Schools get Indigenous report card

INDIGENOUS students have had their say on Victoria’s education system in a unique report handed to the State Government.
Last week, South East Metropolitan Region MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Education Inga Peulich launched the Victorian Indigenous Youth Advisory Council’s report Voices Telling It Like It Is: Indigenous Young People on Education.
She said the report offered the government an important insight into what it meant to be a young Indigenous Victorian in education today as told by the real voices of Indigenous young people.
“Victorian Government schools provide a range of programs and support to Indigenous students but we acknowledge students are not performing as well as they should be and more must be done to close the gap and address disadvantage.”
The report, which focuses on the education experiences of 12 Indigenous Victorians, found only half of the young people interviewed had received the support of a Koorie educator, few had access to online education resources at home and leaving school early is more common among Aboriginal students.
Ms Peulich said the report would become another useful tool for the government to use to improve Indigenous education in the state.
The report is available at www.viyac.org.au/publication.