Transcript Growing Our Own – A two-way approach to teacher

‘Growing Our Own’
A two-way approach to teacher
preparation for NT Catholic Schools.
Professor Alison Elliott
Head – School of Education
Charles Darwin University
Brenda Keenan
Deputy Director – Teaching and Learning
Catholic Education Northern Territory
“I’m Principal now, but I’m looking behind
me…. and nobody is coming to take my
place….. I won’t be here forever, but who is
here when I go? There is no one coming, no
young ones. We are all getting old now, and
if we don’t do something, this will be a
Muruntawi (white) school”
(Indigenous Principal, Catholic Education NT, 2008)
Snapshot of the Northern Territory
Australia’s Northern Territory is one of
the most culturally diverse parts of the
nation. More than 100 nationalities are
represented in the Territory’s
population.
• SBS Radio broadcasts programs in 68
languages throughout the N.T.
• At the time of European settlement there
were approximately 500 dialects spoken
by the Indigenous Australian population.
These dialects made up about 250 distinct
languages. Ongoing colonisation and
globalisation across the Australian
continent has resulted in the loss of many
languages. Approximately 50 Indigenous
languages remain.
Population
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Over the past two decades our Indigenous population in remote communities
has grown by approximately 40%.
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Remote Indigenous communities are growing rapidly and simply do not have the
same range, level and quality of public funded infrastructure and services that
are provided in towns of similar size elsewhere in Australia.
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Population of NT = 212,551 (ABS 2006)
• 1.0% of Australian population (what a unique, complex and wonderful 1%
we are)
• Median Age = 30.9
• % of Indigenous = 31.6%
• With a population of 212,000 the Northern
Territory is the most youthful in Australia, and
has the largest proportion less than 15 years
of age and the smallest proportion aged 65
years and over. The median Age is 30.9 years
almost 6 years younger than the national
median age.
Demographic and Geographic stats
• The Territory has a unique demographic and geographic profile. Indigenous
Territorians comprise 30% of the population, most of whom live in remote
communities spread across 1 346 200 square kilometres.
• Indigenous students represent 39% of the Territory Government student
cohort. A high proportion of these students have English as a Second
Language (ESL).
• Just 15% of working-aged Indigenous Territorians had a mainstream job at
the time of the 2004 census.
• 39.2% (approximately 18,000) of the Territory’s Indigenous population are
school aged.
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6.4% of Tasmania’s Indigenous population are school aged
5.9% of Queensland’s Indigenous population are school aged
5.2% of Western Australia’s Indigenous population are school aged
3.9% of New South Wales Indigenous population are school aged
3.2% of South Australia’s Indigenous population are school aged
2.1% of the A.C.T’s Indigenous population are school aged
1.1% of Victoria’s Indigenous population are school aged
ABS 2006
Remote Communities
The Territory has 641 discrete Aboriginal communities
• 9 towns of 1,000 – 2,000 people
• 50 communities with populations ranging from 200 – 999 people
• 570 communities with populations of < 200 people.
• 72% of the Territory’s Indigenous population live on Aboriginal land outside
major towns and certainly off the Stuart Highway
• 51 homeland learning centres
• 188 schools (152 public and 36 private schools)
• 119 schools (72% of Indigenous students) are located outside of Alice Springs
and Darwin
• Majority of our Indigenous in the NT do not have good access to mainstream
services
Characteristics of discrete Indigenous communities
• Geographically dispersed, isolated and subject to seasonal conditions
• Lacking in basic infrastructure and services
• High comparative levels of socio-economic disadvantage
• Limited capacity to engage in social and economic
development opportunities
Source: ABS 2006
Health
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54% of remote communities do not have a local health clinic (ABS
2006)
99% of remote communities have no substance abuse service (ABS
2006)
End stage renal disease (ESRD) in some NT regions up to 30 times the
national average.
Projected cost of treatment for ESRD in next 5 years is estimated to be
$50 million.
Underlying causes of chronic diseases is linked to poverty and
disadvantage, poor living conditions, poor nutrition, low birth weight and
infectious diseases.
2% have a women’s refuge or safe house;
2% have single men’s housing
4% have single women’s housing.
Health Cont…
• Nutrition and health are closely connected to educational
achievement, school attendance and literacy skills. (DEST 2003
and ABS 2005)
• The health status of Australia’s Indigenous population is poor by
world standards.
