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This paper argues that if bidialectal education is to be seriously contemplated for Aboriginal Australians, it should be considered with more than the surface structures of dialectal difference. Bidialectal education programs must be underpinned by an understanding of the meanings carried by Aboriginal English and the processes of interpretation that Aboriginal English speakers are likely to bring to standard English. The paper summarizes work done at Edith Cowan University, Australia, related to bidialectal education, explaining that the university uses the catchphrase "the ABCs of bidialectal education" to refer to three elements that are essential in a comprehensive bidialectal education program: A (Accept Aboriginal English), B (Bridge to standard English), and C (Cultivate indigenous ways of approaching experience and knowledge). This paper focuses on cultural imagery, which constitutes the mental images that, for people in a culture, comprise the world that they respond and relate to both in language and in other social behavior. After describing cultural imagery and bidialectal Aboriginal Australians and discussing research approaches to cultural imagery, the paper presents four initiatives, including the following: revitalizing standard English, exploiting cultural schemas, employing bidialectal communication tasks, and making instruction more comprehensible for dialect speakers. (Contains 16 references.) (SM)

This paper discusses the pre-colonial aboriginal societies that in part established laws, customs, and history through art. The paper cites their artistic mediums and methods and explains that art among the aborigines was used for learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be. The paper describes the role of art in pre-colonial aboriginal societies under the following headings: Learning, Doing, Observation, Patience, Transition, Totems, Simple Logic, Art, Rules, X-Ray, Drawings, Etchings, The Professionals, Innovation, and Stone Arrangements and Carvings. (BT)

There is little reason why educational research in Australia should be progressive and highly developed, given that its history and direction are subject to the economic and political determinants of an increasingly globalized and uncertain world. Educational research cannot be a neutral endeavor; it demands that researchers identify a political perspective or world view from which new knowledge is described and interpreted. Such fundamental questions have confronted the design and implementation of Nyerna Studies, a bachelor of education program being conducted in partnership between Victoria University of Technology and the Koori people of the Echuca region of Australia. The program is highly innovative and community-based, pursuing holistic and enquiry learning and projects that are negotiated around integrated areas of student interest. "Naturalistic inquiry" processes are more appropriate to generating community knowledge than the more formal processes of the physical sciences. With participatory action research, Nyerna Studies is addressing issues of community partnership and two-way enquiry learning, with opportunities for cultural interaction and influence on the educational public sphere. Participatory action research may be the only framework appropriate for democratic community research, although it is not yet legitimated within the pantheon of available methodologies and philosophies. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/SV)

Despite calls by consumer advocates for Australia's governments and financial services institutions to provide consumers with resources to help them understand how the financial services sector operates, financial education remains something that most Australians gain by default. Research conducted in the United Kingdom and United States, has identified the social and economic factors that have necessitated financial literacy, documented the problems faced by disadvantaged and illiterate consumers in dealing with the financial services sector, and provided information for the debate about consumer education and financial literacy. Australia's deliberate government policy of deregulation and economic rationalism, poor educational resources, and lack of concern on the part of the financial services sector have all been key factors in generating the conditions necessary to create social exclusion and alienation. The following groups are particularly susceptible to the financial exclusion that stems from illiteracy and lack of financial literacy: low-income consumers; older consumers; consumers from non English speaking backgrounds; consumers with disabilities; consumers with literacy difficulties; and indigenous consumers. Given all the reasons for financial exclusion in Australia, a protracted effort must be instituted whereby Australian government, industry, and communities will learn to recognize the central role that access to literacy plays in the communities' and individuals' well-being. (69 references) (MN)

Considerable progress has been made in Australia toward the attainment of equitable educational outcomes by Aboriginal people during the past 30 years, and by people of the Torres Strait Islands during the past 15 years. Although parity of outcomes has not yet been achieved, Indigenous education is now positioned within the core business of both government and non-government education systems, and a range of initiatives are taking place both at the policy and the school levels. It essential, however, that teachers are aware of the issues that impact on Indigenous students' learning. The issue of culture is problematic, because educators often assume there is a single Aboriginal or Torres Strait culture, which leads to stereotyping. All students need to be accepted as individuals, and provided with educational opportunities accordingly. The critical period for identity formation is childhood and adolescence, which means that in both primary and secondary schools, teacher interactions with students can influence how students construct their identities. Low expectations of children can result in low self-esteem. Aboriginal children need positive support to overcome negative self-concept and low self-esteem. Educational inequality is related to unequal power relationships. Schools can develop in students the knowledge and skills to contribute to social change and justice. Teacher educators must incorporate these issues into pre-service, in-service, and professional development programs for all teachers. (TD)

