CULTURE CLASH WITHIN THE CLASSROOM: A STUDY OF INDIGENOUS LEARNING STYLES AND THE IMPACT ON NAPLAN

NAPLAN"National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy". All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 have to complete the tests.Aim of NAPLAN: test students' progress and ability in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and all areas of mathematics.

Picture: Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph, retrieved from http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/naplan-consultants-recruited-to-administer-tests/story-fn6b3v4f-1226054383305

HOW THE DATA IS USED

-Assessment to use for teaching purposes

-MySchool rankings and school performance

-Teacher performance

Cogan, J. (2011, May 10). What next in the struggle against naplan?. independent media centre australia. Retrieved from http://indymedia.org.au/2011/05/10/how-naplan-and-data-is-being-used-to-trash-public-education-and-teachers-rights

Picture retrieved from: Point Roll (2011). http://blog.pointroll.com/insights/the-big-picture-is-really-very-small/attachment/data-3-2_21/

THE ‘GAP’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students scores are below that of other

students at every year level and in all three key domains.

The gaps ranged from 16.7 percentage points to 30.2 percentage points.

This graph is an example of the gap.

It represents the NAPLAN results of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in year 3 across the three domains.

Figure 7.7       Achievement of Year 3 students at or above minimum standard, by NAPLAN key domains, by Indigenous status                          Australia, 2009 (per cent). Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national_report_on_schooling/aboriginal_and_torres_strait_islander_education/assessment_naplan

2.htmlACARA. (2011). National report on schooling in australia 2009. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national_report_on_schooling/aboriginal_and_torres_strait_islander_education/assessment_naplan

2.html

CLOSING THE GAP

Council of Australian Government

(COAG) National Indigenous Reform

target: halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy by 2018

NALAN data used to examine progressSchools choose programs to be implementedHow do schools decide which programs to use?Programs and strategies that are inclusive? OR programs and strategies that improve NAPLAN data?

Queensland Government, Department of Education and Training. (2008). Closing the gap education strategy. Retrieved from website: http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/indigenous/pdfs/closing-gap.pdf

CONFERENCE PAPER OUTLINE

An Education History from Both Sides Reasons for ‘the gap’ Examining the preferred learning styles

of Indigenous students Strategies and programs inclusive of

Indigenous learning styles and culture Indigenous Learning Styles versus

NAPLAN Conclusion and Recommendations