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Good Reading : February 2012
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www. . o rg.au good reading february 2012 34 www. .org.au You don’t need to be a statistician to guess that the literacy standards among Aboriginal people have not been anything for this country to brag about. But as ALICE JOHNSON writes, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation is making a mighty effort to reverse this trend. I f you look at the numbers alone, Indigenous literacy is in a bad place. By the age of 15, more than a third of Australia’s Indigenous students won’t have the reading skills to address ordinary life challenges. It’s a startling figure, but head out to remote communities and the statistics are even bleaker. Here the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children means far more than a limited ability to access books. Health is closely linked to education level, which means Indigenous children are twice as likely to be hospitalised for infectious diseases. Chronic middle-ear diseases that can cause permanent hearing loss will afflict 70% of Indigenous children. Reading instructions on a medication packet, interpreting road signs, and using the internet are everyday activities that remain inaccessible to those lacking literacy skills. It’s here in these remote communities that the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) concentrates its efforts. Karen Williams, ILF Executive Director, explained that the statistics, although alarming, simply don’t tell enough about the situation to really enable us to understand the challenges facing the efforts to improve Indigenous literacy. ‘We focus on children in the remotest areas because they are the most disadvantaged, too often because they are simply forgotten about. What the statistics don’t tell us is that the kids in these areas are in fact really smart. Most of them come to school speaking three or four Indigenous languages already, and then they must learn to read and write in English on top of that. ‘These children are in really challenging learning environments; teachers come and go, usually staying only for very short periods. Relationships are very important in these communities, and when teachers are around for only six weeks at a time it’s very hard for the elders to value what the school has to offer.’ Improving Indigenous Literacy Andy Griffiths with a group of sc hool kids Black Ink Press www.blackinkpress.com.au the Bandicoot Gurawang Gloria Whalan Indigenous books meeting e ducationandhealthchallenges... sharing culture, language,humourandwisdom... Australia’s oldest independent Indigenous publishing house WWW.MAGABALA.COM | MAGABALA BOOKS | 08 9192 1991 WE A GOOD STORY Good Reading Feb Advert v2.indd 1 15/11/11 2:56 PM 34_35_NYR_indigenous_d.indd 34 15/12/11 9:10:34 PM
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