Black Day for Indigenous Languages in NT – Felicity Meakins

[from Felicity Meakins, 2009 ARC recipient]
The bad news about Australian languages continues with the announcement by the NT Minister for Education and Training, Marion Scrymgour of a NT schools restructure which will place the emphasis on English and will essentially wind back two-way education.
“… I’m … announcing today that the first four hours of education in all Northern Territory schools will be conducted in English,” Ms Scrymgour said.
…..
“Ms Scrymgour said she recognised the requirement for all schools to teach all classes in English for the first four hours of each day would be contentious. I support preserving our Indigenous languages and culture – but our Indigenous children need to be given the best possible chance to learn English.”
This announcement follows the results from her Department’s 2004-2005 Indigenous Languages and Culture in Northern Territory Schools [.pdf] report which showed positive outcomes for children taught in the two-way model.
How does it help children who don’t understand English, to spend the first 4 hours of every day listening to English? Most NT schools are already English-only schools, and there’s no sign that it improves children’s written English more than in bilingual schools – indeed the evidence from Scrymgour’s own department report is that the outcomes are marginally better in bilingual schools.
Consultation this year for the Regional Learning Partnerships between communities and schools also showed that most communities wanted language taught in the school either through two-way learning or an ILC (Indigenous Languages and Culture) program.
But it’s not about research, results or education even, it is all about ideology as usual.
How about having a look at the 2004-2005 report, and the press release by the Minister for Education, and if you feel moved to send her informed agreement or disagreement, e-mail her at Marion.Scrymgour AT nt.gov.au.

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