Analysis of Gaps in Australias Indigenous Language Policy Research by Simpson - Essay Example

? Australian study In the Research Discussion Paper Gaps in Australia’s Indigenous Language Policy: Dismantling bilingual education in the Northern Territory, Jane Simpson, Jo Caffery, and Patrick McConvell examine the advantages of bilingual education and the disadvantages of monolingual education and argues for regaining the indigenous language rights in Northern Territory (NT) in Australia. Besides, the authors give ample importance to the 2008 decision, which abandons the scope of bilingual education for the aboriginal population in NT. The Research Discussion Paper closely examines the events that led the education department and the Education Minster to undervalue bilingual education and to neglect the educational rights of the indigenous population in Australia, especially in NT. In the introduction of the Research Discussion Paper, the authors deal with the concept of monolingual education, which negatively influenced the growth and development of indigenous languages. The authors state that the concept of bilingualism is with a number of intellectual, educational, and cultural advantages. The monolingual form of education is less beneficial for the indigenous children in Australia. The authors make clear that monolingual education negatively influence the traditional way of life of the children from indigenous population in Australia. For instance, the indigenous children who undergo monolingual education may ignore their mother tongue and refuse to live with their families. But the present bilingual educational programs in NT are to be considered as a preparatory step to attract aboriginal community towards monolingual education. From a different angle of view, the aboriginal children must receive value education which is helpful to get access to the upper strata of the society. Besides, the community right to decide the mode of education and to strengthen indigenous languages must be safeguarded. The authors point out that bilingual education can overcome these problems. Simpson, et al. (2009:11) ‘Bilingual education, in which mother tongue medium teaching and learning is a fundamental component, is based on the principle of building on what the children already know, and on breaking down the tasks into more manageable ones’. Furthermore, bilingual educational programs act the role of a connection between community and its cultural aspects and reduce the scope of cultural alienation. At the same time, the success of bilingual education is fully vested upon the balance between mother tongue and the language which is dominating. The authors state that the initial success of the bilingual program implemented in NT proves the effectiveness of staff (indigenous and non indigenous), training and teaching materials. But some of these bilingual programs prove to be unsuccessful because of insufficient training to handle indigenous languages in remote communities. Besides, lack of training and teaching experience leads the indigenous student community to less proficiency in first language and the language of instruction. Authors make clear that bilingual education programs implemented in NT aimed to achieve two goals: student proficiency in their first language and unrestricted access to the dominant language. The authors argue that the reason behind the failure of any bilingual education program is related to the steps taken during implementation. The authors state that their argument is based upon the illogical education policies adopted by the Australian policy-makers, within the scenario of bilingual education and the unwanted importance given to English education. In addition, the decision taken in 2008 by educational policy-makers in Australia, to discard the bilingual educational programs in NT is not based upon solid evidence. Within the context of aboriginal education in NT, the educational rights of aboriginal children and the rights of the community members to know more about the process of educating their children are important. Besides, sufficient importance must be given to the rights of the members of indigenous communities to strengthen their languages. After pointing out these issues related to indigenous education, the authors deal with the policy change that occurred within the Northern Territory. This policy change is interconnected with the declaration in 2008 by the Northern Territory Minister for Employment, Education and Training (Marion Scrymgour), in which announced the future importance and focus upon teaching English. The two-way learning mode (bilingual) provided ample importance to indigenous teachers, which attracted indigenous teachers to this education program. But the Two Way learning programs in Australia were not provided with ample institutional support and faced marginalization. Besides, the neglect towards bilingual education and indigenous languages resulted in human rights violation faced by the indigenous students. So, the authors state that the key arguments within the scenario of bilingual education include: social identity of the indigenous communities, outcome within the educational scenario, and the problem of endangerment faced by indigenous languages and violation of human rights. To be specific, the Ramsay report in the year 2003 paved the way for the degradation of bilingual education in NT. Simpson, et al. (2009:20) ‘The 2003 Ramsey report (DEET and Ramsey 2003) laid the way to dismantling bilingual education programs in the Northern Territory’. In addition, this report did not take any effective measure to resolve the problems faced by bilingual education within Australia, especially in NT. The Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, pointed out that the degradation of bilingual education was due to the refusal of indigenous children to learn English. The degradation of bilingual education in NT posed threat to the job security of indigenous teaching staff. The summary Report of 2008, on the first National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) provided unwanted importance to the inculcation of English education. Simpson, et al. (2009:27) ‘The NAPLAN results confirmed what had been widely known since at least the early 1980s, that Indigenous children in remote schools were not achieving acceptable standards of literacy in English and numeracy, and that this was particularly obvious in the Northern Territory’. The NAPLAN Report makes clear that the indigenous students are unable to achieve improvement in English and numerical ability. The Ramsay report and NAPLAN report led to the abolition of bilingual education and the inculcation of English in indigenous schools. The decision taken by the educational minister provided ample importance to English education but totally neglected the growth and development of indigenous languages. This decision attracted protest from the side of indigenous communities in Australia, especially from NT. But the NT Indigenous Education Council did not initiate any protest against this decision to neglect indigenous languages. The Minister’s decision to inculcate English into the educational scenario resulted in the unemployment of indigenous teachers, suppression of indigenous languages, and ambiguity in the implementation of the new education policy. But this decision was taken without ample evidence against low educational standard in Two-Way schools. To be specific, the decision taken by the Minister was not based upon evidence and it did not aim any specific transition in the field of indigenous education. In short, the decision taken by the Minister paved the way for the total abandoning of bilingual education in Australia, especially in NT. The authors point out that the actions taken against bilingual education in 2008 totally neglected the future scope of the growth and development of indigenous languages. The importance acquired by English within the educational scenario of Australia paved the way towards the degradation of indigenous languages. Besides, the media provided ample importance to monolingual education and discarded the scope of bilingual education. The authors state that the bilingual education safeguarded indigenous languages and helped the student community to acquire proficiency in English. The authors conclude the Research Discussion Paper by pointing out that the implementation of bilingual education is one of the most important steps towards protecting indigenous languages. When this mode of education comes to an end, it will curtail the future growth and development of indigenous languages and devalue the contributions of indigenous population to the cultural scenario of Australia. The decision taken by the Minister is based upon little evidence and may destroy the growth and development of bilingual education programs. Summing up, the authors point out that the decision neglects the basic principles of education. Only a rational and constant educational policy can lead indigenous languages in Australia towards future development. The authors consider that the Declaration of Indigenous Rights is an innovative step towards the progress of indigenous languages in Australia. In addition, deeper understanding of indigenous languages in Australia will help the speakers of indigenous languages to acquire an important position within the mainstream society. Bibliography Simpson, J., Caffery, J. & McConvell, P. (2009) Gaps in Australia’s Indigenous Language Policy: Dismantling bilingual education in the Northern Territory. Research Discussion Paper. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Read More