I suppose I have to admit that I could have used Paulo Freire’s terms and said “Education for Domination – or Education for Liberation” since most people acquainted with cross-cultural education and education in developing societies would know them. And I certainly do have to admit that there is not much that I have to say that is particularly novel in education. But what I am sure is new in Australia is the deliberate, conscious and consistent effort to apply these ideas in practice in the area of cross-cultural education, in all facets of the curriculum for an educational institution. And so I can give one guarantee about what I say: it may be verbose, and it may even sound abstract, but in the Aboriginal Community College we are trying to do it – and with some success.

But I do not intend merely to give yet another description of the Aboriginal Community College. Frankly, I’m tired of talking about it, constantly repeating myself until I begin to sound like a rather long nursery rhyme. But I am “wrapped” in what we are doing and find this program more stimulating professionally and personally and hence more challenging than anything else I have worked in. I want to deal more generally than merely about this College, because I believe that what we have learnt applies to education in a cross-cultural situation anywhere in Australia and with any minority groups. If I draw my examples from this College, I hope you will tolerate it, and draw your examples from other situations if they are more meaningful to you.

A listening program geared to the interests of rural Aboriginal children was prepared and sent out to two Year S classes in the north-west of New South Wales. The class, with 19 Aboriginals and 4 whites showed measurable gains in listening comprehension at the end of the program. The Experimental Class with one Aboriginal girl and 10 white children did not show improvements in listening until the Aboriginally oriented listening program was terminated. The significance of these results, particularly for minority groups in a classroom, are discussed.

Aboriginal children are particularly susceptible to ear disease and therefore to loss of hearing. In fact, it is a reasonable generalization that at any one time, around 25% of Aboriginal children have significant hearing loss. All teachers should know something about hearing disorders and classroom management. It is even more important for those of us who teach Aboriginal children. I want to do three things, Firstly, I want to look at ear disease itself, because we must understand what we are talking about. Secondly, I want to talk about the implications for classroom management. Thirdly, and somewhat less importantly, I want to provide some medical statistical data, for those who perhaps in some other context may feel the need to justify concern in this matter.

In previous years, attendance of secondary-age students at Maningrida had declined to a mere handful. And so, at the start of 1976, it was decided to make secondary education at Maningrida a priority within the school.

To this end, money and effort were directed towards the setting up of a secondary unit. The main objective was to increase the number of secondary students attending school. We tried to do this by encouraging those adolescents who were not otherwise employed in the settlement to come along to school, and to see whether or not the secondary unit offered them a desirable alternative.

It is intended that this program will be in keeping with the recommendations of the Report to the Schools Commission by the Aboriginal Consultative Group. In particular we refer to Recommendation 8:-

The use of Aboriginal Studies “courses” with non-Aboriginal children has long taken a simplistic form to say the least, which has done little to overcome any of the typical white oriented prejudices which have existed for so long.