A panel of Indigenous staff from the Koori Centre of the University of Sydney (Australia) presented challenges, issues, and opportunities facing the field of Indigenous research in education. A new paradigm for Indigenous research is emerging in Australia that recognizes the value and efficacy of Indigenous knowledge systems and that aims to benefit communities and promote self-determination and social justice. There is much research that needs to be undertaken in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, and Indigenous Australians have become more supportive of research and development, providing that it incorporates the Indigenous research paradigm. Matters of ethics and protocols for Indigenous research are of central significance for Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers. Many opportunities for collaborative research are emerging. Prime emphasis in research must be placed on relevant outcomes for Indigenous Australians--there must be benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities. Much progress has been made in research ethics during the past 15-20 years, and the outlook for the future looks brighter. Many more Indigenous Australians are now engaged directly in research planning, management, and processing of data. Incorporation of a genuine Indigenous perspective in research can improve the value, relevance, and usefulness of research. A more inclusive approach to research could help all Australians come to terms with their past and present and more optimistically contemplate their future. The quality and relevance of Indigenous research in Australia ought to be a goal of national significance. (TD)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are not achieving the levels of English literacy required for satisfactory completion of Australia's school system. A national strategy has been launched to help Indigenous students achieve English literacy. However, there continues to be little recognition of the language and cultural needs of the many Indigenous Aboriginal students who speak "Aboriginal English." A survey of 110 Australian teachers found that 8 felt they were competent to teach Aboriginal students. Five major principles are involved in teaching Standard Australian English to Indigenous students. First, a child's mother tongue embodies all his or her early life experiences and ingrained language habits. It allows the child to communicate and function comfortably and channels his or her thought processes prior to starting school. Second, school should be an extension of early childhood experience: there should not be a sharp break between early childhood language experiences and language experiences at school. Third, teaching is most effective when there is no conflict between home and school. Conflict can be avoided if schools respect every child's mother tongue. No language should be branded as inferior. Fourth, schooling can be effective only when the teacher and child listen to and understand one another. Finally every Aboriginal child, as well as every other Australian child, needs to be given optimal opportunities for developing competence in Standard Australian English, which is the medium of higher education and official communication in Australia. (TD)

At a March 2000 meeting, Australia's state, territory, and commonwealth ministers of education committed to a set of principles and standards for more culturally inclusive schooling in the 21st century. Building on a range of policy statements developed over the last decade, these principles and standards are described in terms of social justice and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to quality schooling, services, and equitable and appropriate educational outcomes, and the rights and responsibilities of parents as the first educators of their children. The principles address a variety of mechanisms, including providing a supportive educational climate; establishing effective teacher-student relationships; enrolling all compulsory-aged Indigenous children in school; expecting all Indigenous children to be fluent in English while being inclusive of their home language; increasing Indigenous staff members and community involvement; providing curricula that are free from bias, affirm cultural identity, and acknowledge the value of Indigenous cultures; supporting parents; and improving access to government services. The standards aim to provide facilities and services that are accessible; are of equal quality to those provided to non-Indigenous children; enable completion of secondary education; provide services to Indigenous students with disabilities, especially hearing impairments; provide teachers that are qualified and trained in cross-cultural pedagogy; include Indigenous representation in decision making; provide culturally inclusive education in juvenile justice programs; enable Indigenous children to achieve literacy and numeracy; and ensure attendance by Indigenous students. (TD)

In 1992, the South Australian Minister of Education granted operational control of schooling in the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands to the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Education Committee (PYEC). PYEC is composed of Aboriginal community members (Anangu) who largely retain their traditional values and customs. This means that generally semi-literate Anangu with minimal Western school experience have decision-making control over all education policies and operational practices in this geographical area of some 50,000 square kilometers. The key activity at the Anangu education system level is policy formulation, provision of infrastructure support for its implementation, and response to information on quality. The management of quality must at some stage emphasize the final outputs from the system for the assessment of its overall efficiency and effectiveness. External standards that are oriented toward effectiveness and efficiency take little account of different cultural processes. Quality in an Anangu school is not simply about meeting client needs but about the intrinsic quality of the education. Anangu parents and students may be satisfied with a particular school that appears inferior by the dominant culture's standards. Culturally-based tensions that arise from the emerging Anangu awareness of the complexity of schooling and its management constitute the greatest challenge for the service provider. The resolution of this tension lies in the development of performance indicators that integrate the concerns and priorities of both stakeholders' cultures and values but puts the authority for decisions in Anangu hands. (TD)

