Case study — Warlpiri bilingual programs in the Tanami, Northern Territory
Prepared by Samantha Disbray for Global Lessons: Indigenous languages and multilingualism in school programs
Schools at Yuendumu, Willowra and Lajamanu in the Tanami region of Central Australia have operated Warlpiri — English bilingual programs at various times, as part of the Northern Territory Bilingual Program (Disbray 2014; Disbray and Martin, 2018). Since the program began in 1973, a total of 29 schools operated bilingual programs, some long-standing, others short-lived (Devlin, Disbray and Devlin, 2017). The Northern Territory Department of Education’s commitment to the program has waxed and waned over the decades and the value and effectiveness of the program have been controversial.
Over the years, the Northern Territory Bilingual Program (NTBP) has faced many challenges: the shifting support of the Education Department; difficulty recruiting and maintaining skilled, experienced and qualified staff (Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal); the retreat from local delivery of Aboriginal teacher education; and the power of principals to see the program flourish or flounder. In 1998 the Department threatened to close the NTBP, but after significant public outcry and a review that identified a range of strengths of the program, it retreated from this position. However, several programs were closed at the time.In 2008, the Northern Territory Department of Education (NTDE) introduced a much publicized policy that required all schools to teach the first four hours of each school day in English. At this time, only six schools still operated programs that were approximating the Bilingual Program model, including the Warlpiri schools (Simpson, Caffrey and McConvell, 2009). The policy was relaxed after a few years and the NTDE and some schools have been rebuilding the program in recent years.
Despite local and systemic challenges over the years, Warlpiri educators and community members have remained committed to teaching their children Warlpiri and English language and culture, and continue to do so.
The Northern Territory Bilingual Education Model
Set up by the Commonwealth Government when the Northern Territory (NT) was still under its direct control, the NT Bilingual Program is underpinned by a set of goals, primarily to provide initial education to children in remote schools in their own languages. In some remote communities, children still learn a traditional language as their first language and learn English later in childhood, generally through school. The instruction model mandated in the NT Bilingual Program was a ‘step model’, a transitional bilingual education program. This involves children learning, and learning through, their first language in the early years to develop skills such as school routines, literacy and math concepts. The students learn oral English as an additional language.
In the model, the proportion of time spent in first language decreases each year, reaching a 50/50 time division between first language and English in grade 4, when instruction in English literacy should begin. After this year, the proportion of time dedicated to first language is reduced. In practice, this model was not always adhered to in schools, with first language taught for less time than in the model and an inconsistent program in the senior years. This is in part due to the lack of skilled teachers and also the lack of commitment by the Department of Education to bilingual teaching and learning.
When the Bilingual Program began in the 1970s, very few Aboriginal adults in remote Australia had access to secondary schooling, and even fewer went to teachers college. Many of the Aboriginal teachers in those early years were among the first generation in their community to have attended school. The non-Aboriginal teachers were generally not speakers of the children’s language, not knowledgeable about the community and its culture. Nor were they necessarily trained in teaching, and teaching, through English as an additional language. None of the staff were trained in developing and teaching in a bilingual program.
An innovative model of team teaching was developed to support teachers to plan and develop programs in their schools (Graham, 2017; Murray 2017). For the classroom delivery, an Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teacher worked together to plan, teach and learn together. The broad reaching team involved Aboriginal teachers and knowledgeable community members, non-Aboriginal teachers and a teacher-linguist, who supported teachers to develop teaching and learning programs in first and second language. This was an important strategy in developing the skill sets needed to operate well-designed and delivered programs. The program required solid English as an Additional Language program and teachers trained in second language teaching. These were not always available and so the team teaching model, with a skilled teacher linguist, was designed to address this.
The Remote Aboriginal Teacher Education program through Batchelor College was established in the 1980s to provide formal training, but over the years with the rise of national professional standards, such training programs became unviable. The lack of qualified teachers is a key challenge to bilingual education in remote Australia.
Literacy Production Centres were established in some of the larger schools, with teams working to develop resources in the local language(s), including local curriculum (Christie 2017, Disbray and Devlin 2017; Disbray and Martin, in press). Many hundreds of books were produced in over 20 languages, and many can be found on the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.
Teaching and learning Warlpiri language, literacy and culture
Warlpiri educators and community members have organised the teaching of important cultural knowledge into a three-year cycle, with four themes per year. Students move through the knowledge in each theme in a staged fashion over their school lives. The themes and learning outcomes have been mapped to the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework and work is underway in 2017 to map them to the revised document.
The three-year cycle covers twelve themes, or knowledge domains, central to Warlpiri land, language and law. It is designed to be taught over a student’s schooling life, from early childhood to secondary years, as the students take part in a cycle of ever deeper learning in each domain. With four themes each year, the cycle is mapped to the Northern Territory school year, which is divided into four terms. In this, the theme cycle replicates traditional ways of learning and knowing, but is adapted to the rhythm of non-traditional contemporary schooling. Though the domains of learning are separated out for the purposes of the curriculum, they nevertheless remain inextricably connected. (Disbray and Martin, 2018).
Bush trips and country visits are an important part of the Warlpiri program. Each term students are taken out of the classroom, with family members and elders, to learn about land and law, as part of the theme cycle. As the whole school is learning about the same theme, it is possible to have multi-age and peer learning. Teachers in different classes can work together and across the four schools, teachers can plan and learn together. This learning together takes place in term-wise workshops, the two-day Jinta-jarrimi workshops, and the annual Warlpiri Triangle workshop, where teachers come together to share, plan and create resources. Each workshop results in a report, where all of the work is documented for future use in programs.
Lessons from the Warlpiri Bilingual program:
· Stable policy and resourcing, and accessible and appropriate teacher education are crucial for maintaining program quality.
· Team teaching pedagogy can support bilingual teaching and learning, and professional learning among staff.
· Locally designed curriculum with cultural knowledge and country visits allows structured teaching of first language and culture and the important involvement of families, elders and the community.
References
Devlin, B., Disbray, S., & Friedman D. N. (Eds.). (2017). History of bilingual education in the Northern Territory: People, programs and policies. Singapore: Springer Publishing.
Disbray, S. (2014). Evaluating Bilingual Education in Warlpiri Schools. In R. Pensalfini, M. Turpin, & D. Guillemin (Eds.), Language Description informed by Theory (pp. 25–46): John Benjamins.
Disbray, S., & Martin, B. (2018). Curriculum as Knowledge System: The Warlpiri Theme Cycle. In G. Wigglesworth, J. Simpson & J. Vaughan (Eds.), From Home to School: Language Practices of Indigenous and Minority Children: Palgrave MacMillan.
Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages http://laal.cdu.edu.au/
Simpson, J., Caffery, J., & McConvell, P. (2009). Gaps in Australia’s Indigenous Language Policy: Dismantling bilingual education in the Northern Territory. Canberra: AIATSIS.
Patterson, V., and Anderson, S., (2014). Warlpiri Education and Training Trust Presentation at the 2014 Garma Festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdCboHjkk5w
