An overview of Aboriginal education in the last two hundred years reveals that Aborigines
have had a depressingly inadequate education, also marked by inequity of opportunity and
participation.
The developmental pattern of Aboriginal education has been characterised by four broad
periods or eras related to specific government policies. These periods are identified
successively as The Protection Era, the Segregation Era, The Assimilation Era and The
Integration Era. The Protection Era began with the early frontier settlement of Europeans in
Australia and extended until the 1860's. The Segregation Era marked the full development
of Aboriginal reserves from 1860 to 1940. The Assimilation Era extended from the 1940s
to the mid 1960s. Finally the period of Integration began in the late 1960s and gathered
momentum in the 1970s.
Throughout the periods of protection, segregation and assimilation very little effort was
expended in the provision of adequate education for Aborigines.
It was not until the late 1960s that concerted attempts were made to redress the many
decades of neglect and apathy.
Researchers uncovered glaring problems needing urgent redress. Aboriginal pupils
persistently achieved very poorly in comparison with others and left school at an earlier age.
As a consequence Aborigines left school lacking the knowledge and skills to compete with
other Australians and had much poorer prospects of employment.
In the early 1970s the National Aboriginal Education Committee and the state Aboriginal
Education Consultative Groups, combined with support and funding from DAA,
Commonwealth Education and The Schools Commission, were very influential in
establishing programmes.
In response to the growing numbers of Aborigines who were denied adequate schooling,
three general types of adult programmes were developed: a) enclave/support systems; b)
pretertiary/bridging courses and c) off campus centres.
It was these programmes operating at WACAE that DEET commissioned me to evaluate.
The existence of these programmes is the result of WACAE's prompt response to the need
for redressing Aboriginal educational imbalance. The programmes developed following the
commencement of the Aboriginal Teacher Education Programme at Mt Lawley College in
1973. The first enclave was established in 1976, external AEEC commenced in 1978 and
G.E.C. in 1980, the first off campus centre was set up in 1983, and the Tertiary Preparation
Course (internal AEEC) began operation in 1985.
Commonwealth money has provided the financial basis for the programmes, but WACAE
was the first institution in Australia to implement programmes and its achievement is
significant.
The terms of reference for this project required that the method of research should be
through data gathering by means of interviews and examination of documentary evidence
during a three week period in Perth.
The evaluator consulted DAIS staff, students and, as particularly requested in the brief,
Aboriginal community members.
Findings revealed that WACAE's enclaves, on campus and off campus, have made
progress towards educational equity for Aborigines, provide good support and are valued
by students and Aboriginal community members.
Aboriginalisation was found to be essential to maximum enclave effectiveness. Staff,
students and Aboriginal community members would like to see increased Aboriginal
representation, contract hiring of staff not being conducive to employment security or staff
continuity.
It is recommended that rationalisation of enclaves would achieve a more efficient pooling of
resources. During the last thirteen years considerable amounts of external funds have
been injected and it is recommended that WACAE take greater institutional responsibility
for enclaves, using funds from normal Commonwealth sources, as distinct from special
course funding.
The existing staffing patterns and conditions of employment should be regularised in
regard to salary, tenure, study leave, superannuation, etc. Such a measure is necessary to
ensure staff continuity, security and inclusion in the power structure of the institution.
WACAEs external pretertiary courses (AEEC and GEC) have achieved a small measure of
progress towards equity of access and participation in education for Aborigines.
The wide geographical distribution is significant in providing availability of courses.
The courses are valued by Aboriginal community members and there is a need for external
courses of this nature to continue in the future.
However, progress towards equity has been extremely slow and time taken for completion
of courses is unduly long considering the basic nature of GEC, and the fact that the courses
are designed for completion in one year.
The courses are preceived as enhancing employment performance and prospects as well
as being preparation for tertiary study.
There has been a shift in opinion regarding Aboriginal education during the 1980s towards
the view that education should not be seen in isolation but in combination with employment
and training.
It is recommended that DEET take immediate steps to implement the Aboriginal
Employment Development Policy in Western Australia, considering how best the benefits
of external AEEC and GEC can be maintained and expanded. On the other hand, the
Tertiary Preparation Course (internal AEEC) has achieved commendable results and is
assessed as being worthy of increased resources and energy.
Difficulty was encountered in efforts to determine exactly how DEET funding was used. It
seems that this type of enquiry would necessitate the services of a qualified accountant.
Enclave/support systems and pretertiary/bridging courses will be needed for some time to
come. Many Aboriginal people stated that they envisage the time when these programmes
will no longer be needed, 'when inequity of education has been addressed' and 'equality'
achieved. Until this goal is reached the programmes will remain necessary. The
achievement of the broad objectives of the AEDP, i.e. employment and income equity with
other Australians and equity of participation in all levels of education, will see Aboriginal
aspirations becoming a reality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218899 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Duncan, Pearl, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Pearl Duncan |
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