Several programs have been developed in Australia recently designed to help Aboriginal children to be more comfortable in the Standard English situation of the classroom. These programs are concerned particularly with children whose first language is not an Aboriginal language but rather a form of English which differs in some respects from Standard English.

One such program has been developed by the State Department of Education in Queensland with some funding from the Bernard Van Leer Foundation. The program is intended to cover many aspects of the curriculum during the first two years of schooling. Teachers’ Handbooks for the first year of the program have been produced and the following extract is taken from the introduction to the first Teachers’ Handbook.

Mr. Russo from Yalata has written about a project which he is initiating at his school; one two-minute movie film has already been made. Other teachers might like to follow his lead.

Basically my idea was to take a movie of certain aspects of the present way of life of the Yalata people with some reference to the past. Examples include:

– life stories of noted people,

– carving boomerangs and wombats,

– cooking of different foods.

It was envisaged that the films would be taken by me initially and perhaps by the people and children themselves, after some teaching in night classes in movie taking.

It was felt essential that agreement of the School Council be obtained before the project was undertaken and that final edited film should be presented to the Mission and School Councils for preview, review and a final decision about its distribution. The people should not only be informed and participate but also be given the opportunity to take some (if not all) of the responsibility for the presentation of the material.

With the permission of the Superintendent and two Aboriginal people a short two minute movie film was made. It was divided into two parts. The first part concerned David Edwards, a Reserve foreman and his work and the other showed Mervyn Day, an Aide in the school, taking a craft class.

To further aid my presentation before the School Council and the community (shown at a local film evening) an English and Pitjantjatjara dialogue made with the help of Mervyn Day was played.

Let me first explain my situation. All the people in Duchess are involved in some way or another with the Queensland Railways. Duchess is a railway town, supported by the Queensland Railways and existing only because of them. The majority of settlers are Islanders, with a few Aboriginals. These people live harmoniously side by side. All the fathers have jobs. The children thus have the necessary monetary backing to encourage development. These people are not poor, though their conditions may indicate otherwise. All the children are clothed reasonably well, and fed reasonably well. Most of the children are scrupulously clean.

It is wise to keep in mind the fact that regardless of what my successes and failures are, each one of us has a special situation, which differs vastly from everyone else’s. It is therefore necessary for us to be continually trying, adapting, and changing, in order to achieve any measure of success.

In the small school, the teacher is faced with a number of problems which perhaps appear unique or magnified by virtue of the fact that he is on his own. Multiple grades, voluminous workloads multiple cultures, remoteness and lack of finance are amongst the greatest problems facing me personally, and no doubt many of you at present. But the small school also offers unique opportunities to teachers to experiment and implement new ideas and methods. The relative freedom of working alone offers unlimited scope for development in every field. Numbers are fewer, and parental contact is more practical and rewarding. In every field our freedom to work is limited only by our capacity. I believe that the small schools are more effective amongst these people, simply by virtue of the fact that contact and discussions with both parents and children are more intimate, and therefore more successful. Of course, initially they are shy, but eventually we can reach them, and once their confidence is gained, they will make every attempt to help us. This is a big advantage to have, and very necessary if any program is to achieve success.

The following paper is based on experiences gained in schools in North East Arnhem Land. While it is likely that the situations as described are applicable to other areas, the authors do not claim that there will always be direct comparisons. Too often the wider Australian community regards Aboriginals as one people with one set of common needs whereas even limited experience soon reveals a great diversity amongst these people in terms of language, customs and environment and consequently a great diversity of needs and necessary solutions.

In schools throughout Australia the desirability of and need for community involvement become more apparent every day. To quote the Karmel report Schools in Australia,

“After almost one hundred years of public schooling a reappraisal of the relationship of the school to the wider society is taking place in Australia, as it is in most industrialized nations. The isolation of schools is being questioned as is also the idea that education should be confined to formal institutions and concentrated heavily upon those who have not yet entered employment.”

We have now reached the stage where the desirability of community involvement in education can be taken by most as a self evident truth and we can look”back in wonder at the times when such an idea was radical or not even considered.

In Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory the opportunities for involving the community in the school are probably greater than in the wider Australian society. For example, the families are easy to contact, they are generally open to suggestion and they do not have preconceived notions as to the “proper” way in which a school should be run. However, too often we have taken community involvement to mean the fund raising activities of Parents’ Committees and left the real problems of initiating genuine involvement well alone. (The activities of the School Council at Hermannsburg are a notable exception; there may be others).

The following comments on the working out of the Bilingual Program were made by Manydjarri during discussion with the Headmaster. Questions were asked several times and in a variety of ways where necessary in order to elicit Manydjarri ‘s own feelings.

1. WORKING WITH EUROPEANS

“I have been very happy working with Michael Christie. I have been comfortable. He has given me a lot of help. We have been happy working together. The other Aboriginal teacher has been happy too. She wants some training though.”

2. THE CHILDREN

Interest level? “Very interested in learning in Gupapuygu but they are restless. But this is just their way of life”.

How fast are they progressing? “Children are learning faster in the second term than in the first term. They are progressing in all areas of their work.”

What about their English? “Not sure, ask Michael.”

Do Aboriginal children feel competent and confident in the school setting? Where do these feelings, positive or negative, originate?

Do teachers believe these children are competent and worthy? Does it matter what the teachers think?

Does a child’s concept of himself influence his success in the school setting?

Can schools help Aboriginal children feel more positively about themselves?

The following research report is not directly addressed to all of the above questions, but is an interesting study which compares the self-concepts of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.