Teacher Training

I think every Aboriginal person has got the ability to learn language. You’ve got it and soon as you just touch on a few words, “oh yeah but Nan used to say that before” and then you just keep going with it and just try to build your vocabulary up. Everyone’s got it within and it’s not that hard to rattle it out and just say it. It’s not. And it’s only three years since I’ve had the job and now I’m doing Year 6 classes. Like three weeks with training and plus I had to do my own personal training and three weeks and I’m doing classes.

A school's support for language depends on relationships with the community, the teachers understanding and respect for the language and the rapport between teachers and children. These are generally going to be strongest with ATSI teachers.

Where appropriate, teachers should be fully fluent in the traditional language of the community. Such teachers are almost invariably Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. However, the number of ATSI teachers in community schools is much less than the number of non-ATSI teachers with the proportion of ATSI teachers in other schools being even lower.

Considerable efforts have been made by governments to increase the number of ATSI teachers but the poor schooling received by most ATSI students means that most do not leave school with tertiary entry qualifications. However, from a very low base the number of ATSI students gaining tertiary entry has been climbing steeply. The number of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders graduating as teachers is also increasing, but is still well short of meeting the demand. ATSI people gaining a degree often have available to them more attractive employment options than teaching.