Christine Walton
Northern Territory University
submitted for publication in EDUCATION AUSTRALIA
MAJOR CUT-BACKS IN NT EDUCATION
The NT, like some of its southern counterparts has
recently engaged in a review of government expenditure.
As a result of the deliberations of the Estimates Review
Committee (ERC) the NT government announced significant
cuts to all departments.
In total, over 1200 public service positions will be lost,
with an estimated saving of $108 million over the next two
years. Unlike other states, the NT government has decided
not to offer redundancy packages to those employees affected;
rather they are trying to achieve the cuts through natural
attrition. It is apparent that this may lead to people
feeling pressured to resign. It has been estimated that
these cuts will have a multiplier effect resulting in an
estimated loss of up to 3000 NT jobs.
The NT government argues that these cuts are necessary
becasue of reductions in funding from the Commonwealth
government. The Commonwealth has reduced funding to the
NT over the last 5 years. However, the level of Commonwealth
funding remains favourable compared to other states.
Specifically, the NT is currently funded 293% higher than
the Australian average on per capita basis.
The impact of the ERC cuts has been particularly severe
in the areas of education, health and community services.
Their impact on Aborigines and women is of particular
concern. Various community groups have been mushrooming
around the NT to fight the consequent erosion of services.
For instance, a Women's ERC Action Group has been formed
to highlight the impact of the cuts on women's jobs and
services to women. They are particularly concerned about
the closure of schools, health centres and the Women's
Information Centre.
Similarly, Aboriginal communitites, as well as urban
mainly non-Aboriginal communitites, have been mobilising
to fight the cuts as they reprsent a significant
downgrading of services in the health and education
sectors. A group known as Educators For Change,
convened by Wendy Hawthorne, was formed prior to the
last NT election. It consists of a group of concerned
educators who wanted to ensure that education was high
on the last election agenda. Educators For Change
sought responses from the political parties to a
questionnaire and publicised the results in a local
newspaper. The response from the CLP (Country
Liberal Party), the governing party, gave no hint of
the major cuts planned and suggested current
education services would be maintained.
The following is an overview of the decisions made
in relation to education services. The discussion
of the impact of these cuts will be focussed particularly
on their effect on Aboriginal Education.
School Staffing Formula
The school staffing formula has been eroded across the
board from pre-school to secondary, with resultant
increases in class sizes and loss of teaching posistions
in many schools. Pre-schools are the worst affected
by the new formula. Other areas likely to be adversely
affected include small specialist classes such as for the
gifted and for language enrichment. Other programs
affected include Education for Girls.
The Minister maintains the staffing formula is still
comparable with that used in other states. He has
failed to consider the impact of being responsible for
an Aboriginal community, which comprises nearly one
quarter of the school-age population. The vast majority
of the Aboriginal students are non-English speaking
background students (NESB).
Privatise Yirara College
It has been proposed to privatise Yirara College in
Alice Springs. This college caters for secondary-
aged students from remote Aboriginal communities.
Its counterpart in Darwin, Kormilda College, was
privatised a few years ago and handed over to Church
groups to run as a private enterprise. This effectively
passed on the cost burden for Top End Aboriginal
community secondary-aged students to the Commonwealth
government. The proposal is to do the same to Yirara
College, thereby abandoning most Aboriginal secondary
education to churches and the Commonwealth government.
Prior to the election and this announcement some
parents of Yirara students had already been concerned
enough about an earlier Ministerial decision not to
offer full secondary courses at Yirara to place a
complaint with the Human Rights Commission. It seems
inconceivable that while that matter is still to be
resolved through the Commission the NT Department of
Education nevertheless, plans to go ahead with passing
Aboriginal secondary education at Yirara to the
private church sector.
Curriculum Development
Curriculum development, advisory positions and student
sevices positions have been severely affected by the
cuts. In effect, the bulk of curriculum/advisory
responsibilties left in the system in terms of Aboriginal
education, are funded by the Commonwealth under the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy. The officers
made excess by this process cannot be absorbed readily
into the school sector as jobs in that sector have
diminished as well. While all areas were affected by
the cuts to advisory sevices, some areas were completely
wiped out. For instance, Early Childhood Advisory positions,
including PEO (Principal Education Officer), were
eliminated across the Territory.
Devolution to School Councils
A 'devolution' package is being proposed whereby school
councils are given some responsibilities previously
carried out by the NT Department of Education. School
Councils are concerned that they will be taking on more
of the day-to-day responsibilties yet will still have
no right to be properly consulted obver significant
decisions affecting their schools, such as school
closures.
Batchelor College
Batchelor College, located 100 kms south of Darwin, is a
tertiary institution offering both TAFE and Higher Education
courses. It was set up to cater for the educational needs
of Aboriginal people from remote Northern Territory
communities, although prospective students who have an
urban background or who come from interstate are not
excluded.
Feppi - The Aboriginal Education Consultative Group
One might well ask what is the Aboriginal Education
Consultative Group doing about these matters. Feppi,
as the group is known in the NT, is actually in
limbo. The term of the past council expired in
December 1990. The minister announced in March 1991
a major re-structuring of Feppi. He has proposed a
structure which will function as an Advisory group to
the Minister. The members of Feppi will all be
Ministerial appointments. This propsed structure
falls short of the hopes of many people for an independent,
representative consultative group. The new structure
will probably be in place within about three months. So,
while these cuts are going on, the voice of Feppi has
been silent. In a community where one quarter of the
school papulation is Aboriginal this is a national
disgrace.
Aboriginal Education Marginalised
Government priorities are being severely challenged
by these decisions. Public support for the government
is being significantly eroded, as they explicitly went
into the last election on a platform of the maintenance
of existing services. In particular, their support base
in Darwin's northern suburbs has been eroded by the cuts
to education and health services. The approach taken by
the Minister of refusing to consult or negotiate about
these decisions has left many of their conservative
supporters bewildered.
Public education generally, and Aboriginal education
specifically are being marginalised by the ERC decisions.
It seems particularly ironic that in the period when there
have been real gains in Aboriginal Education policy at the
federal level in the form of the Aboriginal and Islander
Education Policy, the local NT government seems determined
to undermine the impact of that policy. The outcome of
the ERC cuts seems to be abrogation of resposibility for
Aboriginal Education in the NT. The purpose seems to be
to hand over as much of Aboriginal Education as possible
to the Commonwealth. This purpose is transparent
to both the Aboriginal community and the Commonwealth.
reprinted with permission from Christine Walton.