The success of the Minimbah Aboriginal Preschool in New South Wales (Australia) is evidenced by happy staff and children, low staff turnover, and the later success of Minimbah's children in mainstream schools. Also, parents were frequently present as helpers and were apparently confident in entering the premises, talking with staff members, and seeking assistance. A key factor in the success of the school has been the leadership of its Aboriginal principal. The principal has encouraged students to aspire to mainstream success through practices of Aboriginal pride and Aboriginal curriculum perspectives, while accommodating the apparent contradictions and political pressures of maintaining this position. Power and responsibility have also been devalued in the hierarchical management structure so that every staff member can exercise choices within his or her role and question the role itself. Responsibility and therefore power are shared. In dealing with the mainstream power structure, the principal avoids direct opposition, but that does not preclude questioning the structures and processes of mainstream organizations that control funding, or exercising strategic power through networks to gain support. Aboriginal "kin" responsibilities are incorporated into the preschool structure so that each kin group is represented within the staff. This seems to insulate the preschool to some degree from any factional fighting taking place in the broader Aboriginal community. Analyzing these dynamics through Foucauldian notions of power, subjection, and resistance seems a useful way to represent some of the shifting and transitory flows of power that make for successful Indigenous leadership in this preschool. (Contains 12 references.) (TD)

This interview with Dianne Roberts, director of the Minimbah Aboriginal Preschool in Armidale, New South Wales (Australia), explores research issues, leadership styles, and how decision making and responsibilities are handled at Minimbah. Incoming researchers must show how research will benefit the community under study, how they will work in collaboration with the people they will be researching, and how the research will contribute funds to help support Minimbah's programs. A longitudinal study of Aboriginal children at Minimbah demonstrates the advantages of this approach. Working with parents turned the research into a united community venture. Videotapes of the children were viewed by the community, and parents commented and offered conclusions. The community ended up saying how much the research benefitted the community and their children. Leadership functions at Minimbah are spread throughout the organization. Although the typical hierarchy is present within the management committee and staffing structure, individual staff members find freedom to speak and act and a measure of responsibility incorporated into each job description. Staff members have control over the budget for their own functions, and each staff member has a turn of planning and directing the programs, setting up the environment, maintaining the room, or supervising the outdoor program. This approach enables individuals to be powerful in the preschool. (TD)

The starting point for curriculum planning for second language instruction is the learner, and a curriculum can claim to be learner-centered only if key factors about the learner are made the basis for curriculum design at all stages in the planning and development of learning activities and materials and in the sequencing of learning experiences. These factors include general biographical data; previous learning experience (general and language, formal and informal); experiential knowledge of the world and of the way language works; the learner's stage of linguistic development; the learner's sociocultural knowledge and environment; and his or her stage of cognitive development. Each of these factors makes a unique contribution to curriculum planning and development. Each point is related to a second language learner named Jangala, an Australian aboriginal youth. (MSE)

In preparing this report, the recommendations of the (Australian) National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples were cross-referenced to the 21 goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (NATSIEP) and aggregated into 8 priorities. These are: 1) to arrange for the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in educational decision making; 2) to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers; 3) to ensure equitable access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to education and training; 4) to ensure participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in education and training; 5) to ensure equitable and appropriate educational achievement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders; 6) to promote the teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies, cultures, and languages to all Indigenous and non-Indigenous students; 7) to provide community training, including proficiency in English literacy and numeracy, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults; and 8) to improve NATSIEP implementation, evaluation, and resourcing arrangements. A collaborative action plan was designed around these eight priorities and is presented in this report. For each priority, a range of outcomes is presented for each sector of education: early childhood education; elementary and secondary education; vocational education and training, including adult and community education services; and higher education. Detailed strategies for implementation and performance measures accompany each outcome. Appendices present acronyms, terms of reference, NATSIEP priorities and 21 goals, taskforce process and membership, and 15 references. (TD)