Successful transition to school for Australian aboriginal Children: The 2005 International Focus issue of Childhood Education focused on the education of aboriginal and indigenous children. Guest Editor Jyotsna Pattnaik located too many excellent articles on that important topic to include in one issue. Therefore, she will continue to provide these theme-related articles, here and in future issues.

Aboriginal people have been described as the most educationally disadvantaged group of people within Australia (Aboriginal and Tortes Strait Islander Commission, 1995). Their participation rates at all levels of education are lower than those of non-Indigenous Australians (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1992, 1997). Many Aboriginal students continue to be affected by poverty (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, 1999) and suffer health problems, including otitis media, that adversely affect their school learning (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002). Compared with non-Indigenous Australians, Australian Aborigines have higher levels of infant mortality, more infectious diseases, and a life expectancy that is likely to be 15 to 20 years lower (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997, 2002).

Much evidence points to inequity of access to, participation in, and outcomes from Australian schools for Aboriginal children (Adams, 1998; Cronin & Diezmann, 2002). Frigo and Adams (2002) suggest that many issues emerge for Aboriginal people early in their school careers and are perpetuated throughout school life:

In the early childhood years (0-8 years), Indigenous students are less likely to participate in pre-schooling than their non-Indigenous peers, they have higher rates of absenteeism beginning in primary school, and the early indications of their educational achievement, as measured by state-wide English literacy assessments, indicate that, as a group, they perform at a lower level compared to their non-Indigenous peers. (p. 1)

Across Australia, the number of Aboriginal students entering schools is increasing. Education systems are seeking appropriate strategies to enhance the learning and teaching of Aboriginal students. Aboriginal educators (both Aboriginal teachers and Aboriginal Education Assistants) have been employed to implement appropriate learning and teaching strategies, enhance the involvement of Aboriginal families and communities in their children's schooling, and improve the learning outcomes of Aboriginal students. Efforts to ensure that Australian Aboriginal children experience a successful transition to school are particularly important.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION TO SCHOOL

Effective transition to school programs have the potential to help children--as well as their families and communities--feel comfortable, valued, and successful in school, and thereby avoid negative outcomes associated with disengagement from school. Ramey (cited in Viadero, 1999) summarized the impact of successful transitions as:

* Children have good feelings about their school, teachers, parents, and peers

* Children show good progress, in terms of their physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development

* Parents and key adults express positive attitudes toward school and promote children's learning

* Teachers and school personnel provide programs adapted to children's individual development and cultural/linguistic diversity

* Mutually supportive relationships develop among families, school personnel, service providers, and communities.

By focusing on effective transition to school programs, much can be done to support Aboriginal children, families, and communities and to promote positive engagement in education. Effective transition programs do not just occur: they are the product of much collaboration, planning, evaluation, and revision. Most of all, effective transition programs build positive relationships, and these relationships may well provide the key to children's (as well as the family's and the community's) sense of engagement at school and to building resilience to a range of potential risk factors. Indeed, Homel and the Developmental Crime Prevention Consortium (1997) suggest that interventions of any sort are often most effective when targeted at transition points, "when people are most vulnerable to negative influences, but also when they are most likely to be open to support and assistance" (Clark, 2003, p. 2).

The Starting School Research Project

The Starting School Research Project at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, has been investigating the experiences, expectations, and perceptions of children, families, and educators as children move to school from a variety of prior-to-school settings, including preschools, child care centers, family child care, and their own families. The results of this project have been published widely (Dockett & Perry, 2001a, 2001b, 2004; Perry, Dockett, & Howard, 2000). From 1999 to 2001, as part of the overall project, discussions about transition to school were held with groups of Aboriginal parents and educators in both rural and urban communities. In 2004, the authors began a project involving a group of Aboriginal parents and grandparents to investigate Aboriginal families' issues and concerns as their children start school, and to highlight strategies that make a difference for families and children during that transition. The children being considered by the adults in these studies may have experienced formal preschool or child care settings. More typically, such settings had not been available to many of the children. In both of these studies, Aboriginal adults raised many important issues about what they face regarding transition to school, student learning outcomes, and community involvement in schools. The issues reported below come from discussions with Aboriginal families and educators regarding the question, "What works to promote a positive transition to school for Aboriginal children and their families?"

