Demystifying aboriginal education: reflections on factors that have supported and impeded bilingual education in the northeast region of the Northern Territory

Master of EducationThis study provides an examination of Aboriginal Education policies and the academic performance of remote area Indigenous students in the northeast region of the Northern Territory. The research focusses on the concept, policy and practice of Aboriginal Education in this region, beginning from the time of European contact to the present. Information in the research illuminates the Northern Territory Government's attempts to resolve cultural and socio-economic issues associated with Aboriginal Education. Bilingual Education was introduced into remote Aboriginal schools in the Northern Territory in 1973, and was withdrawn by the Northern Territory Government in 1999, despite Aboriginal protest. The data generated during this research indicates that although Bilingual Education in the northeast region of the Northern Territory was fraught with problems, from the Indigenous viewpoint Bilingual Education was nonetheless consonant with a genuine path towards Self-Determination. The Government's decision to integrate ESL programs with the `two-way learning' curriculum and counter-arguments supporting the retention of a bilingual-bicultural curriculum are also discussed. The study draws on qualitative methodology to explore the philosophy of Aboriginal Bilingual Education in the northeast region of the Northern Territory. The research triangulates data from an historical study, participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, as well as recent media reports to evaluate Aboriginal Education and to discuss cultural, social, economic, health, legal and land rights issues that are directly or indirectly related to Aboriginal Education. It is argued that an assimilationist rationale pervades the current provisions for Indigenous education in the remote communities of the Northern Territory despite assimilation no longer being stated policy