Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T19:34:43.648Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Learning Versus Education: Rethinking Learning in Anangu Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2013

Sam Osborne
Sam Osborne*
Affiliation:
Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Sam Osborne, PO Box 3971, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

In the remote schooling context, much recent media attention has been directed to issues of poor attendance, low attainment rates of minimal benchmarks in literacy and numeracy, poor retention and the virtual absence of transitions from school to work. The Australian government's recent ‘Gonski review’ (Review of Funding for Schooling – Final Report 2011) also strongly advocates the need to increase investment and effort into remote education across Australia in order to address the concerns of under-achievement, particularly of Indigenous students. Large-scale policies designed to improve access to services have caused a significant increase in services delivered from external sources, policy development at all levels of government, and tight accountability measures that affect remote communities and in turn, schools in various ways. Remote educators find themselves caught in the middle of this systemic discourse and the voices and values that exist in the remote communities where they live. Within this complex environment, the purpose of this article is to amplify Indigenous community voices and values in the discourse and by doing so, challenge ourselves as educators and educational leaders to examine the question: ‘While we're busy delivering education, is anybody learning anything?’ This article focuses on the Anangu (Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara) context of the North-West of South Australia, southern regions of the Northern Territory and into Western Australia. This region is referred to as the ‘tri-state’ region. Using a qualitative methodology, this article examines three Pitjantjatjara language oral narrative transcripts where Anangu reflect on their experiences of growing up and learning. By privileging these Anangu voices in the dialogue about learning in the remote Aboriginal community context, key themes are identified and analysed, highlighting important considerations for remote educators in understanding the values and cultural elements that inform Anangu students in their engagement with a formal education context.

Keywords

remote Indigenous educationAnangu
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 42 , Special Issue 2: Red dirt thinking on remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education , December 2013 , pp. 171 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013 

