Reconciliation and Social Justice Library

A MATTER OF SURVIVAL - SCHOOL BASED LANGUAGE EDUCATION

27. The Minister for Employment, Education and Training in cooperation with the relevant state and territory ministers

· ensure that bilingual or bicultural education be provided to all Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children whose first language is other than English if sought by the relevant community and if there is a sufficient number of speakers to support a program. (paragraph 6.53)

28. ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language communities serviced by a school determine which model of language teaching is appropriate for their school. (paragraph 6.53)

29. ensure that bilingual education is clearly based on the maintenance model rather than the transfer-to-English model. (paragraph 6.53)

30. The Minister for Employment, Education and Training encourage state and territory governments together with unions and ATSI representatives to develop an appropriate pay scale for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language speakers employed as such, to reflect the special skills they possess. (paragraph 6.58)

31. The Minister for Employment, Education and Training in consultation with the states and territories commission the preparation of curriculum material for the teaching of English as a second dialect. This should be funded separately from the Aboriginal Literacy Strategy. (paragraph 6.61)

32. The Commonwealth fund an institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages within a university. The institute should have a predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander board of management. (paragraph 6.65)

33. In the ongoing monitoring of state and territory strategic plans under AEP, the Commonwealth, in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education organisations, ensure the effective implementation of Goals 1 and 17. (paragraph 6.70)