Reconciliation and Social Justice Library

A MATTER OF SURVIVAL - ASSPA

4.61 The Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness Program (ASSPA) is a Commonwealth program which provides funding to school-based parent committees for a range of activities designed to increase school participation and attendance by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. At the same time the programs seeks to develop the responsiveness of schools to the educational needs and aspirations of ATSI students. Funding is provided to schools on the basis of the number of ATSI children enrolled. It is intended that the parent committee decides how the funds are to be spent within the school. While this is the practice in most schools receiving ASSPA money, there are some instances where the principal or head teacher makes these decisions, contrary to the ASSPA provisions.

4.62 A range of language and cultural activities have resulted from ASSPA funding. These include producing language teaching resources and bush trips but not all activities are language related. Localisation of decision making has yielded activities suited to the particular school. However, the formation of parent committees has been far more beneficial than anticipated. DEET admitted that in many cases: "They have become very powerful, much more powerful bodies in their own right than we had ever anticipated that they would be." 75 The success of many of these committees has been in bringing the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community and the school together, providing them with real decision making powers and building a better mutual understanding. This success has not been uniform across all schools where ASSPA committees operate as some schools have been less receptive of ATSI parent involvement or there are barriers to free communication between the school and the committee.