Attendance In Residential Schools Essay

School attendance rates of Indigenous students within mainstream schools are one ongoing issues faced Australian. In an interview, Perkins made 2 valid points; “There’s no good educating a person if they live in a tin shanty” and that there is “no use educating the child without educating the adults”. Some Indigenous children, like Perkins, moved away from their families at a young age to attend a school that would allow them to further their education. Many Indigenous students attending mainstream school are lacking in education, their primary language may or may not be English and what English they may know, might not be up to the standard of that of the other students as they have learnt what their parents speak and through what they have been taught prior, which may not be much at all.

As Perkins
Creating a sense of belonging in a classroom environment, much like Perkins as he fought for the Indigenous adults and children of Moree to swim with all the other children in the town, will create a safe and welcoming environment for all the students in the classroom. Creating a safe and welcoming environment gives each and every student the capacity to understand and have the ‘want’ to learn. Changes in curriculum and even in pedagogical practices to include aspects from Indigenous culture would make a classroom more engaging for Indigenous students as well as non-Indigenous students. Including cross curricula activities or information about the Indigenous culture within a classroom gives a sense of belonging to the Indigenous students, but also educates the non-Indigenous students within the class. Creating a safe classroom environment and a sense of belonging, increases the rate of attendance of Indigenous students because in having an engaging environment, students want to then learn. Perkins believes that the community as a whole should be invited to suggest ideas for solving the problems