Bilingual Tack Gains Traction For Indigenous Children

FEDERAL School Education Minister Peter Garrett has declared he will talk to state governments about adopting bilingual education for indigenous children, arguing school attendance rates would improve if they were taught in their first language.

Parliament’s standing committee on indigenous affairs released a bipartisan report yesterday calling for more action to protect endangered indigenous languages, revealed by The Australian, and recommending bilingual education.

Mr Garrett’s spokeswoman said the government “welcomes this report and recognises the importance of preserving indigenous languages”. “Work has already begun on the draft framework for Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Islander languages as part of the rollout of the new national curriculum,” she said.

Tony Abbott’s Coalition also has backed bilingual education.

Opposition indigenous affairs spokesman Nigel Scullion said although education policy was usually a matter for states and territories, “I generally support bilingual education as a transitional program from preschool to Year 5”. He said it was “a bit difficult to learn if the subject is being taught in another language”.

The deputy chairwoman of the committee, Liberal MP Sharman Stone, said Australia still hadn’t grasped the importance of children learning in their own language. “When they are able to speak and preserve and indeed restore their indigenous languages there’s enormous advantage in their sense of wellbeing, their sense of self-esteem, their cultural retention, their unique and amazing Australian Aboriginal culture,” she said.

The Coalition previously has criticised the dominance of indigenous languages in remote schools and emphasised the need for English.

Yesterday Generation One boss Warren Mundine, a former Labor Party president, said he supported bilingual education as long as English was dominant. “I look at ethnic groups and you can see the difference in them learning their native languages,” he said. “We have finally realised what really works, after thinking English exclusively was the best. We have accepted now that isn’t the way … I think all Australians should learn two languages.”

The committee found support for bilingual education had been “ad hoc” for want of community consultation and resourcing.

A recently abandoned Northern Territory policy mandating the first four hours of a school day be taught in English failed to lift students’ performance, it said.

Leaders of the campaign for constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians, You Me Unity, also have backed the changes. Indigenous leader and You Me Unity reference group member Patrick Dodson said language was “part of identity”.

“The full recognition of Aboriginal people includes the languages which are the basis of how we understand the world and interpret life,” he said.

You Me Unity campaign director Tim Gartrell said the recommendation to recognise indigenous languages in the constitution would “send a powerful message that Australia is determined to protect and preserve our living heritage for all time”.