Aboriginal Culture Within the School

Previous studies have recognized the importance of schools embracing and reflecting students' cultural backgrounds (Frigo & Adams, 2002). Families in this study stressed the importance of Aboriginal culture being visible in schools, such as in the flying of the Aboriginal flag or displaying artwork. In addition, they indicated that the presence of Aboriginal people within the school, such as teachers, aides, general staff, or members of school councils and committees, was crucial to helping make young Aboriginal children feel as if they belong in the school environment. In commenting on the noticeable absence of Aboriginal teachers, one parent said:

If you have a white teacher trying to teach Aboriginal children their values and cultures.., how can they? They are going to come out as white people... [we] need to ground them in culture first. What part of [this country] is yours? This is your land and this is your country. If by the time they come to school, they are 5 years old, full of energy and ... self-identity is there. They are able to say, "I am black and I am proud of that."

Several parents identified the need for children to be proud of, and aware of, their Aboriginal identity:

Finding your place, our standing in community, is important to everybody. We need to know who we are and we need to find our place in our community, so we're not lost souls. If kids have an established identity, they are more successful when they make the transition. A strong identity gets lived in an Aboriginal school.

These parents also indicated that the presence of familiar faces, familiar understandings, and familiar languages within the school could help promote a strong Aboriginal identity.

The majority of government primary schools in New South Wales have some Aboriginal children among their enrollments, although the actual numbers vary considerably from school to school. In most of the schools where substantial numbers of Aboriginal children are enrolled, Aboriginal Education Assistants are employed to assist teachers and to make links between the school and Aboriginal communities. A number of teacher education programs are specifically designed for Aboriginal people, but these are not adequate to prepare sufficient numbers of Aboriginal teachers (Mason, Reid, & Perry, 2003).

Community-Family-School Connections

The development of connections among all of the stakeholders in children's education is important. In particular, "The ability to develop and sustain good relationships with Aboriginal students and their families is a major element of effective teachers" (Harslett, Harrison, Godfrey, Partington, & Richer, n.d.). The need to develop rapport between Aboriginal students and their teachers has been consistently reported (Harslett, 1998; Malin, 1998). Hudsmith (1992) points out, however, that while Aboriginal socialization practices nurture children into equable relations with adults, the established relationships between children and adults in schools are often quite different. Comments from participants in the project emphasized the importance of families, as well as children, making a connection with teachers. One parent stressed the importance of building a positive relationship with a teacher, reminding us that teachers can and do make a difference: "I had the same teacher from kindergarten to Year 3 ... I still keep in contact with her. She made me feel special and really made a difference in my life." Other parents outlined some of the difficulties they had experienced in connecting with teachers, often a result of low expectations from teachers: "As an Aboriginal parent, you must fight hard for your kids, and if they are bright, you must fight doubly hard."

It was noted that parents' difficulty in communicating with teachers often can be attributed to power imbalances, whether these be perceived or real: "Teachers always talk down to you. I don't think it matters who you are--they don't listen to what you are saying about your child." In spite of these difficulties, the participants emphasized the importance of making connections between parents and teachers, as have others:

There has to be a link between the teachers and the parents. You have to build up communication so that they are both comfortable with each other and then the parent feels free to come to the school to discuss any problems and to take part in school activities. (Aboriginal teacher cited in Howard, 2001, p. 161)

For many Aboriginal children and families, school is an unfamiliar place. School is very different from home--especially the physical and social environment. Adults identified many areas of difference, such as the size of the school, how children are expected to talk to teachers, and how children often feel scared about making mistakes. Also, many Aboriginal adults do not have fond memories of school, although they recognized that schools have changed a great deal.

