Indigenous Disadvantage

Indigenous disadvantage

The indigenous population of Australia have constantly been disadvantaged compared to the non-indigenous population. This has occurred historically throughout the 20th century. Currently there are many programs in place to provide more opportunities to study and diminish the gap between indigenous and non indigenous students.

History

In the First half of the 20th century, non-indigenous students had free access to primary and secondary education. Indigenous students in remote areas such as the Northern Territory only had access to missionary education. The first government funded education for remote indigenous students in the Northern Territory did not occur until 1949. (Ford, 2008, Ford, pg 83, 2012).  The notion of “locked-in Inequality” (Rothmayr, 2004, Ford, 2012, pg 83) is applicable to the indigenous students in the Northern Territory. Poor health and housing, low educational opportunity and economic disparities derived form earlier locked in monopolies, contributed to the contemporary inequality present. (Roithmayr, 2004, Ford, pg 83, 2012)

Since the introduction of the NAPLAN in 2008, results continue to show very poor outcomes for indigenous students especially in the Northern Territory. The gap between the results of indigenous and non-indigenous students according to NAPLAN results is quite high. Research into issues that may be affecting there poor academic results have found that health issues are also affecting learning. Hearing loss was present in over 80% of students in any one time (Howard, 2004, pg 96, Ford, 2012)

Current Results

There has been a steady increase the percentage of indigenous population completing year 12 interpolated from the 2001 census to 2011 census. This has increased from 19.4% in 2001 to 25.4% in 2011. 

The following table compares the ratio of indigenous students to non indigenous students completing year 12 from 2001 to 2011.

The statistics indicate there has been an improvement in the educational levels of indigenous students. A gap is still present between the indigenous and non indigenous students and consequently affects the job prospects of the indigenous population. Indigenous programs such as “Close the Gap” have addressed the educational issues present within the indigenous population but it is imperative that factors such as poor housing and health be addressed as well. These factors correlate to the educational outcomes achieved by students. 

Though there have been improvements in the last decade, more effort is required to diminish the significant gap between the indigenous and non indigenous population of Australia. The issue with the living conditions need to be address as well as the teaching strategies for indigenous students. Indigenous students need to be taught the value of education to be able to succeed with education.

References

Biddle, Nicholas, 26 AUG 2013, New census figures show that closing the education gap is still a long way off for Indigenous Australians, SBS News, retrieved from http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2012/06/21/analysis-indigenous-education-still-behind

Margot Ford (2013). Achievement gaps in Australia: what NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia, Race Ethnicity and Education, 16:1, 80-102, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2011.645570