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Warren Mundine, where are you? by Frank Pearce 10 February 2014
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boriginal everything, especially Aboriginal Education is crashing and burning. I am writing this article to voice my frustration at not being able to contact directly by email, Warren and the rest of the members of the National Indigenous Advisory Committee. This Committee was supposed to be about listening to the Aboriginal voices. This is impossible if you can’t email them direct. I have spent hours on Google trying to track down email addresses for this mob without success. It’s a waste of time sending letters that will either be conveniently lost or end up with staffers who will then decide if they will pass them along.
All this reminds me of a comedy show from the 60s called Car 54 Where are you? It was all about 2 policemen who either could never be found when there was a problem or else they messed up the problem when they were confronted with it. Aboriginal Education funding is under attack as evidenced by the 100 Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) who have just lost their jobs in WA. Believe me this is only the tip of the iceberg. AEW job security has always been bad mainly because it has always relied on specific Aboriginal funding. Not the case for mainstream teachers aids is it ?. But at least with the security of this funding AEW jobs were relatively safe. I was so concerned with this issue I put myself through 5 very long
Warren Mundine with PM Abbott and Minister Scullion at their first PM Indigenous Advisory Council meeting. Image: Sydney Morning Herald
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years of a Masters in Research degree to prove they are essential. I believe this was at the time the only research on this issue. Which begs the question why?. It should be noted that the following only relates to the NSW Catholic School System However my long experience in this area and confidential feedback tells me that this story is and continues to be the same for all school systems. The following is from a letter I compiled in my previous position as the State Coordinator of Aboriginal Education for the NSW Catholic Education Commission in order to keep our Aboriginal funding targeted so it would not be swallowed up in mainstream. We were the only system at that time to be successful in keeping our Aboriginal funding as a targeted program Prior to the advent of targeted funding around 1993 little if any Indigenous Educational data aside from enrolment data was kept by diocese or schools. This would suggest that Indigenous Education was not a focus prior to the advent of targeted funding. Prior to targeted funding there were few Indigenous staff employed within the system. Including teachers. There was also little Indigenous input into educational decision making. Since the advent of targeted funding Indigenous enrolments and educational achievement has grown steadily and continues to do so. The employment of Indigenous staff has grown steadily and continues to grow. Also since the advent of targeted funding, Indigenous involvement has increased dramatically at all levels. The CRC has an Indigenous Commissioner and a State Coordinator as well as a State
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Indigenous Education Advisory Committee. Each diocese has its Own Indigenous Education Advisor, all dioceses have a diocesan Indigenous Education Committee and many schools also have an. Indigenous Education Committee. Attached is evidence of what has been achieved since the advent of targeted funding in 1993. As Indigenous Advisory Committee Members we do not wish Indigenous funding to become part of the mainstream GRG funding to diocese because: We believe the importance placed on this funding as a targeted program assists us in keeping Aboriginal education at the forefront for schools and improved/ raised educational outcomes. We believe the accountability process attached to the targeted funding assists us in keeping Aboriginal Education at the top of people’s agenda and is a constant reminder to be always working towards higher expectations for educational achievement for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. As a targeted program it has a great deal of ‘importance’ inherently attached. It allows us to bring it to the attention of the schools in a powerful way. Similarly, the accountability processes attached to such targeted funding keep Aboriginal Education issues constantly and continually on the agenda of what our schools should be achieving. Conversely, to make it part of GRG may see it disappear into the realms of general education issues where it used to lie prior to the advent IESIP funding in the late 1990s. We would hate to see maintenance of Aboriginal Education projects subject to the `to-ing and fro-ing’ of a funding
process in amongst the other competing endeavors of diocesan budget’s. Trying to establish a priority for Aboriginal Education amidst the other budget considerations of diocese may be fraught with ‘political’ dangers. As standalone funding we are not confronted by this issue. We believe that mainstreaming Indigenous funding could lead to Aboriginal Education Workers feeling even less secure in their jobs. It is hard enough finding suitable people who are prepared to work part time for low remuneration. We believe that mainstreaming the funding will have a significant financial and thus social effect on those dioceses not well off both economically and socially. The most important point of all is we feel strongly that mainstreaming Indigenous funding will have a large and long term negative effect on the educational outcomes of those with whose care we are entrusted. The children. Aboriginal Education Timeline Pre & Post Targeted Funding Prior to the advent of targeted funding in 1993 little if any meaningful data aside from Aboriginal enrolments was kept.
Pre targeted funding 1978 1048 1979 NA 1980 1032 1981 1113 1982 1096 1983 1075 1984 1089 1985 1076 1986 1048 1987 984
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1988 974 2002 167 57 1989 954 2003 162 80 1990 953 2004 160 91 1991 1122 2005 142 79 1992 1208 2006 153 83 1993 1366 2007 201 87 1994 1453 2008 197 108 Primary Secondary Indigenous Employment 1999 90.2% 95.0% 2000 92.0% 95.0% 2001 87.3% 93.9% 2002 89.3% 93.9% 2003 89.6% 91.7% 2004 89.6% 89.9% 2005 86.3% 91.2% 2006 93.2% 90.7% 2007 86.2% 92.6% 2008 90.8% 93.4% It should be noted in relation to attendance Post targeted funding 1995 1611 1996 1684 1997 1860 1998 2012 1999 2143 2000 2391 2001 2549 2002 2718 2003 2851 2004 3041 2005 3328 2006 3577 2007 3893 2008 4179 HSC and SC Results for Aboriginal students- Pre targeted funding no results available) Post targeted funding SC HSC 1999 98 58 2000 120 69 2001 122 50
(AEWs)*
Aboriginal Teachers
1999 103 2000 100 2001 96 2002 112 2003 123 2004 134 2005 139 2006 141 2007 156 2008 140
NA NA 10 18 26 27 38 39 40 52
* AEWs = Aboriginal Education Workers It should be noted that pretargeted funding that the number of AEWs in NSW Catholic schools was in single figures. It should also be noted that pre-targeted funding there were no diocesan Aboriginal Education Advisors. Aboriginal people involved in educational decision making in NSW Catholic Schools State Level Diocese Level 1999 12 2000 15 2001 15 2002 15 2003 15 2004 15 2005 15 2006 15 2007 15 2008 15
88 78 147 144 154 179 83 82 115 126
Two things need to be noted in relation to this decision making
outcome: Firstly since the advent of targeted funding CEC now has a State Coordinator of Aboriginal Education and an Indigenous Commissioner. There are also now 15 Diocesan Aboriginal Education Advisors who form the CEC Aboriginal Advisory Committee. Secondly it needs to be noted that DEEWR in its wisdom abolished the Aboriginal Student Support & Parent Awareness program (ASSPA). This program was instrumental over a long period in getting Aboriginal people into our schools. When it was abolished as with all sectors we lost at least 50% of our hard earned regular parental involvement. In 2007 we have started to get back some of the involvement we lost. In closing this article I would just like to say I am sick to death of the question “are the children school ready?”. The question should really be “are schools ready for the children?”.
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