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

ABC News. (2011). Fear APY school attendance rates falling. Retrieved August 20, 2012, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-01-27/fears-apy-school-attendance-rates-falling/1920180Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. (2004). The capacity to aspire: Culture and the terms of recognition. In Vijayendra, R. & Walton, M., Culture and Public Action (pp. 59–84). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Arbon, V. (2008). Arlathirnda Ngurkarnda Ityirnda: Being-knowing-doing, de-colonising Indigenous tertiary education. Brisbane, Australia: Post Pressed.Google Scholar
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2011). NAPLAN achievement in reading, persuasive writing, language conventions and numeracy: National report for 2011. Sydney, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Australian National Training Authority Research Advisory Council. (1998). Djama and VET: Exploring partnerships and practices in the delivery of vocational education and training in rural and remote Aboriginal communities. Darwin, Australia: Northern Territory University Press.Google Scholar
Bain, C. (2011). Indigenous retention: What can be learnt from Queensland? In Purdie, N., Milgate, G., & Bell, H. (Eds.), Two way teaching and learning: Toward culturally reflective and relevant education. Melbourne, Australia: ACER Press.Google Scholar
Boomer, G. (1999). Pragmatic radical teaching and the disadvantaged schools program. In Green, B. (Ed.), Designs on learning: Essays on curriculum and teaching (pp. 49–58). Canberra, Australia: Australian Curriculum Studies Association.Google Scholar
Burns, C. (2012, August 3). Fighting for Territory schools (media release). Darwin, Australia: Northern Territory Government. Retrieved August 2012, from http://newsroom.nt.gov.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewRelease&id=9760&d=5Google Scholar
Delpit, L.D. (1993). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people's children. In Weis, L. & Fine, M., Beyond silenced voices: Class, race, and gender in United States schools (pp. 119–139). New York: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, W. (1994). Pitjantjatjara Tjukurpa Tjuta [Pitjantjatjara stories]. Adelaide, Australia: University of South Australia.Google Scholar
Ford, M. (2012). Achievement gaps in Australia: What NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1–23. doi:10.1080/13613324.2011.645570CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, P.L. (2010). Aboriginal knowledge narratives and country: Marri kunkimba putj putj marrideyan. Brisbane, Australia: Post Pressed.Google Scholar
Gruenewald, D. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32 (4), 3–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guenther, J. (2012, October). Are we making education count in remote Australian communities or just counting education? Paper presented at NARU public seminar series, Darwin, Australia. Retrieved January 2013 from http://naru.anu.edu.au/__documents/seminars/seminar_paper_guenther.pdfCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guenther, J., & Bat, M. (2012, September). Towards a good education in very remote Australia: Is it just a case of moving the desks around? Paper presented The International Rural Network Forum 2012, Whyalla and Upper Spencer Gulf, Australia.Google Scholar
Guenther, J., Bat, M., & Osborne, S. (in press). Red dirt thinking on remote educational advantage. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education.Google Scholar
Gonski, D., Boston, K., Greiner, K., Lawrence, C., Scales, B., & Tannock, P. (2012). Review of funding for schooling (Final report). Canberra, Australia: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Canberra. Retrieved from http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/ReviewofFunding/Documents/Review-of-Funding-for-Schooling-Final-Report-Dec-2011.pdfGoogle Scholar
Hayes, D., Mills, M., Christie, P., & Lingard, B. (2006). Teachers and schooling making a difference: Productive pedagogies, assessment and performance. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Hilliard, W. (1968). The people in between; The Pitjantjatjara people of Ernabella. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Kral, I. (2012). Talk, text and technology: Literacy and social practice in a remote Indigenous community. Bristol, England: Multiligual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kral, I., & Falk, I. (2004). What is all that learning for? Indigenous adult literacy practices, training, community capacity and health. Adelaide, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research.Google Scholar
Kronemann, M. (2007). Education is the key: An education future for Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Melbourne, Australia: Australian Education Union.Google Scholar
Leadbeater, C. (2012). Innovation in education: Lessons from pioneers around the world. Doha, Qatar: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.Google Scholar
Lester, Y. (1993). Yami. Alice Springs, Australia: Institute for Aboriginal Development Publications.Google Scholar
Lingard, B., Hayes, D., Mills, M., & Christie, P. (2003). Leading learning: Making hope practical in schools. Buckingham, England: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, S. (2012a, March 20). Parents ‘part of’ truancy problem. The Australian. Retrieved 20 August, 2012, from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/parents-part-of-truancy-problem/story-fn9hm1pm-1226304568009Google Scholar
Martin, S. (2012b, July 17). Language skills poor in 40% of APY children. The Australian. Retrieved 20 August, 2012, from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/language-skills-poor-in-40pc-of-apy-children/story-fn9hm1pm-1226427556032Google Scholar
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Melbourne, Australia: Curriculum Corporation. Retrieved August 14, 2013, from http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdfGoogle Scholar
McRae-Williams, E. (2008). Understanding ‘work’ in Ngukurr: A remote Australian Aboriginal community. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved August 20, 2013, from http://espace.cdu.edu.au/eserv/cdu:9415/Thesis_CDU_9415_McRaeWilliams_E.pdfGoogle Scholar
Nakata, M. (2007a). Disciplining the savages: Savaging the disciplines. Canberra, Australia: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (2007b). The cultural interface. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 36 (Suppl.), 7–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, S. (2012). Growing up learning. Unpublished transcript, interview with Sheila A. held at Nyangatjatjara College, Yulara, Australia.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (2011). Radical hope; Education and equality in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Black Inc.Google Scholar
Smith, L.T. (2012) Decolonizing methodologies, research and indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Stafford-Smith, M., & Huigen, J. (2009). From desert syndrome to desert system: Developing a science of desert living. Academy of Social Sciences, 28 (2), 8–18.Google Scholar
Tjilari, A. (2006). Learning as a Pitjantjatjara child. Adelaide, Australia: An_angu Education Services.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, G., Simpson, J., & Loakes, D. (2011). NAPLAN language assessments for Indigenous children in remote communities: Issues and problems. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 34 (3), 320–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, E., Arnold, H., & Dandie, S. (2012). Improving School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure (SEAM). Canberra, Australia: Social Policy and Economic Strategy Group, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.Google Scholar