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These young people are exiting the education system in their early teens never to return .
Where the heart is
Report finds relocating Indigenous students ‘ off country ’ has failed .
By Wade Zaglas
A controversial strategy that involved moving Indigenous Australian students off country and relocating them at boarding schools to improve their educational opportunities has failed , a new report concludes .
The report was led by Dr Marnie O ’ Bryan and Dr William Fogarty from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research ( CAEPR ) at ANU and is the first of its kind . It investigated the educational outcomes of young Indigenous peoples from a remote community in the Northern Territory over 10 years .
In this remote community large numbers of Indigenous high school students were leaving school in their early teens , possessed low literacy levels , and had no “ high schools for them to attend and no educational alternatives ”.
In response to this , young Indigenous peoples had little choice but to leave their homes and enrol in boarding schools , sometimes far away from their communities , in the hope of completing Year 12 and accessing the opportunities that open after that . Disconcertingly , both O ’ Bryan and Fogarty found that the majority of students who had been relocated dropped out in years seven and eight and did not return to education in any form .
The researchers also found that 59 per cent of the students who did attend boarding schools dropped out in their first year . Perhaps more astonishing is the fact that some of the Indigenous students attended up to four different boarding schools without completing a single year of study .
The study was undertaken at the behest of Indigenous elders , who were “ concerned about available education opportunities in their community several hours ’ drive from Darwin ”. Figures obtained for the study show that , over a decade , 100 young people from remote Indigenous communities were sent to 38 different schools , spanning 16 different towns or cities across the country .
O ’ Bryan described Indigenous students ’ boarding in towns and cities as a “ revolving door ”. The young people cited feelings of being “ socially and culturally isolated ” as primary reasons for dropping out , as well as “ unhappy being away from country ”.
“ The youngsters found themselves academically unprepared for mainstream secondary education . Once back home , there ’ s no secondary option for them and no alternative pathway program until they turn 17 ,” O ’ Bryan said .
“ With poor outcomes , high rates of attrition and no alternatives , the NT Indigenous education strategy is comprehensively failing this community .
“ These young people are exiting the education system in their early teens never to return . It ' s an indictment on the provision of education in remote Australia and , in particular , for this remote community .”
Fogarty said the bleak findings can be extrapolated across remote Australia .
“ The community we worked with is just one of 78 remote communities in the Northern Territory where secondary education is no longer available and young people are required to board ‘ off country ’,” he said .
“ Being disconnected from family and community causes great anxiety for young people ; they suffer acute homesickness and anxiety about their families back home , many of whom are experiencing bereavement or health problems .
“ We know anecdotally this community would be representative of remote Australia , but we need scalable research into secondary education across remote Australia to see exactly how our First Nations young people are faring .”
However , the report did find some positive aspects . For instance , the researchers came across examples of best practice , such as an interstate boarding school whose teachers visit their students ’ community every year “ to forge and maintain relationships ”.
Overall , the report recommended plans to build a secondary school on country .
“ The community was very clear they want a school on country for their young people that they have a hand in shaping and running ,” O ’ Bryan said .
“ Young people were very clear they wanted to remain connected to community and family , to country , culture and language .”
Titled , ‘ Boarding off and on Country : A study of Education in one Northern Territory remote community ’, the research is the first in-depth , independent evaluation of the current policy : providing First Nations Australians from remote communities quality secondary education through boarding schools in towns or cities .
The research by O ’ Bryan and Fogarty took a year to complete and involved “ tracking the educational histories of 100 young people aged between 12-21 ”. ■
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