Introduction: Issues in North Queensland Indigenous Education

Abstract

There is virtually no disagreement among educational practitioners, theorists and policy makers on the outcomes they seek for Indigenous students. Their ultimate goal is to maximise the future life choices of the upcoming generation of students in an increasingly globalised world. Balancing mainstream curriculum with Indigenous community cultural knowledge, awareness and protocol is a difficult and, finally an individual matter to be negotiated between the school, each member of its student body and the home community. It is a task which has become increasingly urgent. Queensland - and Australia - can no longer afford the incalculable waste of intellectual and cultural capital and the dilution of participatory democracy which resulted from the pre-1980s requirement that Indigenous people be instructed only in basic literacy and numeracy. As Martin Nakata writes in this issue, "English literacy and understanding the world beyond our communities, beyond our local and cultural context, is as critically important for our future survival as understanding our traditional pathways. Anything that diverts us from the urgency of achieving educational success for future generations should be avoided." Nevertheless, while everyone agrees on the ultimate goal and its urgency, the policies and practices by which the goal is best achieved are, quite properly, a matter of contestation.