‘We don’t have the time to keep playing this game’: Academic says First Nations people need to take control of remote Indigenous education

A leading Aboriginal academic says First Nations people need to be put in control of remote Indigenous education, if the Territory hopes to improve the outcomes of Aboriginal students.

A LEADING Aboriginal academic says First Nations people need to be put in control of remote Indigenous education, if the Territory hopes to improve the learning, engagement and outcomes of Aboriginal students.

Charles Darwin University lecturer and researcher Dr Gary Fry, who’s been a teacher and senior executive principal in remote and urban schools in the NT for more than 25 years, has completed a study to examine the policy reasons why Aboriginal students in remote NT schools are underperforming in a western education model and framework.

The study found the current western education model was not setting up Aboriginal students for success, instead keeping them marginalised and academically behind other Australian students.

MORE TOP NEWS

Attempted theft by up to 10 youths in broad daylight forces Karama business to close doors

NT community gets behind East Timor, Indonesia flood victims

Construction for new walking, cycling trail underway

Dr Fry said there needed to be more Indigenous teachers taught through an ‘Aboriginal’ model, more Indigenous leaders needed in governance positions, and more health and similar services integrated into schools as some ways to boost outcomes and engagement of Aboriginal students.

“If students don’t see an Aboriginal teacher in school, it’s a defining moment for them,” he said.

Dr Gary Fry.

Dr Fry said Gunbalunya School in Arnhem Land in particular was an extraordinary example of Aboriginal people “wrestling control” of education and turning the system around.

“Examples like Gunbalanya show that the institution of education is more likely to succeed when Aboriginal peoples are centrally positioned in the leadership, governance, and voices of education concerning children and community development,” Dr Fry said.

HOT NEW DEAL: Read everything for 28 days for just $1

“The old models offered by government policies, nationalised standardises matrixes of education being imposed on Aboriginal people if anything has created further problems.

“It results and manifests in kids running around Palmerston and high incarceration rates.”

Dr Fry said there was an urgency in the need to change approaches to educating Aboriginal students.

“We don’t have the time to keep playing this game,” he said. “The world is turning fast and we need a paradigm shift to reflect 21st century thinking for 21st century problems.”

Dr Fry has been awarded the 2021 University of Sydney medal, the Sister Alison Bush Medal, for his PhD: Indigeneity as a foundation for patterned Northern Territory remote Aboriginal student achievement within a stratified western education system.

Originally published as ‘We don’t have the time to keep playing this game’: Academic says First Nations people need to take control of remote Indigenous education