Despite recent developments in Aboriginal education very few Aboriginal high school students in Queensland are in academic courses that will enable them to matriculate with the possibility of entering into tertiary institutions. Instead, the majority of Aboriginal students are in lower level industrial and commercial courses and consequently leave school ill-equipped to enter into a competitive job market. Of those students who do find employment, few are in jobs commensurate with their ability.

Educationalists such as McConnochie (1973) have pointed out that the failure of Aboriginals to succeed at school is primarily a result of factors associated with our social institutions, particularly the schools, rather than with the Aboriginal child himself. McConnochie suggests that our institutions tend to debase the black child’s concept of himself and the group with whom he identifies, and it is the child’s consequent lack of self-esteem that contributes significantly to his low vocational aspirations and academic achievement. However, low vocational aspirations and achievement themselves interact, reinforcing the child’s negative self-concept and he becomes caught up in a self-sustaining cycle of increasing school failure and worthlessness.

Since leaving ‘the bush’ I have been continually surprised at the ignorance that still exists about Aboriginal people and their languages. When people chat to me, and it is revealed that I used to work in Aboriginal schools in the Northern Territory, they say things like “Do you speak Aboriginal then?… Maybe you could make a sign for us saying ‘Welcome to our Kindergarten’ in Aboriginal?” I then have to explain that there are many, many different Aboriginal languages, not just one, and to say or write such things in any one of these languages requires a lot more than a mere literal translation. When I began doing research on the topic of writing in Aboriginal languages. I was again surprised at the sorts of comments people made to me. Comments like “How can you do research on writing in Aboriginal languages; I thought the Aborigines didn't even have an alphabet!”

In a large urban centre in North Queensland, a young five year old Aboriginal boy enters the classroom, wide-eyed and silent. Behind him come his mother and grandmother, seemingly reluctant to enter the classroom. The school year commenced two weeks earlier, so the other children have developed some routine. Having not been to pre-school, Joseph takes his place at the desk assigned by the teacher and silently watches the other children talk, laugh and skilfully use the available equipment.

The interviews and discussions which are the main focus of this paper were conducted with five experienced teachers involved with Aboriginal education in remote rural schools in the Northern Territory – the minimum experience being five continuous years and the most being 15 years. Although the teachers have had greater experience working in the southern regions of the Northern Territory, many have experience in the Top End, interstate or overseas experience in indigenous and special education. As all ofthe teachers are stationed in the Northern Territory and all are currently teaching or supporting teachers in remote Aboriginal schools, the discussions regarding Aboriginal teacher training specifically concerned courses offered by Batchelor College and predominantly by the Remote Access Teacher Education Course (RATE).

Since the early 1970s there have been many positive developments in the education of Aboriginal Australian children as well as education about Aboriginal society, past and present, for all children. We only have to look at such developments as Aboriginal Secondary Grants, Study Grants, home-school liaison, language programs, (e.g. Van Leer or the bilingual programs), family support/counselling (e.g. the Inala Family Project), Aboriginal Education Consultative groups at local, regional, state and national levels. The list of positive developments appears to be endless. Certainly teachers, schools and State Departments of Education have consulted with Aboriginal groups to develop policy statements about Aboriginal Education/Aboriginal Studies in schools. Money has been spent on employing (and sometimes training) Aboriginal teaching assistants; Aboriginal schools have received some support and in areas such as the Northern Territory and Northern Queensland, efforts are underway to decentralise education.

In a very real sense giant steps appear to have been made in Aboriginal education over the past ten years or so. If we are really honest, however, the results of these giant steps remain comparatively disappointing. Thus, although we know that Aboriginal children stay at schools for longer now than they did during the 1960s, the proportion who actually complete senior high school at a satisfactory level is small. For example, in the North West Region of New South Wales, only 11 Aboriginal students were enrolled in Year 12 at the beginning of 1981. See Table 1 for further information.

In that same year, 224 Aboriginal students entered high school throughout the region. If the 1981 patterns of enrolment for Year 12 persist, then only 5% of the 224 children who started high school will actually complete the program. These figures are not encouraging, particularly as non-Aboriginal students’ enrolment patterns indicate that 29% of those who begin high school actually make it to Year 12.

Earlier this year I was approached to speak to a gathering of Principals and other senior education officers from the WA Department of Education attending a Kimberley School Management Team Conference held at Derby during August, 1994. The topic is one of major concem to education providers in the north west and is certainly central to the legitimisation of the Aboriginal Independent Schools as well as their day-to-day operations. Assuming a wider audience I have therefore prepared the following paper in an attempt to consolidate as well as expand upon the points I made while addressing this meeting. In an attempt to maintain a sense of immediacy I have also retained the first person approach to its delivery.

Since 2001 there has been an increase in migration patterns by Indigenous families from remote communities to urban and semi-rural locations. Indigenous student emigration from remote Indigenous schools to urban and semi-rural schools is an emerging crisis as there are routinely inadequate service providers for Indigenous émigrés. Migration away from a particular location from which a person's ancestors, kin and Dreamings come (henceforward named as Country) to semi-rural and urban locations raises many complex issues. This article outlines Aboriginal Community Education Officers’ (ACEOs) role as support workers for Indigenous students who utilise an Indigenous ethics of care framework as a support mechanism to aid the transition of Indigenous students into new schools. The article draws on research undertaken between 2000–2008 (MacGill, 2008) in conjunction with current literature in the field (Pearce, 2012) to highlight ACEOs’ border work and ethics of care practices necessary for successful Indigenous student transitions as émigrés.

