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)

The previous Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, also noted that language loss and its resulting impact on culture and identity has wide ranging implications for the education and social welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The 2009 Social Justice Report notes that before colonisation, 250 distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages were spoken on the Australian continent. Of these, only 18 or fewer languages are presently considered strong. And while approximately 100 languages continue to be spoken in Australia, many are at advanced stages of loss.

Indigenous languages disappear in Australia at one of the fastest rates in the world.

ANTaR has made a submission to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Inquiry into Language Learning in Indigenous Communities, urging the Government to protect and revitalise traditional languages.

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

Recent key reports

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan 2010–2014

This is a national plan that commits all governments in Australia to a unified approach to closing the gap in education outcomes between non-Indigenous and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Education Action Plan 2010-2014 was developed by the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) as part of the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG’s) reform agenda to improve life outcomes for indigenous Australians. MCEECDYA approved the plan in April 2010 and it was subsequently endorsed by COAG in May 2011.

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.

• Some critical issues in Aboriginal health and education - Melissa Sweet, 23 March 2009
• 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!