• More than twice as many Indigenous babies suffer low to
extremely low birth-weight compared to non-Indigenous babies
and Indigenous children are twice as likely to be hospitalized for
infectious diseases. (SCRGSP, 2005)
• Upwards of 70% of Indigenous children in remote communities
suffer from chronic Otitis Media, a serious middle ear disease
that can cause permanent hearing loss and inhibit language and
literacy development. (DET, WA 2006)
Snapshot of the Northern Territory
Housing
Education
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94% of remote communities do not have a preschool
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Lowest retention rate and participation of all jurisdictions across Australia
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In bush communities, English is a second, third or fourth language and is rarely
spoken at home; while many in the Top End of the Territory might speak a
Kriol, others would at best use an Aboriginal English.
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There is an enormous gap in the English literacy rates of Indigenous and nonIndigenous people in Australia. The gap is even wider for Indigenous people
living in remote and isolated communities.
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The gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students emerges early.
Non-Indigenous students far out-perform Indigenous students in benchmark
tests for reading, writing and numeracy in Year 3 and Year 5. By Year 7, the
gap has widened, particularly for numeracy. (DEET NT 2006)
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Indigenous children living in isolated areas have even lower literacy rates. In
the Northern Territory, only one in five children living in very remote Indigenous
communities can read at the accepted minimum standard. By Year 7, just 15%
achieved this benchmark, 47 percentage points behind their urban Indigenous
peers and 74 percent less than non-Indigenous students. (DEET NT 2006)
Education Cont…
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Indigenous homes, particularly those in remote communities, have
fewer books, computers and other educational resources than nonIndigenous homes. All of these factors are linked to children’s
achievements at school and in the development of English literacy
skills. (Bortoli and Cresswell, 2004)
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Absenteeism from school negatively affects students’ academic
performance. Indigenous students miss around 26 days of school per
year compared with 8 days for all students. Indigenous students living
in remote and very remote locations are likely to miss an even greater
number of school days. (Zubrick, Silburn, De Maio et al., 2006)
Snapshot of Catholic Education
Northern Territory
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100 years of Catholic Education in the Northern Territory was celebrated in 2008
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Catholic schools in the Northern Territory enroll about 5000 students in fifteen
schools - Darwin
Darwin
- Alice Springs
- Katherine
- Nguiu (Bathurst Island)
- Santa Teresa (vai Alice Springs)
- Port Keats
- Daly River
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3 Homeland Centres –
- Kuy (Port Keats)
- Wurankuwu (Bathurst Island)
- Wudikapildiyerr (Daly River)
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All Catholic urban primary schools have Early Learning Centre's
All Indigenous Catholic Community schools have Pre-schools
Alice Springs
Growing Our Own Implementation Plan
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Background to ‘Growing Our Own’
Context / rationale
Delivery model
Enrolment patterns
Two-way mentoring and academic work
Proposed course structure
Proposed initiative
Implementation phase
Consultation process
Enrolment details
Funding requirements
Implementation Issues
- Risk analysis
Background
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Aims
Recruitment
On-site, in-school classroom support
Capacity building / employment
opportunities
• Quality workforce
• Whole school approach
• Whole school approaches that target all
aspects of early childhood literacy teaching
are essential to the achievement of
sustainable outcomes in education.
Context
• Two-way model of teacher preparation
• Charles Darwin University – Bachelor of Teaching
and Learning
• Cultural Identity
• Culturally responsive and pedagogically strong
Delivery Model
• Indigenous Catholic Community Schools –
Northern Territory
• On-site mentoring
• Dedicated CDU academic staff
• School Based Coordinators
• Project Officers
Enrolment Patterns
• Candidates need to complete 320
credit points
• Unit content integrated with in-class
teaching and learning
• Professional mentoring
• Resource intensive, support
intensive, on-site study and practical
intensive
Two-way mentoring and academic
work
• One day per week, on-site supervised
academic work
• Professional experience placements
• On campus intensive workshop
Consultation Process
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Whole school consultation process
Community consultations
Identification of potential students
Commitment to the teaching profession
Risk Analysis
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The calibre of teacher may determine the number of student teachers in the
initial intake as the strength of this success is heavily hinged on the quality
team teaching approach, together with whole school support structures.
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The class teacher needs to be a good role model for the AT and this it is not
always possible to ensure this with high teacher turnover.
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A high teacher turnover is envisaged, it is recommended that new teachers
should have a minimum of one year experience before taking on the role as
mentor teacher.
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Change of indigenous staff from now to next year, due a number of factors
but predominantly family and cultural commitments.
