NT education: Barunga School attendance drops as families boycott classes

Attendance at a Northern Territory school is continuing on a sharp decline as parents and students boycott classes. Find out why.

Sign displayed during a Barunga School protest in September

Attendance at a remote school is rapidly declining due to boycotts as concerns around the curriculum’s approach to Aboriginal language and culture rise.

Former Barunga School teacher Anita Painter said the community hosted a protest in September to raise awareness of the school’s approach to cultural safety, including language classes.

Ms Painter said part of the community’s boycott plans included limiting students’ attendance at the school.

According to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority’s most recent data, Barunga School’s attendance rate dropped from 45 per cent in semester one to just 38 per cent in term three in 2023.

It dropped 18 percentage points in total between the first semester of 2019 and 2023.

Sign displayed during a Barunga School protest in September

Ms Painter said she had taught at the school for more than 15 years and had played a key role in teaching students to read and write in Kriol – the Aboriginal language spoken across the region.

But she said it had become increasingly difficult to deliver a strong, culturally-driven education to her students in recent years.

“Language and culture is the biggest thing that our community needs and wants for our kids, (but) I didn’t have any support at that,” she said.

As a result, she said many families were keeping the children home and encouraging them to attend language classes hosted at the church – where Ms Painter is a leader – instead.

A community member who did not wish to be named said students’ enthusiasm was “far higher” at the church-based classes than at school.

“They have been getting high numbers of schoolchildren attending, far exceeding those that are going to the school now,” he said.

“They are hoping that the Education Department will listen to their appeals … so they can begin to rebuild the school to its former glory.”

One of the demands the man said had been raised with the department included new leadership for the school.

This masthead contacted the Department of Education and Training and Principal Malcolm Hales in relation to the school’s declining attendance scores and the community’s concerns – including calls for a change in leadership.

A department spokesman on behalf of both parties said the school delivered education in a way that “reflects and respects the culture of students”.

The spokesman said Barunga School was the first to have the new Australian Curriculum incorporate local knowledge “driven by the local community”.

“The Barunga School’s approach to teaching language is driven by the School Council’s desire to have students using local Barunga region (Jawoyn) Kriol at home and English at school,” they said.

“The team at Barunga School have been working hard to keep the older students engaged with school, with a number of long-term disconnected students now re-engaged with vocational training or workplace training courses through the school.”