Descriptions of schools that had been successful in engaging Aboriginal families and children included the following example:

Schools that have most success with getting parents involved and coming into classrooms were those that actually opened up their rooms on the first day of the term to the parents; instead of having a school program in the morning, where you sit down and the teacher plays with the children, they had activities where the children came in and moved around the room freely and the parents were really involved in the classrooms ... it needs to be a much more relaxed environment.

There was recognition that family involvement in school was linked to positive educational outcomes for children:

There are wonderful Aboriginal kids, but they often have tired grandparents raising them. There are some wonderful Aboriginal parents [who] are doing excellent jobs. Here, look around and other schools too, and you will find quite a lot of Aboriginal kids that are really doing well. They are achieving but they have committed parents. They know what has to happen before school and they are in and out [of the school] when the kids come to school.

Appropriate School Curriculum

The Board of Studies is the statutory authority that produces syllabi for New South Wales (NSW) schools. These syllabi--in six key learning areas in the primary school--contain mandatory learning outcomes, which are the legal basis for what school teachers are expected to teach. Many issues arise for Aboriginal children and their families as these statewide syllabi are implemented.

Literacy. Parents and educators identified issues relating to literacy as key to children's engagement with school. There was a recognition that the prior-to-school literacy experiences of many Aboriginal children and families do not match those valued in schools. Several parents and educators stated that Aboriginal children have many competencies, but none that are valued in the school setting. For example, despite having strong communicative competence, Aboriginal children were perceived as having major deficits in literacy skills. In several situations, this negative perception was exacerbated by teacher expectations. A school principal in rural NSW noted that, "Aboriginal children need a lot of literacy help because they are years behind." The dangers of low expectations are well known (McInerney & McInerney, 2002). Once children develop a sense of themselves as learners "who don't do reading well," a large amount of intensive input is needed to shift that self-perception.

Aboriginal Languages. Some contrasting views were apparent in comments about teaching Aboriginal languages in schools. Some supported offering Aboriginal languages, but were concerned that they were being taught by non-Aboriginal teachers. In emphasizing the need to have Aboriginal languages in schools, one teacher commented, "We are a culture. Why don't we have schools that cater to our language like other ethnic groups? Language is how we teach our kids what's important." Members of the Aboriginal community were also concerned that their children needed access to English:

I think learning English is good for jobs and good for mixing into the regular community. Or even teach Japanese, so there are opportunities for tourism; and most people want their kids to learn proper English so that when they are at school they are just like white kids.

When they start school, many Aboriginal children use Aboriginal English rather than Standard English. This could create problems, as some teachers consider it "bad English" rather than a genuine dialect.

Teacher Expectations. Teacher expectations have a significant impact on outcomes for all children. Regarding expectations, we were told that "Aboriginal children have often been put in a class by themselves [without any other Aboriginal students] and [are] always told they are the dumbest." This placement of an Aboriginal child in a class with only non-Aboriginal children was considered problematic by some, as indicated above, and positive by others: "He would learn the Aboriginal culture and background from his family and his extended family. He is learning how to grow up in a white society." Some participants were concerned, however, that an Aboriginal child in a class with no other Aboriginal children may become isolated.

Several parents and educators were pessimistic about the potential for improvement. One comment reflects their worries: "Aboriginal kids will always be disadvantaged, no matter what teaching strategies we use, and will always be below par according to white standards, like proper English. They will always be below grade level."

Support Needed

A number of key issues were reported that concerned the nature and amount of support that Aboriginal children and families need during the period of transition to school. While this support should, of course, recognize the particular needs of Aboriginal people, it also must be based on a recognition of the strengths that young Aboriginal children and their families bring as they make the transition to school.

Health Support. The incidence of otitis media among Aboriginal children starting school remains an issue. Access to speech therapists and support services can be limited, both in the availability of such services (in urban as well as rural areas) and in the waiting time required to get an appointment. Yet access to appropriate health support is a key factor in supporting children's transition to school.

