al., 2020). At present, the literacy rate gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students is significant and persistent, which varies significantly based on remoteness. The low literacy level among Aboriginals translates to lower attainment in higher education; thus, indigenous communities cannot take up leadership and administrative roles. e) Develop Arrangements for provision of independent Advice from Aboriginal Communities The issue addressed putting measures unto place to enable Aboriginal communities to contribute to educational decision-making at the regional, State, Territory, and national levels.

Through the input of experts drawn from Aboriginal communities, it will be possible to address the underlying issues affecting representation and inclusion.

The Aboriginal recommendations for future action for Primary or Secondary schooling in terms of decision making are to evaluate the gains made with the current policy and formulate a strategy to attain a change in the long term. Supporting Aboriginahelpingon in decision making is focused on supporting parents in their role as their child’s first teacher is a primary goal of many programs developed for, adapted for, or implemented with indigenous families (García

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Guerrero et al., 2021). The policies’ enactment should go hand in hand with creating a school environment that is culturally welcoming and inviting to indigenous communities, empowering them to support their children's learning, and actively engaging parents and communities in their children's education.

Conclusion The critical analysis paper has addressed strategies for the involvement of Aboriginal People in Educational Decision-making. The analysis has addressed the extent to which Aboriginal parents and students are involved in educational decision-making. The policy has also been aimed at increasing the number of aboriginal people employed as administrators, teachers, researchers, and service officers, as well as developing develop arrangements for the provision of independent advice from aboriginal communities. The analysis showed that only short-term gains have been made with effect to the inclusion of Aboriginals in decision-making on matters related to education. Indeed, there is sufficient policy backing the inclusion of Aboriginals in the Australian education sector. Still, the implementation shows significant gaps exist, hindering the education advancement of Aboriginals compared to their non-Aboriginal counterparts.

Aboriginal recommendations for future action for Primary or Secondary schooling in education decision-making needs to evaluate the gains made and adjust accordingly to promote the inclusion of indigenous communities in education to address the glaring gaps in and disparities.

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References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2020). Education Statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-andTorres-strait-islander-peoples/education-statistics-aboriginal-and-Torres-strait-islanderpeoples/latest-release Bishop, M., Vass, G., & Thompson, K. (2021). Decolonising schooling practices through relationality and reciprocity: Embedding local Aboriginal perspectives in the classroom.

Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(2), 193-211.

Common Wealth of Australia. (1989). National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education policy: joint policy statement. Voted Plus. Retrieved from https://www.voced.edu.au/newItemsAdded Dawson, J., Augoustinos, M., Sjoberg, D., Canuto, K., Glover, K., & Rumbold, A. (2020).

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Closing the Gap: Examining how the problem of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage is represented in policy. Australian Journal of Social Issues. 1-16.

Fahey, G. (2021). Mind the Gap: Understanding the Indigenous education gap and how to close . pp. 1-16 García Guerrero, J. E., Rueda López, R., Luque González, A., & Ceular-Villamandos, N. (2021).

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Higgins, D., & Morley, S. (2014). Engaging Indigenous parents in their children’s education.

Retrieved from www.aihw.gov.au/closingthegap Pitman, T., Harvey, A., McKay, J., Devlin, M., Trinidad, S., & Brett, M. (2017). The impact of enabling programs on Indigenous participation, success and retention in Australian higher education. In Indigenous pathways, transitions and participation in higher education (pp.

235-249). Springer, Singapore.

Taylor, E. V., Lalovic, A., & Thompson, S. C. (2019). Beyond enrolments: a systematic review exploring the factors affecting the retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health students in the tertiary education system. International journal for equity in health, 18(1), 1-19.

Trudgett, M., Page, S., Bodkin-Andrews, G., Franklin, C., & Whittaker, A. (2017). Another brick in the wall? Parent perceptions of school educational experiences of Indigenous Australian children. In Indigenous children growing up strong (pp. 233-258). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

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