WGAR News: Restrictions on Aboriginal Languages in NT schools (4 Dec 08)

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

4 DEC 2008: RESTRICTIONS ON ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES IN NT SCHOOLS

Contents:

Background

Discussion Group

Petitions

Media Release

Teachers' Stories

Radio Program

Academic Paper

Opinion

News

BACKGROUND:

WGAR News: Restrictions on Aboriginal Languages in NT schools

http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/restrictions-aboriginal-languages-nt-schools

20 Nov 2008

WGAR News: NT Aboriginal Languages Policy (cont.)

http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/wgar-news-nt-aboriginal-languages-policy-cont

25 Nov 2008

WGAR News: Restrictions on NT Bilingual Education

http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/wgar-news-restrictions-nt-bilingual-education-30-nov-2008

30 Nov 2008

DISCUSSION GROUP:

Friends of Bilingual Learning:

http://groups.google.com/group/foblmail

"Supporters of Bilingual & Multilingual education, living and learning in the Northern Territory. Recognising the importance of language in human development, identity and wellbeing."

PETITIONS:

Friends of Bilingual Learning: Petition to the NT House: Language has many layers of meaning.

http://groups.google.com/group/foblmail/browse_thread/thread/46fee3f5eac58b1c

3 Dec 08: "We the undersigned respectfully show that the statement on October 14th 2008 from The Northern Territory Minister of Education and Training mandating 4 hours of English from January 2009 will mean that:

* Current Bilingual programs are effectively closed against the wishes of the communities involved. ...

* Access to English literacy and knowledge of Western curriculum areas will be significantly more difficult if understanding is not achieved first in the language that the children speak. ...

* The nationally and internationally recognised work done by the NT Bilingual Program in collecting and maintaining language resources will be discontinued ...

* Aboriginal teachers and education workers will have greatly reduced career paths. ...

* The rights of Indigenous people are being undermined: ... "

Friends of Bilingual Learning: House of Reps petition Canberra

http://groups.google.com/group/foblmail/browse_thread/thread/f50d7c1dee95a330

3 Dec 08: "This petition of citizens from Australia and overseas, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, draws the attention of the House to the announcement on October 14th 2008 by the NT Government that from 2009 the ten remaining bilingual programs in the Northern Territory would be effectively closed down. We believe that

* The NT Government's decision is educationally unsound, and that it will hinder, rather than help, the children's chances of learning good English. ...

* The decision is demoralising for Indigenous communities who have put effort into promoting and developing teaching methodologies that suit bilingual and bicultural Indigenous children. ...

* The decision will prejudice the survival of Indigenous languages. ...

* The decision goes against the recognition by the United Nations of  the right of Indigenous people to provide education in their own languages.

We therefore ask the House to:

Ratify the UN Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and in particular to direct the NT Government to comply with Article 14 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Article 14.1:

Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning."

MEDIA RELEASE:

Friends of Bilingual Learning (FOBL):

http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/friends-bilingual-learning-fobl-media-release-3-dec-2008

3 Dec 08: "Since the Northern Territory Minister for Education made her preliminary announcements in October concerning changes to the education curriculum, affecting NT remote schools, there has been a lot of public comment. Much of this has centered on the 9 Bilingual schools, which will have their programs ended as a result. Friends of Bilingual Learning (FOBL) stand against the destruction of these bilingual programs in the Northern Territory. FOBL knows that bilingual programs are the best form of education deliverance available to children speaking an indigenous language. ... FOBL requests a stay and review period of one school year. This would allow good time for reasonable debate and good consultation, especially in remote communities." Kendall Trudgen, On behalf of Friends of Bilingual Learning

TEACHERS' STORIES:

Friends of Bilingual Learning: I am a teacher in a remote school

http://groups.google.com/group/foblmail/web/i-am-a-teacher-in-a-remote-school

29 Nov 08: "I have taught in two remote aboriginal schools in the northern territory. One was a ‘non-bilingual school’, and the other a bilingual school. ... The lesson that I took away from this school [‘non-bilingual school’] was that children have a fundamental need to be able to learn to read and write in their home language and to be able to have their language valued as part of the schooling system. ... The children [in the bilingual school] are becoming literate and are proud of their literacy. ... They do not see being literate in Standard Australian English as compromising who they are, as they know that their own language is a valued part of the school environment."

Friends of Bilingual Learning: Yalmay's story - Bilingual teaching in an NT Aboriginal Community School

http://groups.google.com/group/foblmail/web/yalmays-story

27 Nov 08: "I am a qualified bilingual teacher, a Gunitjpirr miyalk. I speak several Yolnu matha languages and English fluently. I have thirty-two years teaching experience. I have taught mostly in primary school, early childhood and middle primary. ... From January 2009 what will my teaching look like? I have been told that I am not allowed to use the children’s language anymore. We have been told we are not to use our students’ first language, only English. ... Our Vision Statement has a clear bothways approach, where two languages, Yolnu matha and English, and two cultural views are in a careful balance. If either one overpowers the other, the educational system will fail, and cause our children to grow up unbalanced and unable to function well in the world."