Positive Attitudes to School. Parents and educators emphasized the importance of families and communities expressing positive attitudes towards school. They also acknowledged that this was hard for some: "Parents do not speak nicely about school because they did not finish school themselves ... they do not see the positives themselves because they did not have positive experiences."

Assessment of Readiness. Many comments suggested that what was valued in a school context was not the same as what was valued in either home or prior-to-school contexts. For example, educators in prior-to-school settings described being asked to complete a checklist of school readiness skills for the children, even though "it doesn't take into account the child's natural development. Sometimes kids get lost in the system."

Any system seeking to assess children's preparedness for school must recognize the strengths and capabilities of young Aboriginal children. One person suggested that:

These Aboriginal children, when they come to our school, their maturity and life skills are a million miles ahead of any other child.... They have had responsibility.... They are not comparable academically, but you put them in the street or put them in a situation where they have to survive, they can do this well.

What Do Young Aboriginal Children Need in the Transition to School?

It is clear from the comments that there is no one "Aboriginal view" about transition to school. Given the complexity and diversity among and within Aboriginal families and communities, this should not be surprising. What is common among the people we have spoken with is the desire for their children to have a positive start to school and to succeed at school.

In overview, Aboriginal educators and parents identified the following elements of schools and their transition programs as supporting children's transition to school:

* A visible Aboriginal presence at the school both in terms of people and materials

* Opportunities to express and maintain their Aboriginal identity

* Strategies to invite families and communities into the school and value their involvement

* Flexibility to encourage family-school connections in a variety of ways and at different times

* Respect for Aboriginal families and the strengths they embody 

* Access to mainstream educational curricula, complemented by opportunities to engage with Aboriginal languages and culture

* High expectations of the learning capabilities of Aboriginal children

* Flexibility of organization; for example, so that Aboriginal children do not feel isolated with school groups

* Access to appropriate health services 

* Opportunities to view school as a worthwhile and a positive place to be, as well as a focus on children's strengths and the wealth of knowledge and understanding they have.

The "Fire Stick" Period

Aboriginal parents and educators are clearly interested in making the transition to school as successful as possible for Aboriginal children and their families, and there is no doubt that they share this aim with non-Aboriginal parents and educators (Dockett & Perry, 2004). However, there are differences in how Aboriginal children and their families approach the goal. For Aboriginal children, we use not only the term "transition," which can imply a one-way journey towards something better, but also the term "fire stick period" (a fire stick is a stick that is kept alight to ensure the availability of fire). This term highlights that culture is something that should not be left behind, but rather kept as an integral part of their lives. The "fire stick" period is particularly difficult for young Aboriginal learners, who need to adjust to an extra range and layer of experiences, demands, and expectations relating to their cultural, language, and social skills. If these children are to succeed in the school context, then they must know that it is safe and acceptable to move back and forth between the cultures (Clancy, Simpson, & Howard, 2001, p. 57).

CONCLUSION

Clearly, Aboriginal parents and educators consider transition to school to be an important part of young Aboriginal children's development. There are many similarities in the transition experiences of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in New South Wales primary schools, yet many differences also arise. For the most part, the differences stem from the differences between the cultural contexts in which Aboriginal children have lived before they start school and from the different expectations that have been placed on Aboriginal children. Most Aboriginal parents and educators value mainstream school education for Aboriginal children highly, as they see that it can provide a passage out of the chronic disadvantage that plagues many Aboriginal people in Australia. However, they also value the competencies and the identities that Aboriginal children have developed before they start school, and they see a need for all schools and teachers to recognize these assets as part of their transition to school programs.

Authors' Note. This article focuses on the authors' experiences living and/or working with Aboriginal people within New South Wales, Australia. It takes into account the knowledge gained from the work of others with Aboriginal communities across Australia. The authors do not presume to know all of the education issues affecting particular Aboriginal peoples, nor do they presume to speak for Torres Strait Islander peoples and their education issues.

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Sue Dockett is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Terry Mason is Senior Lecturer in Aboriginal Education, and Bob Perry is Associate Professor of Education, School of Education, University of Western Sydney, South Penrith, Australia.