Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T06:49:21.183Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cutting A Better Deal For Torres Strait Islanders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Martin N. Nakata
Martin N. Nakata*
Affiliation:
James Cook University of North Queensland
Get access

Extract

In the Torres Straits, the cultural agenda, along with the push to move away from English as the language of instruction, has not been met with uniform enthusiasm by all Islanders. For many there has been a growing sense of disquiet and continuing frustration about the preoccupations with liberal humanist agendas in Islander education, and the ongoing low levels of educational outcomes (Nakata, 1994a; Nakata, Jensen and Nakata, in prep.). As interesting as the writings in education (Orr and Williamson, 1973; Finch, 1975; Langbridge, 1977; Orr, 1977, 1979; Osborne, 1979; Cunnington, 1984; Kale, 1987,1988; Castley and Osborne, 1988; Castley, 1988; Williamson, 1990) are to some people, they contribute little towards an understanding of our difficulties as we, Torres Strait Islanders, experience schooling, and thus contribute little towards a platform for improving our current or future educational outcomes.

Type
Articles
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 20 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press or the authors 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bleakley, J. (1961) The Aborigines of Australia. Brisbane: The Jacaranda Press.Google Scholar
Castley, S. (1988) ‘Community involvement: The Saibai State School experience’, The Aboriginal Child at School, 16(1): 35-44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castley, S. and Osborne, B. (1988) ‘Saibai Island community expectations of their first fully qualified principal’, Queensland Researcher, 4:6-20.Google Scholar
Cunnington, R. (1984) A Case for Bilingual Education on Saibai Island. Unpublished Graduate Diploma ESL thesis. School of Australian Linguistics, Darwin Community College.Google Scholar
Finch, N. (1975) Torres Strait Island Education: Past Present and a Proposal for the Future Re-organisation of the Primary School System. Unpublished masters thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Gould, S. (1981) The Mismeasure of Man. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Haddon, A. (1901) Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Strait. Vol. 2. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kale, J. (1987) Controllers or Victims: Language and Education in the Torres Strait. Paper presented at the 57th ANZASS Congress. Townsville: James Cook University of North Queensland.Google Scholar
Kale, J. (1988) ‘Establishing positive learning environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the earliest years of schooling’, The Aboriginal Child at School, 16(3): 45-51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langbridge, J. (1977) From Enculturation to Evangelization: An Account of Missionary Education in the Islands of Torres Strait to 1915. Unpublished B.A. Hons. thesis, Department of Education, James Cook University, Townsville.Google Scholar
Luke, A., Nakata, M., Singh, M. and Smith, R. (1993) ‘Policy and the politics of representation: Torres Strait Islanders and Aborigines at the margins’, in Lingard, B., Porter, P., Knight, J. and Chant, D. (Eds), Hard Tmes: Education Under Labor, pp. 139-52. London: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (1991a) Constituting the Torres Strait Islander: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy. Unpublished B. Ed. Hons. thesis. Department of Social and Cultural Studies, James Cook University of North Queensland.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (1991b) ‘Placing Torres Strait Islanders on a sociolinguistic and literate continuum: A critical commentary’, The Aboriginal Child at School. 19(3):39-53.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (1993a) ‘Culture in education: for us or for them?’, in Loos, N. and Osanai, T. (Eds), Indigenous Minorities and Education: Australian and Japanese Perspectives of their Indigenous Peoples, the Ainu, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Tokyo: San-You-Sha.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (1993b) ‘An Islander's story of a struggle for a “better” education’, Ngoonjook. 9:52-66.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (1994a) Report on Education and Schooling Practice in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Aeas. Townsville: James Cook University of North Queensland Printery.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (in preparation/1996) ‘Cultural interface’, in Freebody, P., Muspratt, S., and Dwyer, B., (Eds), Difference, Silence and Textual Practice: Readings in Critical Literacy Education. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.Google Scholar
Nakata, M., Jensen, J. and Nakata, V. (in preparation/1995) Literacy Issues in Communities and Schools on Three Torres Strait islands: Report submitted to the Management Team of the Torres Strait Cluster of Schools Participating in the Queensland Education Department's Striving for Success: The School Enhancement Project. Townsville: James Cook University of North Queensland Printery.Google Scholar
Orr, G. (1977) Education Language and Ideology: A Torres Strait Case Study. Unpublished masters thesis. St. Lucia, University of Queensland.Google Scholar
Orr, M. (1979) Language Instruction in Torres Strait lsland Primary Schools: A Case Study in the lnitiation and Promulgation of Cultural Democracy. Unpublished PhD, The Florida State University, Florida.Google Scholar
Orr, K. and Williamson, A. (1973) Education in the Torres Strait: Perspectives for Development. Canberra: The Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Osborne, B. (1979) A justification of the New Strategies to Prepare Teachers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pupils in Queensland. Unpublished masters thesis. James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville.Google Scholar
Ryan, W. (1971) Blaming the Victim. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Shnukal, A. (1984a June/July) ‘Torres Strait Islander students in Queensland mainland schools-Part 1: Language background’, The Aboriginal Child at School, 12(3): 27-33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shnukal, A. (1984b October/November) ‘Torres Strait Islander students in Queensland mainland schools - Part 2: Language difficulties’, The Aboriginal Child at School, 12(5):13-21.Google Scholar
Williamson, A. (1990) Schooling the Torres Strait lslander 1873-1941. Unpublished PhD, University of Sydney, Sydney.Google Scholar