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Commonwealth GovernmentMonitoring and reporting
Bringing them Home - Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their FamiliesThe Human Rights and Equal Opportunity publication, Bringing them Home - Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families examines the past and continuing effects of the systemic separation of Indigenous individuals, families and communities and makes recommendations regarding laws and practices, reuniting families and ways of dealing with losses caused by separation. The report also looks at current laws, policies and practices affecting the placement and care of Indigenous children. English as a Second Language (ESL)English as a Second Language - New Arrivals (ESL-NA) Programme The ESL New Arrivals Programme is a Commonwealth Government initiative to improve the educational opportunities and outcomes of newly arrived students of non-English speaking backgrounds by developing their English language competence and facilitating their participation into mainstream education activities. The Commonwealth Government provides a per capita grant to support the provision of ESL classes for each newly arrived school aged student of a non-English speaking background who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Funds are provided to the government, Catholic and independent school sector education authorities in each State and Territory. These authorities assess claims from individual schools which are based on student needs. Funds may be used at the discretion of the educational authority for such purposes as:
English as a Second Language - Indigenous Language Speaking Students (ESL-ILSS) Programme The Commonwealth recognises that the inability of Indigenous students to participate in basic schooling due to a lack of fluency in English is a fundamental impediment to their participation in the classroom and subsequently affects their ability to acquire literacy skills. The ESL-ILSS Programme has been developed to assist these Indigenous students with the primary aim to address their initial difficulties through the provision of ESL intervention tuition at the most critical point of their schooling. The ESL-ILSS Programme began in 1998 and assists Indigenous students commencing mainstream schooling to function at the most basic level in the classroom in English and participate in a meaningful way in classroom activities. The program is tightly targeted to those students who have very limited exposure to, or use of, English in their communities and will be required to use the English language for the first time in a sustained manner. Each eligible student attracts a once only payment of $3079. Funds are provided to the education authority responsible for the student's schooling. Funds are available for a wide range of development and support strategies which contribute to the student's ESL tuition. Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Program (IESIP)The Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP) provides supplementary funding to government and non-government education providers across the preschool, school, vocational education and training, and higher education sectors. The objective of IESIP is to achieve equity in educational outcomes for Indigenous students against priority areas which have been agreed between the Commonwealth and all States and Territories. The focus for the current quadrennium is to ensure that Indigenous students reach levels of literacy and numeracy comparable to other Australians under outcomes-focussed agreements with education providers under the National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. More information can be found at:www.dest.gov.au/schools/indigenous/iesip.htm The priorities to be addressed in 1997-99 include:
National Report on Schooling in AustraliaThe National Report on Schooling in Australia was first published for the 1989 school year. The annual reports provide to the nation, in an accessible and readable form, a comprehensive account of schooling with a national overview, chapters provided by the Commonwealth and each of the States and Territories and a comprehensive collection of school statistics. Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in CustodyThe Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) was jointly established in 1987 by the Commonwealth, States and the Northern Territory to investigate the numerous deaths of Indigenous Australians in custody. The Commission made 339 recommendations including a number of education- related recommendations. It found that education systems did not sufficiently meet the needs of Indigenous Australian students and that this lack of support had contributed to the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in custody. In July 1991, the Commonwealth, States and Territories agreed to develop a National Response to the recommendations. States and Territories provide annual reports on RCIADIC implementation. Sticks and Stones: Report on Violence in SchoolsSticks and Stones: Report on Violence in Schools was an inquiry conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training. The Committee reported on the level and incidence of violence in schools, factors influencing this, policies to address it and examples of best practice intervention strategies. The Report includes racism and ethnic violence in its examination and recommendations. |
© Conference of Education Systems Chief Executive Officers 2000 |
Racism, No way! is an Australian anti-racism education initiative managed by the Department of Education and Training on behalf of education systems nationally. |