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Adequate time for daily reflection on coursework and planning together for
teaching the next day, is limited after school finishes because ATs leave
school at 3p.m. In some cases this is when they are paid until, or ar 4 p.m. at
the latest
Risk Analysis Cont…
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This model places a high demand on the classroom teacher’s skill, energy
and time.
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The success of the this project is heavily reliant on a strong classroom
teacher both for practical application as well as after school support.
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If the classroom teacher is indigenous, and has only a three-year Diploma of
Teaching, several issues may arise: family supporting family – compromising
their ability to critique; classroom teacher is mentoring a student to a higher
qualification; two-way learning cannot occur.
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Experienced non-Indigenous teachers remarked on how tired they are, living
and working in an ESL context and cross-cultural situation. Whilst
professionally committed and finding it fulfilling, it is nevertheless exhausting,
and they expressed concern for their health with an added responsibility of
mentoring our students.
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Illness is common issue (e.g. one day the previous week, there had been 19
staff away from Wadeye school)
Risk Analysis Cont…
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Culture and customs and family commitments might mean that students have to
miss a series of lectures.
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Possible pitfalls would be for an AT to be placed with a family member. It also
raises the issue of the Two-Ways learning if both are Indigenous.
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In addition to staff turnover, if there is change of principal s/he might not be as
supportive if the initiative, or prefer to set other priorities
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English literacy may be a challenge
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There may be a language barrier between student and lecturer
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It may take a while for new classroom teachers to relate the concepts of AL
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The program will be pressurised, fitting four years of study into two or three,
requiring a level of commitment from the AT that they might struggle to provide,
given the other constraints and demands in their lives.
Risk Analysis Cont…
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The course does require Western critique and reflection. A risk would be that
the Two-ways processes might not be strong enough to explicitly develop
these skills.
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Timetabling for after school planning may be compromised with the many after
school meetings that are currently in place e.g. whole staff meetings, planning
togethers, AL professional development
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Schools might prioritise other meetings/activities such as culture days or
excursion/behaviour management demands, which would impact on the ATs
ability to attend lecture days
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General timetabling at the class level or the school level might not prioritise
the one day release of the AT which needs to be regular and non-negotiable
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ATs might find it difficult to see themselves as full-time students who are
completing course work in the classroom, because they only have lecture
contact one day a week. This might imply that they are first and foremost an
AT who is studying part-time. It would be preferable if they would see
themselves as full-time students who, in the completion of their AT role, are
also meeting course requirements.
‘Growing Our Own’
A two-way approach to teacher
preparation for NT Catholic Schools.
Questions / Answers?
References
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Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Population Characteristics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples, 2004, page 35.
• Australian Bureau of Statistics, The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples, 2005, 2006.
• Bortoli and Cresswell, Australia’s Indigenous Students in PISA 2000: Results from an International Study, Australian
Council for
Educational Research (ACER), Research Monograph No. 59, August 2004, page 14.
• Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Final Report of the National
Evaluation of National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, Dec 20
• Department of Education and Training, Western Australia (DET WA) Conductive Hearing Loss and Aboriginal
Students, 2006. website
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/abled/apac/resources/pdf/conductive%20hearing%20loss.pdf
• Mellor S and Corrigan M, The Case for Change, a review of contemporary research on Indigenous education
outcomes, Australian
Education Review, ACER, 2004, page 39
• Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, ‘Australian Directions in Indigenous
Education 2005-2008’
Carlton South, 2006
• Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP), Overcoming
Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005. Commonwealth of Australia, 2005
• Teaching Reading, Report and Recommendations, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, Department of
Education, Science and
Training, Canberra, 2006. http://www.dest.gov.au/nitl/reort.htm
• Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, De Maio JA, Shepherd C, Griffin JA, Dalby RB, Mitrou FG, Lawrence DM, Hayward C,
Pearson G, Milroy H,
Milroy J, Cox A. The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (Volume 3): Improving the Educational
Experiences of Aboriginal
Children and Young People.
• Perth: Curtin University of Technology and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, 2006,
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Source: The Fred Hollows Foundation Information Sheet
(http://www.hollows.org.au/Assets/Files/Indigenous_Literacy.pdf (2008))
‘Growing Our Own’
A two-way approach to teacher
preparation for NT Catholic Schools.
Professor Alison Elliott
Head – School of Education
Charles Darwin University
Brenda Keenan
Deputy Director – Teaching and Learning
Catholic Education Northern Territory