ANTaR believes education is vital to overcoming Indigenous disadvantage and achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Professor Ken Wyatt, the former NSW Government’s Director of Aboriginal Health cites Canadian research that reinforces the links between health and education. This research found that that on average for every additional year of education given to a young Indigenous woman, four years are added to the lives of her children.

The importance of language education to the Aboriginal community has been explained by Walgett elder Aunty Fay Green:

I can speak for a lot of our elders who feel the same as I do, and I look at it this way, it's reconciliation. It brings two cultures together instead of pulling away from one another, which we used to do. They're together now, they are. You can see that in the school, they stand by one another. (Joel Gibson, Talking in tongues, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 March 2008)

ANTaR's Racism Makes Me Sick campaign highlights the importance of education in combating racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Recent key reports

Education is the key

The Australian Education Union published a report Education is the key: An Education Future for Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory (PDF) in December 2007.

Education is the Key calculates as many as 7,500 Indigenous children are missing out on preschool or school, and up to 5,000 potential students under the age of 18 in remote areas have no access to secondary or vocational education services.

All things considered — a range of opinions

To give you a complete picture about Indigenous education, here's a range of perspectives. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of ANTaR, but we think they should be considered and thoughtfully debated.

• Rethinking indigenous policy - Larissa Behrendt, 25 August 2008

Who can best cater to the educational needs of Aboriginal children: private or state schools?

We encourage considered, respectful and where necessary provocative debate. Please feel welcome to have your say, and in turn allow others to have their say without responding in anger or distrust.

ANTaR reserves the right to delete any comment that contains offensive, defamatory or discriminatory content. If you feel any of these comments are of this nature, please let us know!