If we recognise the truth in this statement, we acknowledge the importance of providing all children with access to literature which broadens their knowledge and perceptions of society.

Since first coming to the Northern Territory in 1982 I have spent much time in Aboriginal Education in many different roles. Remote school Principal. Batchelor College lecturer and Centre of Aboriginal and Islander Studies Maths lecturer to name a few. I would like to share with you some of my findings over this time.

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Tarumbal Kindergarten/Preschool in Rockhampton. It is a kindergarten that enrols young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. A few of the children that attend the centre are related and this makes it feel like a big family. I observed and interacted with the children once a week for four weeks. In that short time the children grew to like me and accept me into their group. I felt that I was treated as a part of their extended family.

This a report on a study of the early childhood service needs of six South Australian Aboriginal communities, commissioned by the South Australian Children's Services Office and funded by the SA Aboriginal Education and Training Advisory Committee.

In the past researchers have been carrying out such political acts in the firm belief that if we study something long enough, with sufficient disciplines and controls, then we will find “reality” and “truth”, then we will carry out studies which have scientific merit, which will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about how societies work. But research is generally carried out by fairly powerful people on those less powerful. In the process the powerless frequently become even more powerless because, as Guba and Lincoln (1989:125) argue:

Since leaving ‘the bush’ I have been continually surprised at the ignorance that still exists about Aboriginal people and their languages. When people chat to me, and it is revealed that I used to work in Aboriginal schools in the Northern Territory, they say things like “Do you speak Aboriginal then?… Maybe you could make a sign for us saying ‘Welcome to our Kindergarten’ in Aboriginal?” I then have to explain that there are many, many different Aboriginal languages, not just one, and to say or write such things in any one of these languages requires a lot more than a mere literal translation. When I began doing research on the topic of writing in Aboriginal languages. I was again surprised at the sorts of comments people made to me. Comments like “How can you do research on writing in Aboriginal languages; I thought the Aborigines didn't even have an alphabet!”

Given the opportunity to write my views about education to this journal, I have chosen a topic that is close to me and which I have experienced first hand. I have chosen the teaching profession so that I can help my people gain the opportunity to reach their full potential. However, I feel that most non-Aboriginal teachers are not fully aware of the problems that confront Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people in schooling.

The first and probably most important piece of advice that anyone can give to prospective teachers of Aboriginal children is to ‘watch your language’. Whether or not the children speak an Aboriginal language as their first language, a Creole or a Pidgin or a version of Aboriginal English, with standard English as either a second language or second dialect, opportunities for miss-communication and non-communication abound.

FELIKS (Fostering English Language in Kimberley Schools) is a Catholic Education Office initiative having its beginnings in the early eighties when the need to teach English as a second language to Aboriginal students in the Kimberley was recognised. The professional development package, designed and successfully trailed by the Language Team members of the CEO Kimberley Region, is targeted at classroom teachers, Aboriginal Teaching Assistants (ATAs) and Aboriginal community members.

Nulungu is the name of a water hole (near Broome) where two legendary hero men of Aboriginal culture rested for a while eating and drinking. From Nulungu they went through the North straightening out the Law. Young people come to the College and they too rest a while to share their learning at the water that each gives to and takes from. They return to their people to share what they know.