The first national Aboriginal Teacher Aide Workshop, organized by Alan Randell, Margaret Valadian and Art More and hosted by the Queensland Department of Education, was held in Brisbane, 19–22 June, 1978. It was attended by Aboriginal teacher aides from all states who, during the three day workshop, identified common areas of concern about the education of Aborigines and proposed acceptable strategies to achieve stated goals. We present below the recommendations from the report of the workshop.

Roslyn Watson likes to stand out from the crowd. Which is almost unavoidable when you’re the only Aboriginal dancer on stage with the Queensland Ballet Company.

But being black in the very white, very competitive world of Australian ballet was not always an advantage. It has never been easy.

Roslyn has just started a five-week tour of the State, teaching dance to Aboriginal and white children in remote northern and far western outposts. Before she left she said: “I started late because we were handicapped financially. I had to really struggle.” When she said: “I think I’m a very determined person,” you knew she was not kidding. And when she said: “I am the first Aboriginal person to become a professional ballet dancer,” you understood the pride in her voice.

Born in Brisbane 24 years ago, she arrived third in a family of six children. Perhaps she inherited some of that determination from her parents. “Mum and dad both worked to put us all through school,” she said. “They were right behind us.” And there was every encouragement when she started learning ballet at the age of 12. “But I wouldn’t have been able to continue my dancing if I hadn’t got a study grant.”

That was in 1970 – she was 15 years old and Kathleen Gorham’s School of Dancing in Melbourne was a long way from the suburban Brisbane ballet classes. At first it was a disaster – she was not measuring up – and the crunch came when she had to return to Brisbane for a wedding. “Miss Gorham said when you get on the bus to Brisbane don’t bloody bother coming back,” said Roslyn.

The Armidale Aboriginal Education, Health and Welfare Conference, 1978, was held at Mary White College, University of New England, from Thursday, 30th November to Saturday, 2nd December, 1978. The conference was convened by Margaret Wells and Jane Purkiss, with the assistance of Ross Bell from Duval High School, Armidale. The conference was granted in-service status by the New South Wales Department of Education, and teachers attended from schools within North West Region. Academics and teachers, health and welfare workers attended and a large representation came from the Aboriginal community of Armidale.

The conference, which was funded jointly by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Armidale College of Advanced Education, dealt with : Aboriginal Teaching Assistants’ courses; Aboriginal housing; participation in decision making by Aboriginal communities; use of Aboriginal personnel; support for Aboriginal Health Centres; and District Aboriginal Education Committees. Workshops were also held on various aspects of Aboriginal education, health and welfare.

Key speakers at the conference included Professor Colin Tatz, Professor of Politics, University of New England, who discussed various aspects of race relations and their relevance to the classroom, and Stephen Albert, Chairman of the National Aboriginal Education Committee, who outlined guidelines which have been formulated by the Committee on Aboriginal education, and have been distributed for comment. They recommend that Aboriginal community members be included in decision making in areas concerning Aboriginal education. The Committee also recommends that local Aboriginal Education Committees, all Aboriginal in membership, be established for advisory and consultative purposes. Local District Aboriginal Education Committees would also have an advisory function for the National Aboriginal Education Committee.

The decentralizing movement away from large, multi-tribal settlements and missions over the last half decade is one of the most significant Aborignal initiated movements since the beginning of the European invasion.

Initially the movement required and requested nothing from Europeans. Gradually requests have been made for assistance in the areas of specific foods, health and education services.

In establishing an educational program for the homeland centre schools, it is essential that a situation is not created whereby Europeans saturate/dampen the initiative of the Aboriginal people; and so a program aimed at basic numeracy and literacy (as requested by the groups) has been devised aimed at supporting Aboriginal teachers.

The following article is based on a “paper given in 1976 in Alice Springs at an induction course for teachers newly appointed to work in Aboriginal Schools in the Northern Territory. Mr Brennan is Principal Education Adviser to the Northern Territory Division of Education. In his talk he was concerned to give practical advice to this group of teachers and we believe that his comments will be helpful to teachers who work with Aboriginal children in a variety of settings around Australia.

Many writings on indigenous education focus on the role of the individual teacher. This is as it should be since the individual teacher is indeed the most significant factor in the success or failure of an educational program. There are other factors, however, which are significant, and in this article I would like to deal with one, namely: the system within which a teacher works.

A good educational system develops, supports and encourages good teaching practice. A poor system inevitably, if unintentionally, frustrates the efforts of its teachers. I believe many of the ablest and most dedicated teachers in Queensland are frustrated. I present here my own view. Quite possibly some of the facts are wrong. The important point is that this is the impression that at least one teacher on the job has of the way things work.

I would also like to propose a few ways in which the Queensland Education Department and the Queensland Teachers Union could better promote indigenous education through more effective staffing and curriculum development procedures. I do not mean to suggest that either of these two organizations is unconcerned with the plight of indigenous students; I do mean to suggest that both bodies are committed to maintaining an administrative system which is inappropriate and harmful to the interests of these students. In order to establish a truly effective program for indigenous students, substantive changes need to be made in the bureaucracy.

Readers, we are sure, will be interested in the following summaries of projects sponsored by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. The projects show how the Foundation has responded to educational needs in a variety of countries and cultures. There is now a realization that to consider the young child in isolation from his family and community does not make sense, if longer-term educational gains are to be achieved. Eence many of the projects seek to help schools acknowledge the importance of parents in the education of their children; endeavour to make schools and communities more responsive to each other; and encourage communities to help themselves.

We thought readers would be interested in the following account of the activities and aims of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council

We thought readers would be interested in the following account of the activities and aims of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council