Indigenous parent participation drops with funding

By Darcel Moyle

A survey of government schools conducted by the Australian Education Union (AEU) has shown that the Federal Government's changes to indigenous education funding have had a severe impact on the participation of indigenous parents in school activities and has led to a reduction in both programs and support offered to indigenous students in schools across Australia.

The Report on a Survey of Schools on the Changes in Commonwealth Indigenous Education Funding, released recently by the AEU, summarises information and comments collected from 561 public schools across Australia. In the report, schools indicate that they are overwhelmingly discontented with the changes to Commonwealth funding of indigenous education programs, particularly the abolition of Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness (ASSPA) committees and the structural changes to the former Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ATAS).

The abolition of ASSPA committees has caused a significant reduction in indigenous parent participation in school activities. Survey results indicate that indigenous parents are 'voting with their feet' and staying away from schools because they feel disenfranchised with the new process -- the competitive, submission-based, Parent School Partnerships Initiative (PSPI).

Schools suggested that there were a range of difficulties in accessing the new funding under the PSPI, and that this has led to disappointment from indigenous parents, who are quickly losing interest in both the new process and parent engagement with the school. One principal from a NSW primary school commented: "While ASSPA was operating in our school, parents frequently came into the school to support students. It's been a real struggle trying to maintain parent enthusiasm since."

The survey findings also show that there has been a significant reduction in the amount of money that used to go in to schools through the ASSPA program. Where 78 per cent of the schools that responded to the survey indicated that they used to have an ASSPA committee, only nine per cent of schools say that they have received approvals to run the PSPI. ASSPA funding to the schools who responded to the survey totalled $2,529,325 in 2004, but the total amount of PSPI funding to these same schools was just $600,431 in August 2005.

School representatives commented that the diminution of funding has had a negative impact. Funding which used to support a range of activities in schools, including the development of curriculum, programs to encourage and support attendance, literacy and numeracy development and the employment of support staff, including indigenous education workers, has prevented schools from providing support to indigenous students and parents.

Cultural programs which are a valuable way of establishing and supporting positive self-identity have diminished; along with the participation of indigenous students in mainstream school activities, such as camps, excursions and sporting activities. Assistance with social and welfare support for students has also diminished. Schools were also concerned about the impact that the reduction in these programs has had on non-indigenous students, parents and the process of reconciliation. Many noted that NAIDOC Week activities either had not been conducted, or had been severely reduced.

Changes to the Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ATAS) and its replacement with the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) tutorial assistance scheme, have also had severe negative impacts, particularly on employment of tutors within schools and through an overall reduction in the number of students who are able to access much-needed assistance.

The report stated that there was a loss of 447 people employed in schools due to changes in the ITAS program, and that 265 of these employees were indigenous. In 2004, there were 4440 indigenous students accessing the ATAS scheme, yet in 2005, only 1695 students were eligible to access ITAS. In short, there are 2745 students, or 62 per cent fewer indigenous students accessing the program in 2005 than there were in 2004.

The reduction in student numbers has been caused by a policy change, which only provides funds to schools based on the number of students who have failed the standardised testing benchmarks in years 3, 5 and 7. Schools have stated that this is not appropriate, as a number of variables such as exemptions from testing processes, student mobility and absenteeism impact on the number of students assessed, and therefore on the amount of funding and support.

These changes are based on a new Federal Government policy of assessing need through comparing urban and rural indigenous students to remote indigenous students. This is then used as the basis for distributing funding, with the assumption that 'mainstream' programs can and should fill the gaps. However, schools with indigenous enrolments, many in Australia's capital cities, have commented that these funding policies have caused further disadvantage to indigenous students, and in fact have prevented participation in a range of activities that are essential to school life. For example, schools reported that indigenous students are no longer participating in sports programs because the costs of uniforms and travel are too expensive for many indigenous parents.

Whilst it may seem logical from a policy perspective for the Commonwealth government to determine that 'mainstream' provision should pick up responsibility for the gaps in funding, the AEU believes that it is symptomatic of a lack of leadership to impose this policy through the passing of legislation, without any attempt to determine the potential consequences of such a significant policy change, and work with states and territories in order to lessen the impacts of these changes.

Overwhelmingly, schools have characterised the Commonwealth Department of Science, Education and Training (DEST) as responsible for both the poor policy and poor implementation of these programs. Yet it is clear from schools' responses that they, rather than DEST, are continuing to bear the brunt of disgruntled indigenous parents.

Federal Education Minister Dr Brendan Nelson, who has pledged his commitment to the alleviation of indigenous educational disadvantage, must now move to ensure that an urgent and independent assessment of the impacts of these changes is conducted. In the interim, the Commonwealth must work with state and territory governments to establish arrangements which will lessen the impacts of these changes on indigenous student and parent participation in school activities.

Darcel Moyle is the Aboriginal Education Officer at the Australian Education Union.

Overwhelming discontent

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