Community College for Aboriginal Education - Australia

Source: Department of Education and Trainin; Government of Western Australia

Perth's Community College for Aboriginal Education will be based on established principles which provide educational excellence within a culturally enriching environment.

It will graduate not only students who have excelled academically, but also those who have demonstrated a firm understanding of Aboriginal identity.

The college will begin life as a kindergarten-to-year 3 school and progress to accommodate students up to and including year 10 by 2008 and possibly year 12 by 2010.  Students of non-Aboriginal descent will be encouraged to enrol.

When fully established, it will offer state-of-the-art facilities in terms of technology, the arts, humanities and sciences.

The college located in Grey Drive in Midland near the Speed dome will be a new, purpose-designed building constructed by the Education Department of Western Australia to provide surroundings and learning programs dedicated to Aboriginal children.

It is anticipated that the Community College for Aboriginal Education will eventually cater for an enrolment of up to 800 students.  The college will be an Education Department of Western Australia school and will fulfill the obligations expected of schools under the Education Act Regulations.

Members of the local Aboriginal community will be consistently involved in determining the college's current and future policies.  They will take part in the selection process for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff.

Mr Geoffrey (Ted) Penny has been appointed the principal.  Mr Penny is one of the first qualified Aboriginal teachers in Australia and has served as a senior Education Department administrator for many years.  A council comprising Aboriginal people will represent parents and the wider community in the governance of the school.

The college will provide for the establishment of a "learning community culture" based on an ethos of learning for life.

A comprehensive Aboriginal cultural program will focus on language acquisition, contemporary history and traditional values.

Teaching methods will be predominantly based on those considered most appropriate to the needs of Aboriginal children.  Staff at the college will be chosen for their expertise with Aboriginal children and their success in teaching all children.

Outcomes described in the Western Australia Curriculum Framework will form the basis of all learning programs and the success of the college will be determined by its ability to significantly improve the learning outcomes of children.

The building of a Community College for Aboriginal Education in Perth represents a genuine first for Western Australian government education.  It will be the first government systemic Aboriginal school in the state's capital, and only the sixth such establishment in the whole of Australia.

Consequently, the process which governs its establishment, organisation and operation must allow the school council and principal the necessary flexibility to define an environment  and a set of values unique to the Western Australian schooling scene.  An environment that will foster unprecedented success in Aboriginal children.

It is the aim of all those who support this exciting venture to make sure that Perth's Community College for Aboriginal Education is not just the first in Western Australia but the foremost throughout the nation.

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