Page 2794 - Week 09 - Thursday, 27 September 2007
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provide for an interim half yearly report covering the period January through June, followed by a more comprehensive full year report. So the report I present today is the interim report covering the period January to June this year.
The first half of 2007 saw the continued implementation of a number of budget initiatives. These included Koori preschools operating across five sites across Canberra; targeted support to year 4 indigenous students who were in the lowest 20 per cent in the year 3 ACTAP results; and the appointment of a senior officer grade B to the position of assistant manager of the Indigenous Policy and Organisational Practice Section. This officer provides support to officers working in schools and high level policy advice and direction for the department of education as a whole.
The report of the steering committee for the review of government service provision Overcoming indigenous disadvantage: key indicators 2005 quotes from an OECD report that “attendance at preschool and school has a significant impact on later academic success”. As the report I am presenting today shows, the enhancement of Koori preschool programs has provided greater opportunities for indigenous children to participate in early childhood education and has resulted in a significant increase in the number of children attending preschool. The five preschool sites at Ngunnawal, Wanniassa Hills, Holt, Calwell and Narrabundah continue to operate two days each week from 9 am until 1 pm.
In the full report for 2006, I reported that there was also improvement in numeracy results for year 5 indigenous students. Since then the department has continued to explore different ways to deliver support to indigenous students in year 4 and their teachers to build on those improvements already experienced.
The government has made a significant commitment to improving outcomes for indigenous students, and it is important to note that in comparison with other states and territories the ACT is a leader. However, the challenge for us is to eliminate the gap between the outcomes for indigenous and non-indigenous students. We are very hopeful that the support for literacy and numeracy that we are putting into early years of schooling will address the flagging outcomes experienced in the later years of schooling. For example, the students who received additional support in year 4 in 2006 will participate in ACTAP as year 5 students this year. We would hope to see an improvement in those students’ results.
We also need to ensure that our indigenous students attend school regularly, are engaged with their schooling and make a successful transition to further study or work. The indigenous home school liaison officers have a critical role to play in this. At the beginning of the 2007 school year, those officers were based in a high school, rather than in a central location, as they provide support to the indigenous students of that school and local primary schools.
However, it is not their role alone. It is the responsibility of the entire education system. We need more understanding around how we engage indigenous students in learning and we need to ensure that our teachers have this understanding. Initiatives such as the dare to lead program, where schools make a commitment to improving
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