Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T10:43:14.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Special Schooling for Indigenous Students: a New Form of Racial Discrimination?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Loretta de Plevitz
Loretta de Plevitz*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Queensland, 4001, Australia
Get access

Abstract

Recent reports on Indigenous education have revealed that high proportions of students have been placed in special classes for intellectual disability or behaviour disorders. This is not an isolated phenomenon. Indigenous students in Canada and Romani children in Europe are also disproportionately represented in special schooling. This paper asks whether systemic racism, which fails to perceive cultural differences between the ethos of Australian educational systems and the experiences and abilities of Indigenous students, is the catalyst for placing many Indigenous students in special schooling, away from the mainstream. The paper applies an analysis based on anti-discrimination law to argue that while allocation on the basis of intellectual disability or behaviour disorders may not be deliberate racism, the criteria developed for the allocation may be measuring conformity to the dominant culture. If the policies underlying this segregation are unreasonable in the circumstances, they could constitute indirect racial discrimination against Indigenous students. Educational authorities could be liable in law, even though the effect on Indigenous students is unintentional and said to be for the students’ “own good”.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 35 , 2006 , pp. 44 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Action Travail des Femmes v Canadian National Railway Co, [1987] 1 SCR 1114.Google Scholar
Benson, E. (2003) Intelligence across cultures: Research in Africa, Asia and Latin America is showing how culture and intelligence interact American Psychological Society Online Monitor on Psychology, Paper presented at the Aboriginal Studies Association and New South Wales Aboriginal Education 34(2) Retrieved 5 August, 2006, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.html. Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2000, April) Intelligence across cultures: Research in Africa, Asia and Latin America is showing how culture and intelligence interact Reports submitted by States Parties under Article 9 of the Convention. Fourth periodic report of States parties due in 2000, Czech Republic. CERD/C/372/ Add.l, 14 April, 2000.Google Scholar
Cultural bias in intelligence testing, (2004) Retrieved 5 August, 2006, from http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/intelligenceCulturalBias.html. Google Scholar
DH and Others v the Czech Republic, no. 57325/00, [2006]ECHR 113.Google Scholar
Eades, D. (1992). Aboriginal English and the law Brisbane: Queensland Law Society.Google Scholar
European Roma Rights Centre (2004). Stigmata: Segregated schooling of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe Budapest, Hungary: European Roma Rights Centre.Google Scholar
Gale, E. & Wundersitz, J. (1989). The operation of hidden prejudice in precourt procedures: The case of Australian Aboriginal youth. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 22(1), 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerhardy v Brown, (1985) 159 CLR 70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griggs v Duke Power Co 401 US 424 (1971)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurst v State of Queensland [2006] FCAFC 100.Google Scholar
Hurst and Devlin v Education Queensland [2005] FCA405.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. (1991). Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: National report (vol.2). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
L v Minister for Education for the State of Queensland (1996) EOC 92-787.Google Scholar
Manila v Dowell Lee [1983] 2 AC 548.Google Scholar
Minister’s National Working Group on Education (2002). Our children Keepers of the sacred knowledge: Final report Ottawa, Ontario:: Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Retrieved 5 August, 2006, from http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/R4l-9-2002E.pdf. Google Scholar
New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (2004). Freeing the spirit: Dreaming an equal future (Yanigurra Muya: Ganggurrinyma Yaarri Guurulaw Yirringin.gurray) [Review of Aboriginal Education 2003- 2004] Darlinghurst, NSW: NSW Department of Education and Training.Google Scholar
New South Wales Department of Juvenile Justice (2003). 2003 NSW young people in custody health survey: Key findings report Sydney: Department of Juvenile Justice.Google Scholar
Norris, R. (2006). The more things change ...: Continuity in Australian Indigenous employment disadvantage 1788-1967. Unpublished PhD thesis, Griffith University, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Productivity Commission (2006). Report on government services 2006: Part B education. Retrieved 5 August, 2006, from http://www.pc.gov.au/gsp/reports/rogs/2006/education/index.html. Google Scholar
Purvis v NSW Department of Education and Training [2003] HCA 62.Google Scholar
Queensland Ministerial Advisory Committee for Educational Renewal (2004) Report on Indigenous education: Recommendations to the Minister for Education and the Minister for the Arts. Brisbane: Queensland Government Department of Education and the Arts, Google Scholar
Sinnapanv State of Victoria (1994) EOC 92-567.Google Scholar
State Housing Commission v Martin (1998) WASCA327.Google Scholar
Vinson, T. (2002a). Inquiry into the provision of public education in New South Wales. First Report (May). Sydney: New South Wales Teachers Federation and the Federation of P&C Associations of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 August, 2006, from http://www.pub-ed-inquiry.org/reports/final_reports/FIRST_REPORT.pdf Google Scholar
Vinson, T. (2002b). Inquiry into the provision of public education in New South Wales. Second Report (July). Sydney: New South Wales Teachers Federation and the Federation of P&C Associations of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 August, 2006, from http://www.pub-ed-inquiry.org/reports/final_reports/SECOND_REPORT.pdf Google Scholar
Vinson, T. (2002c). Inquiry into the provision of public education in New South Wales. Third Report (September). Sydney: New South Wales Teachers Federation and the Federation of P&C Associations of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 August, 2006, from http://www.pub-ed-inquiry.org/reports/final_reports/THIRD_REPORT.pdf Google Scholar
Walker, J. & McDonald, D. (1995c). The over-representation of Indigenous people in custody in Australia [Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice Report No. 47]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology Google Scholar
Waters v Public Transport Corporation (1990) 173 CLR 349.Google Scholar
Wildsoet, C.E., Wood, J.M. & Hassan, S. (1998). Development and validation of a visual acuity chart for Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders Optometry and Vision Science, 75, 806–812.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeegers, M., Muir, W. & Lin, Z. (2003). The primacy of the mother tongue: Aboriginal literacy and non-standard English. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 32, 51–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar