Reconciliation and Social Justice Library

A MATTER OF SURVIVAL - SCHOOL BASED LANGUAGE EDUCATION

6.51 The types of bilingual/bicultural programs operating in some schools were described in Chapter 4. However there are less than 35 such schools. Outside of South Australia and the Northern Territory there are no government bilingual or bicultural schools. Western Australia and Queensland have no such schools in the strong language areas of their respective states. Dr Annette Schmidt pointed out that most bilingual programs were of the transition to English type and promoted a permanent switch away from their first language. 136

6.52 Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language speaking children attending school for the first time are confronted by an institution that teaches them only in English and does not recognise their language. The committee believes that it is totally inappropriate that any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child today begins school in a language other than their own. It is destructive of both the language and the child. The committee recognises the difficulties in servicing multilanguage schools but does not believe this is an excuse for doing nothing. Bilingual/bicultural education is essential if strong and weakening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are to be maintained.

6.53 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. (Recommendation 27)

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

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

6.54 The language objectives of bilingual/bicultural schools are not just to provide a supportive linguistic environment when children first came to school but also to build their language skills and develop literacy in their language. In bilingual schools these skills can be built up over a range of subjects and for many hours a day. In contrast language classes in non-bilingual schools are usually for a short period each week. This can be from 30 minutes to 3 or 4 hours a week. This time may be adequate for language retrieval work where the language level being taught is fairly basic. However to build literacy in an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander first language or to strengthen a weakening language these periods are inadequate. Language classes in non-bilingual schools are often unstructured, short term or sporadic. Consequently many of them are ineffective from a language teaching point of view although they many still have some indirect benefits.

6.55 The Western Australian Government has recently addressed the difficult question of teaching Aboriginal languages in a range of school situations. Following several earlier reports it commissioned Joyce Hudson of the Catholic Education Office in the Kimberley Region to develop a framework for teaching Aboriginal language as a second language in primary school. The introduction in the Draft Framework states:

This Framework is designed for use in primary schools with a significant proportion of Aboriginal students, in areas where the traditional Aboriginal language is still known and used by adults in the local community and where there is strong community support for the teaching of Aboriginal languages in the school.

The program is a second language program and therefore is not suitable for traditional Aboriginal first language speakers nor is it suitable for retrieval programs.

6.56 The W.A. framework is not language specific and outlines curricula and resources for a range of language situations. This can be seen from the grid for selecting the program type for a particular school. This grid is shown in Figure 1. Eight schools trialed the framework in 1991 and the W.A. Government expected an additional 20 schools to use the Framework in 1992. An estimated 120 schools in Western Australia might eventually use the program. 137 The committee was impressed with the program and believes that it could be adopted in other states and territories where appropriate.

Figure 1

Program type

Language Children Children Children know Children Background speak the
use the fragments of identify Aboriginal Aboriginal the closely
language language in Aboriginal with the fluently limited language
and Aboriginal contexts may Language but speak understand but mainly
a some speech neither variety of of adults but understand English
speak only a nor speak variety of it English School School in A B
C D Population Aboriginal Community Town E F G H Schools Majority
of Aboriginal Students Town I J K L Schools Minority of Aboriginal
Students

6.57 The lack of trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and language workers was dealt with in chapters 4 and 5. Another problem which was raised by many groups throughout the inquiry was the very low pay rates for language speakers without formal training who work in language programs. The Northern Territory Department of Education pointed out that while these people were vital to language programs they were paid little more than Unemployment Benefit. 138 The Western Australian Government pointed to similar problems. 139 The Northern Territory Government has partly addressed this problem by creating a career path for language workers with on-site language courses providing skills for promotion to higher pay levels. However, many of the speakers are older people for whom such a solution is not appropriate. The committee believes cultural skills of language speakers, particularly elders, should be better recognised.

6.58 The committee recommends that:

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. (Recommendation 30)