First Peoples' knowledge at university lies within a contested knowledge space. The incompatibilities and differences between Western and First Peoples' knowledge systems means attempts to superficially ‘add’ First Peoples' content to university courses are often ineffective and tokenistic. Considering these issues, this paper reflects on the design and implementation of weaving First Peoples' knowledge and perspectives throughout a service-learning course. The course is a nationally awarded work-integrated learning programme delivered to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Drawing on a theoretical framework of Woven Law, the design of the module was led and authored by First Peoples. Throughout the design process, the module was critically examined in terms of the content developed and methods of content inclusion, while also responding to institutional demands of student learning outcomes. Survey results show a positive student reception and early success in enabling students to achieve learning outcomes. While initial results are promising, data are limited due to this being the first assessment of the programme and the fact that students were asked to rate their own experience. Nonetheless, Woven Law and carefully weaving First Peoples' knowledge throughout the curriculum represents a promising methodology and area for future research.

Increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in higher education can play a critical role in transforming lives and is the trajectory to closing the gap and reducing disadvantage. Despite recent progress, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain significantly under-represented in higher education. Poor retention and high attrition rates of these students come at significant financial cost for the individual, community, university and government. Wirltu Yarlu, the Indigenous Education Unit at the University of Adelaide has reviewed the role student support services play in improving retention and completion rates, with an aim to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student retention and completion. The newly developed Student Success Strategy is an innovative approach to student support that aims to identify and respond to individual student needs in a more effective and efficient manner. The model encompasses a self-assessment tool designed to measure progress across several domains. Self-assessments are used to inform student specific support needs which in turn enable support staff to personalise future interventions for each student and respond accordingly in an attempt to reduce and prevent student attrition.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical approach in which students encounter a problem and systematically set about finding ways to understand the problem through dialogue and research. PBL is an active process where students take responsibility for their learning by asking their own questions about the problem and in this paper we explore the potential of PBL as a “location of possibility” (hooks, 1994, p. 207) for an engaged, dialogic, reflective and critical classroom. Our discussion centres on a course called ABTS2010 Aboriginal Women, taught by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland where PBL is used frequently, and a specific PBL package entitled Kina v R aimed at exploring social and legal justice issues for Indigenous Australian women. From both a historical and contemporary perspective, we consider the types of understandings made possible about justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women for students in the course through the use of a PBL approach.

The following extracts are taken from Professor Watts’ evaluation of the Aboriginal Secondary Grants Scheme, which was tabled in Federal Parliament on 3rd June, 1976.

There is little doubt that the most effective teacher of Aboriginal and Islander children would be a person from the community in which the children live, or at least one who shares many of their life-ways. However, until Aboriginal and Islander children have access to teachers from their own cultural groups, it is important that what has been learned about how best to provoke a learning environment for them is readily available.

Teachers might like to consider the implications this article has for their teaching strategies and for the mannpr in which they interact with their Aboriginal students.

Minimbah is an Aboriginal word whichmeans ‘place of learning’. Since self-management in 1987 by the local Aboriginal Management Committee, the school Director, Dianne Roberts has promoted parent, staff and community input at this place of learning. Improved parental involvement in this Aboriginal preschool was essential following the policy change from outside control to self-management.

The Indigenous Education and Training Alliance (IETA) is a staff college of Education Queensland. Its primary focus is to broker and deliver professional development to educators around the policies contained within Partners for Success: strategy for the continuous improvement of education and employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Education Queensland (Education Queensland, 2000b). This paper describes how IETA's work to support one of the policies, Literacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students, has been theorised and enacted. It also discusses the organisation's successes and challenges in the significant area of language and literacy pedagogy for Indigenous students.

The Queensland Department of Education has instigated, planned and supported, over a significant period of time, various programs to enable Aboriginal and Islander entrants to become trained and qualified teachers. Such programs have included for example:

Professor Watts’ (1980) review article of Fifteen Thousand Hours: Secondary Schools and Their Effects on Children was a welcome, optimistic view of the positive effect schools can have on pupils. It was particularly welcome for the optimistic view that teachers and schools can achieve something in the area of Aboriginal education. Watts reviewed this book against the background reality that many teachers of Aborigines

While accepting Watts’ view, I will argue that an overly optimistic view of the possibilities of schooling for Aboriginal children can be just as debilitating as the pessimistic view that broader structural inequalities such as poverty, poor housing, poor health have to be redressed before teachers and schools can achieve anything. To this extent it will be argued that teachers need to be positive about what they and schools can achieve. Teachers need to be aware of the specific ways in which schools can make a difference. 15,000 Hours… outlines some of these.

The Aboriginal learning system is not a functional learning system for everything that needs to be learned in school. Whether a formal or informal style fits the task best is dependent on the nature of what has to be learned, more than on the student’s cultural affiliations. Today Aboriginal children not only need to acquire age-old knowledge in traditional ways but they have to acquire new knowledge...and they need to develop new ways of learning.