I must applaud the NSW government’s new moves to improve education for Aborigines. The biggest mistake the federal government made in the NT Intervention was not consulting Aboriginal elders regarding their plans. Perhaps having learnt from past mistakes, the federal government apparently created the Indigenous Action Plan (probable parent of this NSW effort) following ‘extensive consultation with indigenous leaders.’ While these leaders are unlikely to predict every eventuality of the program in every school selected, they at least should be able to make broad predictions about whether the program will work at all and to identify likely side effects.
That these elders support a program which (as far as I can tell) puts money in a few select White principals’ pockets, inspires me with confidence of positive results.
I also love the flexibility of the approach. Aboriginal people in general can be given education in ways tailored to their needs. But the government takes this even further allowing each school to modify their approach to meet the needs of the local community. Since each school is likely to try different policies and methods, we will see the effect of various techniques, the best of which can then be applied more broadly.
I believe that the chosen schools have a mix of Aboriginal and White students, which may make the work to balance needs more difficult, but it also provides a better environment for testing for issues if the program is deployed more broadly.
While there is a chance that this will just be another failed attempt to improve the situation for our native hosts, the conditions under which the program is being run suggest a better chance of success than previous initiatives.