The maintenance, or in some cases revival, of Aboriginal languages has become an important issue to Aboriginal people, and should be an important issue in Aboriginal schools if local people show concern about it. There is good reason for this concern. Predictions vary among linguists about how vulnerable Aboriginal languages are. There are about fifty Aboriginal languages spoken today. One informed estimate is that by the year 2000 a dozen of these will still be naturally reproducing themselves, that is, still spoken spontaneously by young children. Another informed estimate is that by that time only about three languages will be vigorous and spoken by children. These three are the related Yolngu languages in North East Arnhem Land, the related Western Desert languages of which Pitjantjatjara is the best known, and Kriol which is a new Aboriginal language and the largest, and growing rapidly.

Our assumption that there is a best way to go about language maintenance is not supported by a well established theory that can be applied in all contexts. Even though a good deal is known about language shift there is not agreement among linguists about what causes it in different situations. For example, it is assumed that isolation would help Aboriginal languages to stay strong, and that closeness to a large town would cause an Aboriginal language to weaken under pressure from English. But linguists have pointed out that some really isolated Aboriginal communities seem to be losing their language and that the language of some groups living near towns is staying stronger. It has also been assumed that if a community has one dominant Aboriginal language then it will remain stronger than those languages in a community where there are a number of different languages in use. Again linguists have observed that that is not always the case.

The main focus of this analysis will be on three programs, in particular Milingimbi, Bamyili and Yuendumu.

J. Harris and J. Sandefur (1984) define bilingual education as “the use of two languages in a well organised program”. The NT Department of Education’s Bilingual Education leaflet (1987) extends this definition to include the qualifications –

The Hon. John Dawkins (then) Minister for Employment, Education and Training, launched the Aboriginal Education Policy at a grand event in the Committee Room at Parliament House on 26th October 1989. The Prime Minister blessed the occasion with his presence and a short speech. Three of the former Chairs of the the National Aboriginal Education Committee were there, as were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educationists from most Australian states. Only New South Wales, which decided to boycott the launch, wasn’t officially represented.

There are two reasons for calling the policy that the Minister launched the Aboriginal Education Policy. Firstly, because it is the first policy formally endorsed by any National government; and secondly, because it responds to the call made in the 1988 Report of the Aboriginal Education Policy Task Force, for a concerted national effort –

Most secondary teachers in Queensland will encounter Aboriginal and Islander students in the classroom at some time or other, and most teachers will have no experience or training to prepare them to meet the special needs of the indigenous students. Aboriginal and Islander students are, indeed, different from mainstream (or Anglo-Celtic) Australian students in their learning characteristics, their social or cultural backgrounds, existing educational disadvantagement and experience of prejudice, and their use of forms of English other than Standard Australian English (SAE). To say that all students are equal and should be treated the same way is to deny these important differences and impede the learning of Aboriginal and Islander students in the mainstream classroom.

Two features of Aboriginal and Islander learning styles about which classroom teachers need to be aware are field sensitivity and external locus of control. Students described as “field sensitive” (or field dependent) are influenced by context and develop cognitive styles related to a global, or whole, approach to thinking. The introduction to learning new material, therefore, needs to take this learning style into account, if Aboriginal and Islander students are to cope with learning in a culture which is not their own. The introduction needs to be global in its approach, to enable these students to apply it to their existing knowledge. (Tutor leaflet, n.d.) Field dependent behaviours exhibited by indigenous students, according to a leaflet issued to tutors working with Aboriginal and Islander students in Townsville, include a preference for group type, co-operative learning tasks and a sensitivity to the feelings and opinions of peers, rather than an individual, competitive learning style. There is also a tendency to relate to the teacher/tutor at a highly personal level.