The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP) (Commonwealth of Australia, 1989, p.15) discussed that the long-term goal for schools should be “to enable Aboriginal attainment of skills to the same standard as other Australian students throughout the compulsory schooling years.” Moreover, it called for the “introduction of technology and technology information to assist the development of self-determination through the cultural evaluation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.”
The Aboriginal people have rich cultures and traditions. Their history and future have been influenced by various issues and policies. One of these policies was the Assimilation policy which brought a dramatic shift in thinking …show more content…
Education is always considered a mirror of the society where it should not be isolated from the rest of the community (Pearson, 2000). Tatz (1969, p.6) discussed how education was acting as a vehicle for the assimilation policy by saying, “The fundamental assumption is that the Australian state educational systems and their values should be taught to Aborigines: one must teach the Aborigine how to become a white Australian, then teach him a trade, and then expect achievement in the white Australian sense of the term.” Indigenous research recognised that in the late 1960s, the standard of living, including health, housing and employment in the Indigenous communities, acted as barriers to effective education (Malin & Maidment, 2003). This could be due to the state in which the Aboriginal children were attending the school tired, unhappy, or …show more content…
As a key consequence for the Assimilation policy, the Aboriginals’ children’s and adult’s health were getting worse due to their forcibly separation and the social injustice. The health of the children was badly affected as Pilkington (1996, p. 65) described their way of living in the institutional schools as it is “more like a concentration camp than a residential school for Aboriginal children where they were locked in a cage, facing different types of abuse.” In the same patterns, the WAACHS reported that the effect on the children were twice as likely to have emotional and behavioural problems, to be at high risk for hyperactivity, emotional disorders, and twice as likely to abuse alcohol and drugs (Grace, and Trudgett, 2012; Pearson, 2000). On the other hand, parents’ mental and physical health was influenced by their social, cultural and religious oppression which was compound with the forced separation from their children which is considered to be a massive human rights
The Aboriginal people have rich cultures and traditions. Their history and future have been influenced by various issues and policies. One of these policies was the Assimilation policy which brought a dramatic shift in thinking …show more content…
Education is always considered a mirror of the society where it should not be isolated from the rest of the community (Pearson, 2000). Tatz (1969, p.6) discussed how education was acting as a vehicle for the assimilation policy by saying, “The fundamental assumption is that the Australian state educational systems and their values should be taught to Aborigines: one must teach the Aborigine how to become a white Australian, then teach him a trade, and then expect achievement in the white Australian sense of the term.” Indigenous research recognised that in the late 1960s, the standard of living, including health, housing and employment in the Indigenous communities, acted as barriers to effective education (Malin & Maidment, 2003). This could be due to the state in which the Aboriginal children were attending the school tired, unhappy, or …show more content…
As a key consequence for the Assimilation policy, the Aboriginals’ children’s and adult’s health were getting worse due to their forcibly separation and the social injustice. The health of the children was badly affected as Pilkington (1996, p. 65) described their way of living in the institutional schools as it is “more like a concentration camp than a residential school for Aboriginal children where they were locked in a cage, facing different types of abuse.” In the same patterns, the WAACHS reported that the effect on the children were twice as likely to have emotional and behavioural problems, to be at high risk for hyperactivity, emotional disorders, and twice as likely to abuse alcohol and drugs (Grace, and Trudgett, 2012; Pearson, 2000). On the other hand, parents’ mental and physical health was influenced by their social, cultural and religious oppression which was compound with the forced separation from their children which is considered to be a massive human rights