Click on this image to view video about the role of English and local languages in the educational experiences of Aboriginal children in remote communities

Editor’s Note: March 21 is Harmony Day in Australia, coinciding with the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. On this occasion we examine how beliefs that Aboriginal languages are “nice to have” but basically useless in the “real” world of work and education disadvantage Aboriginal people in remote communities. Our contributor Brendan Kavanagh explores this linguistic disadvantage in employment in the text below, and in education in this video.

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In a 2007 article in The Australian, Aboriginal activist Noel Pearson put forward six policy recommendations pertaining to Aboriginal languages. He identified such languages as “inherently valuable as part of the country’s rich heritage” and “the primary words by which the Australian land and seascape is named and described.” However, Pearson argued for a “separate domain within indigenous communities for cultural and linguistic education from the Western education domain”, reasoning that “the primary purpose of schools is for our children to obtain a mainstream, Western education.”

This dichotomy is often established: local language is for the home; English is for the outside world. One is for culture; the other is for jobs. Such a perspective has pervaded the debate over bilingual education in remote Aboriginal schools since the mid-1970s, with early bilingual programmes established on the principles of connecting with one’s heritage and identity, as well as recognising and upholding basic Indigenous rights.

Conversely, the case for English-speaking classrooms draws upon the economic argument, positioning English as the pathway toward real jobs in the broader Australian workplace – an argument that supports the current four hours of mandatory English-only classes in all Northern Territory schools, as I explain in this 10-minute video about the schooling experiences of aboriginal children in remote communities. The assumption is that for an Aboriginal school-leaver, finding their way in the world means leaving their land, family, language and culture to pursue “real” opportunities within urban mainstream Australia. This perception is perpetuated in a policy report, which goes so far as to label local Indigenous identified positions, such as Aboriginal Health Workers, Assistant Teachers and Aboriginal Community Police Officers, as “pretend jobs” that lack equivalent positions in mainstream Australia. Drawing equivalencies to an “apartheid” system, the report paints their existence as a politically correct excuse for hiring Aboriginal people into inferior positions that lack the level of education required of nurses, teachers and police officers.

While it is true that such positions are not identical to mainstream positions, this is because the roles require a different and unique set of knowledge and skills, without which a community school, clinic or police station cannot operate. These include an understanding of the community’s social structure, appropriate cultural practices that do not offend the client, and, most importantly, the ability to communicate information in the vernacular. Such specialist skills cannot be learnt by outsiders through a mainstream education model.

Health clinic in a remote NT community (Source: ABC)

The role of an Aboriginal Health Worker is a pertinent example. Statistics show that in remote Indigenous communities, 55% of adults are smokers and the average person consumes 24% of their sugar intake from soft drinks, a rate which is twice that of the non-Indigenous population. Hearing and vision problems are also prevalent among children due to lack of basic access to hygiene. The expensive solution is to treat the problems at the symptom by flying in qualified specialists to treat diabetes, lung cancer, otitis media and trachoma. This option can require high wages, travel allowance and expensive chartered flights. Nevertheless, it is potentially ineffective, as many community members require a level of trust before they are willing to attend a medical appointment.

The most efficient and effective method is to treat the problem at the cause. Using language skills, an Aboriginal Health Worker can develop local health messages to convince people to give up smoking, eat healthier and wash their children’s ears and eyes. They can convince patients to attend appointments, and with enough training, can interpret complex medical jargon. These skills can be essential for suicide prevention, promoting sexual health and providing other vital health messages such as how to prevent lead poisoning by hunting with steel bullets instead of lead ones. Over the long term, Aboriginal Health Workers save money and, more importantly, save lives.

An Aboriginal Teacher’s Assistant is fundamental to a community’s future. Teaching roles in communities are often temporary stepping stones for graduate teachers with limited experience and no exposure to Indigenous culture, as I show in the video . In such a system, where there is a cultural risk to both the teacher and the students, it is vital that the Teacher’s Assistants act as cultural brokers. Their ability to communicate culturally appropriate content into the vernacular helps to deliver educational outcomes that an Aboriginal community actually wants. A study with 1,000 participants across remote Australia found that Aboriginal community members preferred educational outcomes to focus on “learning the local language” and “being strong in both worlds”, more than such mainstream goals as “economic participation”.

Aboriginal Community Police Officers (ACPO) arguably play the most crucial role, as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners accounted for over a quarter (27% or 10,596 prisoners) of the total Australian prisoner population in 2016. An ACPO’s ability to speak in local language opens a channel of communication between community members and law enforcement, allowing them to understand the law, cooperate with the law and follow the law. As active participants of the legal system, they will view law enforcement as a useful means of strengthening the community by maintaining traditional culture through social order. Without this channel of communication, law enforcement is more likely to be viewed as a form of imperialism enforced by foreigners who speak a different language and lack an understanding of existing social structures. Keeping people on the right side of the law saves money, as the cost of imprisonment is approximately $305 per person per day, a figure that greatly exceeds the cost of hiring an ACPO.

These are just a few of the real jobs in which language skills are essential in the workforce. The cashiers at the local store are the only staff members who can communicate directly with clients to meet their needs. The artists at the art centre communicate their culture to the outside world, which in turn generates a real income. Aboriginal rangers can develop environmental health messages for their fellow community members to look after country.

Yet English literacy based on NAPLAN testing is our primary determinant for Aboriginal educational outcomes, as exemplified in the 2017 Closing the Gap Report, and argued in the above-mentioned 2012 Indigenous education report as part of its criticism of Indigenous identified positions. But studies have shown NAPLAN to be a linguistically and culturally inappropriate measure of achievement in remote Indigenous schools, filled with reading activities that present irrelevant and unfamiliar contexts, such as “going to the cinema” or “delivering newspapers”. Reading exercises rarely reflect the context of working in a community position, so rather than labelling Indigenous positions as “pretend jobs”, the argument could be made that the tests represent “pretend learning”.

The idea that local languages are irrelevant to the workplace is a self-fulfilling prophecy; the English-speaking workplace only sustains itself because local people are not skilled into positions of management. While it is true that language is important for preserving cultural identity, we should also argue that it is an essential tool for operating in the local economy. School curricula should not sideline language as a superfluous add-on, but embed it into student career paths in health, law, education, commerce and all other fields that are relevant to building a strong community.