Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Several aspects of general teacher training continue to have an adverse impact on the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and the maintenance of their first language. ATSI communication and social interaction styles are usually not comprehended by teachers without appropriate training and consequently such teachers cannot be effective in teaching ATSI students.
While many schools now offer suitable language programs, some children coming to school with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language are still being taught only in English. Children are rejected by this lack of acceptance of their language and because some teachers still denigrate ATSI language whether it is a traditional language, a creole or Aboriginal English.
The committee believes these inadequacies have a disproportionately large negative effect on both the attitudes of ATSI students and their parents to schooling and on the students subsequent success in gaining adequate Western skills through education. Nonetheless the committee believes basic teacher training should adequately prepare teachers for the range of students they are likely to teach.