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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2015
Background Discussion
Readiness programmes are of little or no value. The door to reading for any [sic] beginning reader is his own language, used to express his own experiences.
(Sloan and Latham, 1981)
It is an irrefutable fact that most Aboriginal children are under-achieving scholastically. It is also fairly obvious that a contributing factor in this under achievement is poor literacy skills which can hold children back in most areas of school performance.
Many different reading schemes and approaches have been tried, including Bridging and Headstart programs, which have met with very little success in the long term. As a result it is all too easy for educators to fall back on the deficiency model and blame the child and the home. This is neither profitable nor an adequate explanation for the under-achievement of Aboriginal students.
