‘Are our dreams big enough?’
The 8th Garma Festival – Key Forum on Indigenous Education and Training
The 8th Garma Festival 4-8 August was a mixture of cultural program and forums exploring contemporary issues for Indigneous Australians. The Garma Festival is presented by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, a not-for-profit Aboriginal charitable organisation which aims to ensure the Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land and other Indigenous Australians have the same level of well being and life opportunities as non-Indigenous Australians. The key forum for 2008 examined Indigenous education and training. This paper represents my reflections upon the messages of the Festival.
Together
with debating ways to ensure the highest possible education and training
outcomes for Indigenous Australians, the Festival fosters the sharing of
knowledge and culture between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
It creates an environment where the practice, preservation and maintenance
of traditional dance (bunŋgul), song (manikay), art, and ceremony of
the Yolŋu people of Arnham Land where the Festival is held, goes side
by side with rigorous discussion. Yolŋu learning is embedded in song,
dance, ceremony and cultural expression, a lived curriculum and therefore
an opportunity for educational exchange between cultures. In addition more
than 130 Yolŋu are employed and trained at Garma each year.
Yolŋu learning is embedded in song, dance, ceremony and cultural expression, a lived curriculum and therefore an opportunity for educational exchange between cultures.
Look listen and learn
Learning in Aboriginal cultures can be quite a different experience to that of mainstream education. For example, a Yolŋu child is taught not to ask questions, which are considered rude, but to look, listen and learn. In addition, a Yolŋu child is unlikely to speak English before attending school. For many Indigenous children, education can be ‘a lonesome adventure into the unknown’, a new language, new ways of thinking that are different to what is valued at home. This may be compounded if the child has to leave their community to pursue secondary education.
Speakers at the forum acknowledged the importance of a child’s culture to their learning, and that language is a critical expression of culture.
Thus for many Indigenous children, school attendance is a major challenge. Speakers at the forum acknowledged the importance of a child’s culture to their learning, and that language is a critical expression of culture. Classrooms were imagined as welcome environments incorporating language and culture, rich in ideas where English is learned from the foundation of the child’s first language. In this way increases in school attendance will occur. We can often forget simple lessons such as the sharing laughter, having fun and smiling is part of learning.
Community, culture and economic engagement
Education was framed within lifelong learning. Start early; invest in early childhood and in the health of carers of young people. The health of carers and their active involvement is a big prediction of educational success. No early intervention program can replace parent and community engagement.
Tobias Nganbe, the co-principal at Thamarrurr School at Wadeye spoke carefully about the challenges at his school. He spoke about the many small privileges that are taken for granted that Indigenous teachers at Wadeye may not have. For example, overcrowding means that Indigenous teachers can’t go home and do their work at home if there are 17 people in a house. He spoke about broken promises, the lack of adequate resources, such as chairs and tables for every child, and having to convert a walk-through into a classroom, the failure of Centrelink to realise its commitments to the community. He also spoke about wanting children to be benchmarked against other children, to strive for the same outcomes. ‘Let us work together,’ he asked.
Photo © ANKAAA at the Garma Forum
Another acknowledged problem is the turnover of teaching staff. Young teachers are often sent to communities full of hope and ideas, but with no induction, and no chance to get to know people in the community before they go to work. They may not even be equipped with appropriate curriculum. Indigenous teachers are the staff most likely to stay on in the community and the corporate knowledge of the school must be shared with them to ensure continuity. An increase in Indigenous staff across all positions is required; principals, management as well as teachers. Supporting existing staff and mentoring new recruits, Indigenous and non-Indigenous is also critical to the reduction of staff turnover.
The local school should be the hub of activity for the community. There are many local solutions to local issues as well as a variety of methods to suit particular communities. Diverse solutions include charter schools where communities control the management and process of administering the school including the appointment of staff. The Tiwi College is being established to provide secondary and vocational education to Tiwi Islander communities. It is run by the Tiwi Education Board representing families and communities and reflects the economy and aspirations of Tiwi islands by offering forestry skills, accelerated Language and Literacy learning, a sport program and pastoral care.
Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner called for economic development supported by education, as well as recognition of the capital costs of starting a business in remote communities. Recognising the value of cultural practices and knowledge in the hybrid economy is also a good way to develop local industry and expertise, for example in land and water conservation projects. The Indigenous art industry and the mining industry are two areas where successful engagement by remote communities has led to increased income and jobs.
A New Zealand perspective
From New Zealand came an inspirational presentation on working together by Brian Annan, the School Improvement Manager, Ministry of Education and Te Kepa Striling, Matauranga Maori, Ministry of Education. These partners in education reaffirmed in Maori and in English that ‘through the language, the world of the people is acquired’.
They asserted that broken promises have to be challenged; that we all have to listen and critique ourselves or we could end up contributing to and sustaining the problem. The Ministry of Education in New Zealand had found a silent anger in Maori communities, and had to admit that it didn’t have the solutions. From this admission, both parties were able to move forward, including finding out together what was happening, learning, analysing and applying critical perspectives to problems and initiatives. Partnerships were created between communities and teachers, policy and research, and action was taken.
The lesson from New Zealand was that the failure of bureaucracy needs to be acknowledged and the dialogue between community and government reinvented. Giving ownership of their future to the people of the land needs to include giving people back their schools.
Transformational education
Transformational
education is required. The temptation to rush ahead must be resisted, it
can lead to waste and answers to the wrong questions. Instead, take time
to understand what the real question is. Include health strategies in school
curricula so that students become agents of change. Ambitious goals such
as teaching English for mastery rather than for basic literacy will lead
to extraordinary outcomes, including more health professionals, agricultural
engineers, information technology engineers and web designers for the future
health and development of communities.
Many strategies to foster success amongst learners and trainees were considered. Accompanying students through life, through long term systems and structures such as academic adoption for coaching and mentoring purposes was one proposal. Mentoring, encouraging and negotiating transitional stages through first year, primary and high school, including mentoring in jobs after people graduate was another.
Don’t have little dreams, have big dreams, and aim for the highest quality possible. Be a master of the knowledge you have, and help develop the critical mass who can be powerful advocates for their people. Look for the brightest – invest in them.
Dr Daniel Etya’ale works with the World Health Organisation and is the Coordinator of the Vision 2020 program. Education is extremely important because it is about preparing people for life. ‘Are our dreams big enough?’ he challenged. Don’t have little dreams, have big dreams, and aim for the highest quality possible. Be a master of the knowledge you have, and help develop the critical mass who can be powerful advocates for their people. Look for the brightest – invest in them.
Culture is not a static phenomenon. We shouldn’t be afraid of getting in touch with other cultures so we can be enriched by them. Participate. Become actively involved with the development of ideas.
As the Festival theme encouraged in English and in Yolŋu, ‘Look back, look forward and reflect - Roŋiya nhäŋa, ga ŋathil’yurra nhäŋa, ga mala-djarr’yurrana.’
Also see
More about the Garma festival
About Tiwi College
INDIGENOUS LEARNING | Research & Exemplars
Indigenous Learning Resources | Overview eZine August, 2006