Resilient teachers are crucial in remote schools

Incentives to teach in rural and remote communities may attract the candidates not suited to the isolation and challenges there.

Anthony Dillon outlines the challenges of education for Aboriginal Australians, especially those in remote communities (“We need inspiration, not just incentives, from community and teachers alike”, 15/2).

Noted is the need for suitable teachers, not those signing up primarily for the waiving of HECS debts or for pay bonuses: while remote community work can be rewarding, it is tough and can take a huge social, emotional, and psychological toll on an inexperienced teacher.

The necessity of teacher suitability can be attested to by those who entered teaching on previous incentive schemes. My experience was of a government teaching bond, the financial incentive being university and teacher training paid for and a guaranteed three year placement.

The unforeseen catch – that bonded teachers were sent to places no one else would go – was in my case an inner-city hellhole, for others, it was remote rural communities. I survived my baptism by fire and continue to teach 39 years later; others did not, broke their bond at financial cost, and left teaching forever.

It is crucial teacher suitability is not overlooked. To do so risks undermining not only a potentially beneficial program and the education of the students, but also the careers of otherwise promising teachers.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic

For too long, this roll call of national achievements has been an annual civil lament, causing yet more compassion fatigue among taxpaying citizens, who, rightly or wrongly, perceive that they are not getting bang for their buck in the matter of indigenous affairs (“Health, family the focus as old targets scrapped”, 15/2).

The other truth alluded to is that cultural change regarding this social shame is going to be a dripping tap, not a miracle pill. It will involve thousands of people, often unnoticed and unheralded, working quietly behind the scenes in remote areas.

The moralising Left and the vacuous Greens still inanely believe that gesture politics, Australia Day protests, changing calendar dates, virtue signalling on panel discussion shows and racial quotas will somehow bring about a spirit of restoration and transformation within indigenous townships and communities.

The opposite is true. They only result in grievance, a victimhood narrative, crushing intergenerational despair and yet more indifference.

Real change is often measured in lifetimes, not government terms, and so it will be the next generation of indigenous individuals, who refuse to be bound by a cycle of hopelessness, and take ownership of their own fortunes, who will lead the charge for giving Australia’s original inhabitants the dignity they so deserve.

Peter Waterhouse, Craigieburn, Vic

Scott Morrison has a great plan (“HECS relief: PM’s bid to close education gap”, 14/2).

Young teachers giving four years of service to have their uni fees waived, means everyone benefits.

Better education of our indigenous children by an army of young, motivated teachers, ones who have the will and the energy to become completely involved in these communities at the coalface, will help stop violence from being perpetuated.

Jennifer Austin, Seaforth

The closing the gap debate is an endless spiral. Money is not the only answer and how it has been used and spent for decades must be questioned. There have been lifetime careers created of the problems and few outcomes. It is time for a reality TV show on indigenous life from many angles. We all care, but see few improvements in decades and ask why?

Stuart Davie, Corowa, NSW

Dare we ask children in remote communities what they aspire to? Should their parents try to direct their aspirations towards moving away? Would that be a betrayal of their indigenous roots and an admission of surrender to Western colonisation? Education, yes; but what for?

Barry Lamb, Heidelberg West, Vic

Perhaps unwittingly, Norm Neill’s urging for a “complete cultural awareness program” for, say, Dubbo-bound teacher graduates, succinctly expresses the inner-metro ignorance of and (the barely hidden) contempt for fellow citizens in rural and regional Australia (Last Post, 15/2).

L.Colquhoun, Invermay, Tas