The English-based creoles, which are spoken by a very large number of Aboriginal Australians, are so named because it is obvious that a large proportion of their lexicon is derived from English. This fact alone, however, does not indicate that they are merely regional varieties of English. They are distinct languages. Together with other world creoles, they are at the frontier of linguistic research and the subject of considerable controversy. One critical forum of debate centres on the validity of creoles as languages of education. It is the intention of the authors that this paper should achieve two things. Firstly, it is intended to contribute constructively to that debate. Secondly, it is intended to provide an overview of the present use of some creole languages in Australian schools.

In January/February 1973 at the request of the Minister for Education, the Hon. Kim E. Beazley, an Advisory Group was set up to make recommendations for the implementation and development of a program involving teaching in Aboriginal languages and the incorporation in the school curriculum of further elements of traditional Aboriginal arts, crafts and skills. The members of the group were:

Dr. Betty H. Watts, Reader in Education, University of Queensland, Mr. W.J. McGrath, Inspector of Schools, Aboriginal Education Branch, and Mr. J.L. Tandy, Department of Education, Canberra.

It is believed that many teachers will be interested in the thinking behind the bilingual education program and the manner of its recommended implementation.

The extracts which follow set out the rationale and the recommended progress through the educational program. The recommended roles of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff members will be outlined in the next issue.

The English language differs from others both in the patterns and the sociolinguistic conventions of its discourse. This paper uses forms of greeting as a specific reference as to how cross cultural communication can break down when Aboriginal people and English speakers interact.

Since leaving ‘the bush’ I have been continually surprised at the ignorance that still exists about Aboriginal people and their languages. When people chat to me, and it is revealed that I used to work in Aboriginal schools in the Northern Territory, they say things like “Do you speak Aboriginal then?… Maybe you could make a sign for us saying ‘Welcome to our Kindergarten’ in Aboriginal?” I then have to explain that there are many, many different Aboriginal languages, not just one, and to say or write such things in any one of these languages requires a lot more than a mere literal translation. When I began doing research on the topic of writing in Aboriginal languages. I was again surprised at the sorts of comments people made to me. Comments like “How can you do research on writing in Aboriginal languages: I thought the Aborigines didn't even have an alphabet!”

The structures of a traditional school curriculum, timetable, and teaching practices can, by their very nature, be destructive of Aboriginal identity and traditional Aboriginal education, even when, on the surface, the content of the school curriculum is Aboriginal. This article explores the idea that the processes of reading and writing and making books, movies and videos can also be very destructive of Aboriginal identity when these things are controlled by the imagination of white educators and media makers.

In 1954 the Australian Council for Educational Research convened a conference of curriculum officers from the various State Education Departments to consider, among other things, a desirable course of study in mathematics for Australian primary schools. The report of the conference lists the following as the expected outcomes of a desirable mathematics course:

A number of issues critical to Aboriginal Studies Courses are extrapolated from the literature. These issues are expressed as questions important for evaluators of Aboriginal Studies Courses to ask. They may also be seen as guidelines for the construction of Aboriginal Studies Courses. In conclusion, a summary of the developed guidelines is presented.

It is a western New South Wales High School with strong winter sunshine filling the classroom. The teacher moves nervously in from the brick corridor with its interchangable Education Department prints, and stands just inside the door.

It has become fashionable in educational circles to pay homage to what is described as ‘cultural activities’ in schools, particularly those schools in which the clientele is drawn from a culturally different community. Such an addition to the curriculum content of schools is a response to the concern that schools are somehow irrelevant to the needs of the client group. While the latter point may indeed be true, this paper argues that curriculum decisions in the area of ‘culture’ are deceptively simple.

This is the second article in the series by Mr. Spalding. After reading it, most teachers will feel the need to scrutinize carefully the books currently in use in their classrooms. In the next issue, Mr. Spalding will write about the transmission and reinforcement of prejudice.

When we talk about Aboriginalizing education, we have to find ways of describing or analyzing what happens in education, which will help us to understand what needs to be done. For me, one of the most useful ways of thinking about education is to make a clear distinction between what is taught (the content, or message of education), and how it is taught (the methods, or processes or the medium of education). In traditional white education, both the content and the process of education reflect the white ways of looking at the world. In traditional Aboriginal education, the process and content of education are both Aboriginal.