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Indigenous Literacy : The Fred Hollow's Foundation's Three Way Approach

By the age of 15, more than one-third of Australia’s Indigenous students 'do not have the adequate skills and knowledge in reading literacy to meet real-life challenges and may well be disadvantaged in their lives beyond school' (PISA cited in Bortoli and Cresswell, 2004, page 11).  The development of English literacy skills is important for the life opportunities of Indigenous children and youth.  Literacy 'provides them with the necessary skills to interact within mainstream society and avail themselves of the broadest range of civic, social, educational and employment possibilities'. (Mellor and Corrigan, 2004)

The Indigenous Literacy Project believes that Australia’s Indigenous people should enjoy the same education, employment and societal opportunities as other citizens. However, a lack of literacy skills among Indigenous communities is a common and critical barrier to participating in activities that many of us take for granted.

To help alleviate this literacy disadvantage, The FHF is working in close partnership with remote Indigenous communities in central Northern Territory and in western New South Wales.

The Foundation use a three-way approach to building literacy and each of our projects aims to promote:

  • Cultural Literacy – connecting people, particularly young people, to their culture and traditional language
  • Practical literacy – developing the skills needed for daily activities
  • English literacy – promoting skills in English reading, writing, speaking and listening

The Foundation's work is diverse and its projects address many of the underlying factors that impact on the health and well-being of Indigenous people living in remote and isolated communities. Better health means more opportunity to learn.

Some current literacy projects of The Foundation and its partners include:

  • Literacy Resources - providing reading and other educational resources to remote schools
  • Writing and Publishing Projects - working with local children and teachers to capture their stories and publish them in to books. The books are then given to schools and children in the local area.
  • A Traditional Song Project - recording and translating the songs of elders so that young people can learn more of their culture and language.
  • After-School-Hours Music Program - to engage young people in learning and encourage them to attend school or another form of education.
  • Community Learning Centre - an interagency project to build a library and computer equipment for the residents of Wugularr.

Other projects aim to improve the health and well-being of the community and thereby ensure that children are able to regularly attend school and fully engage in learning. These projects include:

  • Aural health - aimd at reducing hearing problems that restrict children’s speech and literacy development.
  • Eye health - complementing existing remote eye health services in the top end of the Northern Territory and offering an alternative Low Cost Spectacle Scheme to clients.
  • Nutrition programs – including a community garden project and community grocery stores to improve the range and availability of fresh, nutritious foods. As well as providing five scholarships under the Outback Chef program.
  • Child and maternal health programs.

Indigenous Literacy – A snapshot

  • The development of English literacy skills is important for the life opportunities of Indigenous children and youth. Literacy 'them with the necessary skills to interact within mainstream society and avail themselves of the broadest range of civic, social, educational and employment possibilities'. (Mellor and Corrigan, 2004)
  • There is an enormous gap in the English literacy rates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia. The gap is even wider for Indigenous people living in remote and isolated communities.
  • The gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students emerges early. Non-Indigenous students far out-perform Indigenous students in benchmark tests for reading, writing and numeracy in Year 3 and Year 5. By Year 7, the gap has widened, particularly for numeracy. (DEET NT 2006)
  • Indigenous children living in isolated areas have even lower literacy rates. In the Northern Territory, only one in five children living in very remote Indigenous communities can read at the accepted minimum standard. By Year 7, just 15% achieved this benchmark, 47 percentage points behind their urban Indigenous peers and 74 percent less than non-Indigenous students. (DEET NT 2006)
  • More than half of Indigenous families living in very remote communities speak an Indigenous language in the home. (ABS, 2001) Their children need extra assistance at school and from the community to learn English as a second language.
  • Indigenous homes, particularly those in remote communities, have fewer books, computers and other educational resources than non-Indigenous homes. All of these factors are linked to children’s achievements at school and in the development of English literacy skills. (Bortoli and Cresswell, 2004)
  • Absenteeism from school negatively affects students’ academic performance. Indigenous students miss around 26 days of school per year compared with 8 days for all students. Indigenous students living in remote and very remote locations are likely to miss an even greater number of school days. (Zubrick, Silburn, De Maio et al., 2006)
  • Nutrition and health are closely connected to educational achievement, school attendance and literacy skills. (DEST 2003 and ABS 2005) The health status of Australia’s Indigenous population is poor by world standards. More than twice as many Indigenous babies suffer low to extremely low birth-weight compared to non-Indigenous babies and Indigenous children are twice as likely to be hospitalized for infectious diseases. (SCRGSP, 2005)
  • Upwards of 70% of Indigenous children in remote communities suffer from chronic Otitis Media, a serious middle ear disease that can cause permanent hearing loss and inhibit language and literacy development. (DET, WA 2006)


    • References

    • Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Population Characteristics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2001, page 35.
    • Australian Bureau of Statistics, The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2005, 2005.
    • Bortoli and Cresswell, Australia’s Indigenous Students in PISA 2000: Results from an International Study, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), Research Monograph No. 59, August 2004, page 14.
    • Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Final Report of the National Evaluation of National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, Dec 2003
    • Department of Education and Training, Western Australia (DET WA) Conductive Hearing Loss and Aboriginal Students, 2006. website http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/abled/apac/resources/pdf/conductive%20hearing%20loss.pdf
    • Mellor S and Corrigan M, The Case for Change, a review of contemporary research on Indigenous education outcomes, Australian Education Review, ACER, 2004, page 39
    • Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP), Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005. Commonwealth of Australia, 2005
    • Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, De Maio JA, Shepherd C, Griffin JA, Dalby RB, Mitrou FG, Lawrence DM, Hayward C, Pearson G, Milroy H, Milroy J, Cox A. The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (Volume 3): Improving the Educational Experiences of Aboriginal Children and Young People. Perth: Curtin University of Technology and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, 2006, page 4

Source: The Fred Hollows Foundation Information Sheet (http://www.hollows.org.au/Assets/Files/Indigenous_Literacy.pdf (2008))

Please visit www.hollows.org.au for more information