RADIO PROGRAM:

ABC Awaye!: Which way? the future of bilingual education

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/awaye/stories/2008/2435431.htm

6 Dec 08: "Language death has been likened to the death of a culture, a way of life and the collective identity of its speakers. This week we ask: what is the future of bilingual education in the Northern Territory, where Aboriginal languages are the strongest? There are moves underway to force the Territory's nine bilingual schools to teach the first four hours of each day in what's to many students from remote communities a foreign language, English. In contrast, Aboriginal communities throughout the rest of the country are attempting to recover their lost languages."

ACADEMIC PAPER:

Australian Review of Public Affairs: W(h)ither language, culture and education in remote Indigenous communities of the Northern Territory?

http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2008/10/wilkins.html

Oct 08: "No matter how you look at it, from the perspective of her own stated positions, or from the perspective of the evidence, the Minister’s decision is an imposition that threatens the linguistic and cultural viability of remote communities running active bilingual education programs. It is these programs that offer the best way for the students in these communities to both acquire English language skills and to maintain their own connection to family, community, language, country and culture." Dr David P. Wilkins, linguist

OPINION:

Friends of Bilingual Learning: Open Letter to NT Minister for Education - Bilingual Education

http://groups.google.com/group/foblmail/web/unitngchurch-openlettertominister-031208

3 Dec 08: "The Standing Committee of the Uniting Church, Northern Synod, in support of the NRCC - the Synod’s Indigenous Presbytery, asks you to reconsider the decision to cease bilingual education in the NT. Your announcement that in 2009 the first four hours of each school day are to be spent in English only, effectively means bilingual education cannot be conducted. ... Indigenous members of Uniting Church have asked for support as they do not wish to have existing bilingual programs closed, hence the request for a moratorium on English only for the first four hours in 2009." Peter Jones, General Secretary, Uniting Church, Darwin

Crikey: Scrymgour: I support teaching regional Aboriginal languages

http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20081201-Scrymgour-.html

1 Dec 08: "Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Marion Scrymgour writes: I believe that schools have an important role to play in teaching regional Aboriginal languages and thereby ensuring their survival."

ABC: Stateline Northern Territory

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nt/content/2006/s2433078.htm

28 Nov 08: "Bilingual education has been a hotly contested policy in Australia since its inception more than thirty years ago. Last month, the Territory Education Minister dropped a bombshell. Facing another round of terrible reading and literacy results, she effectively announced the program's demise at the end of this school year. The move has shocked many working in the education field who have complained about a lack of consultation or hard data to support the government's case. It's also sparked fury on the internet where bilingual supporters have been lamenting the social implications of English-only teaching. Danielle Parry reports."

NIT: Editorial Opinion: 'White is right' under Labor

http://www.nit.com.au/Opinion/story.aspx?id=16683

27 Nov 08: "How ironic that this edition of NIT focuses on the election promises of the ALP while we're mired in a heated debate over bilingual education in the Territory. Here's one of federal Labor's promises from last year's election: "Labor will make the protection, preservation and revitalisation of Indigenous languages a 'major priority'". And yet here is federal Minister for Education Julia Gillard just last week: "For Indigenous Australia, English is the language of further learning and English is the language of work. ... " Chris Graham

NIT: The Pointed View: Lessons in language

http://www.nit.com.au/Opinion/story.aspx?id=16680

27 Nov 08: "Retaining culture and language just got a whole lot harder with a new program to increase the hours of English in bilingual schools in the NT writes LARISSA BEHRENDT. The announcement the Northern Territory government is going to institute a program designed to increase the number of hours English is taught in bilingual schools has, not surprisingly, caused much concern within Aboriginal communities and amongst experts on Aboriginal education. ... Bilingual education has been a scapegoat for larger education policy failures. ... Aboriginal languages are some of the most vulnerable in the world. They will now be even more vulnerable. And the abolition of "two ways schools" will not guarantee better educational outcomes for Aboriginal children."

Multicultural Mental Health Australia: Report shows more is needed to support bilingual staff

http://www.mmha.org.au/information/news-items/report-shows-more-is-needed-to-support-bilingual-staff

19 Nov 08: "A new report identifies the need for employers to make a greater effort to recruit and retain staff with bilingual skills. The Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health (CEH) has completed an investigation into the employment and role of bilingual staff in Victorian health and community service organisations. Its report, the Bilingual Staff Research Project, includes a set of guidelines for employers to use when recruiting and working with bilingual employees."

NEWS:

ABC: Scrymgour not 'pussy footing' on bilingual schools

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/29/2433287.htm

29 Nov 08: "Northern Territory Education Minister Marion Scrymgour has strongly defended her decision to scrap the bilingual program in NT schools, saying it is a necessary change to lift literacy levels. ... One of Ms Scrymgour's predecessors, Syd Stirling, says he would have kept bilingual education and invested in the program to try to make it work. ... But Mr Stirling told Stateline he would not have scrapped the bilingual program."

NIT: Territory re-engages in a decade old bilingual debate

http://www.nit.com.au/News/story.aspx?id=16722

27 Nov 08: " "Don't cut off our tongues" an Arnhem Land teacher famously pleaded when the Country Liberals tried to scrap bilingual education for Indigenous students in the Northern Territory. That attempt, a decade ago, was abandoned after an outpouring of public indignation and rage. But now a Labor government has put the future of bilingual education back on the agenda. From next year, it will be mandatory for the Territory's nine remaining bilingual schools to teach the first four classroom hours each day in English. The controversial move sounds the death knell for bilingual education in bush communities ... " Tara Ravens

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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)