UNEXPECTED STAYERS
Given the family circumstances, behaviour problems at school and/or difficulty with learning experienced by the last three of the ten students, very few would have expected them to stay at school beyond the years of compulsion. But all three were still at school at the time of the study and had plans to complete Year 12, and/or go on to further study. Toby was in Year 12. He was not doing very well but he was already talking about returning to school for Year 13 to complete the requirements for the SACE. Bret was in Year 11 doing a combination of Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 subjects. These subjects had been selected to fill in some of the gaps in his earlier schooling and extend him in areas where he had recognised talent. Gina had attended a large number of different schools, in three different states, as she had moved with or between her parents, her grandmother, an aunt and a foster home. At the time of her participation in this study Gina was in Year 11 and, although she was pregnant, she was determined to complete Year 12.
TOBY
Toby is a Year 12 student at an 8-12 school in a regional centre. There are between 300 and 400 students at his school, and 10-20 per cent of these are Aboriginal. The majority of the Aboriginal students are in Years 8 to 10 but this year there is a significant group of Aboriginal boys in Year 11. Toby has four brothers. He and his three younger brothers live at home with their mother. Toby's father died when he was quite young and Toby cannot remember much about him. His mother has remained single since then. One of Toby's brothers is a only a year behind him at school, and the youngest two are still at primary school. Toby's older brother stayed at school and completed Year 12. He even repeated Year 12 so that he could get better marks but has still been unable to find employment as an artist, which is what he really wants to do. At present he works as an assistant to a tradesperson and paints in his spare time, supplementing his income by selling the occasional painting. Toby's mother has worked most of her adult life, except when the boys were young. She left school in Year 11 and went straight into a job as a shop assistant. She has also worked as a cleaner, an AEW and is now back cleaning.
Toby's retention
Toby has decided to stay at school in the hope that his employment options will be better when he leaves school. Also, he is planning to leave home to work and feels he is not ready for that yet.
Employment options are important for Toby because he really has no idea what type of work he wants to do.
Mainly because Toby has no career preferences, his mother has encouraged him to stay at school.
Toby has also received encouragement not to leave school from his non-Aboriginal friends and his grandparents.
For Toby there is no shame in staying at school, something he feels may have affected those Aboriginal students who have left school.
He has had little pressure from students to leave school, because he doesn't "really know the Aboriginal students that have left, except to say 'hello' to in the street." However, he has been encouraged to leave by some of his teachers.
In the past Toby's mother has tried to support him when he got into trouble at school. He says:
But it got to a stage where she even tried to get him to leave school.
Toby did this because he felt that no one had the right to tell him to leave school.
He believes that he has changed and doesn't "have those kinds of arguments any more." His year level coordinator agrees, at least in some respects, because she has found that Toby can negotiate with teachers if he is given assistance to do so.
But his mother hasn't seen the changes, although she does admit that he is probably stubborn enough to go back to school next year if he doesn't pass everything this year.
There seems to be a family expectation that all the boys will stay at school. Toby's older brother did and Toby expects that his younger brothers will, unless they suddenly take a dislike to school.
Also, according to Toby's year level coordinator, one of Toby's brothers is part of a much larger than usual group of Aboriginal boys in Year 11.
Toby's library aide friend feels that a "a little competition in the family helps", and that this might be an incentive for Toby to complete Year 12.
Despite Toby's behaviour record, or probably because of it, he was chosen to participate in a 'Students at Risk' program run by the local Youth Strategy officer. She suggests that Toby might be staying at school because he is getting paid, or because he is not confident enough to leave.
But she is concerned for Toby, especially as he does not get on with many teachers at the school.
She is also concerned that the school seems to be so eager to have Aboriginal students complete their senior secondary schooling that staff are willing to make concessions about Toby's behaviour.
Toby's attainment
Toby does not agree that he is not achieving anything academically. He quite likes school, and one of the things he likes about school is the work.
He really enjoyed the Australian Studies he did last year and passed it with an 'SA', a good pass.
The comments on his Australian Studies report were very positive, particularly about one major assignment for which he had written an "outstanding essay comparing youth of the past to youth of the 90s." Toby also passed Physical Education and Personal Information Processing with 'SA', and one semester of English, Science, Outdoor Education and Business Studies with 'RA', low passes. Although he failed his two semesters of Maths, the one semester of Accounting and the second semester of English he was able to take up some Year 12 subjects for this year with the possibility of completing the requirements of the SACE. However, at this stage of the year it appears unlikely that he will complete his SACE unless he returns to school next year.
This year Toby is enjoying Tourism. He gets on well with the teacher, attends lessons and attempts most of the required work. His Tourism teacher is pleased with his progress so far.
Toby's year level coordinator feels that Toby is doing so well in his Tourism class because the teacher has established a good relationship with him.
His teacher agrees, but feels that Toby's obvious enthusiasm for the subject also relates to the nature of the subject.
The teacher can recall only one occasion when Toby did not behave particularly well in her class.
Toby's Tourism teacher is pleased that she gets on so well with Toby, because she acknowledges that working with Toby can be difficult if he takes a dislike to a teacher. She knows of one subject where Toby hardly attended any lessons.
Despite enjoying Tourism, Toby is struggling to keep up with the work, but his teacher feels that he should be able to succeed. She doesn't feel that he does much homework, but has been pleasantly surprised on at least one occasion.
Toby's mother agrees that Toby does not do much homework.
This is despite the fact that, on his own admission, his mother tries to "make sure we've got our homework done." Toby says he does most of his homework at school.
Toby's library aide friend supports Toby's claim saying that he usually works well in the library during his study periods.
Asking for help is something Toby never used to do. He says he learnt by experience that it is important to ask when you don't understand things.
But Toby finds that it is very difficult to ask for help if he doesn't get on with the teacher.
Toby's initial reluctance to ask for help may relate to his desire to take charge of situations. His mother has noticed this at home.
Toby's year level coordinator has noticed a similar tendency at school.
One situation where Toby took control was with his exams. He was going to be away for one of them so organised, through his year level coordinator, to do it the day before. According to her, he did this very well.
Even though Toby may not have done well in all his subjects, he still feels that the work is not really hard.
Last year he failed both semesters of Maths. This year he says Maths is easy, although he does not know how well he went in his mid-year exam.
One of the reasons why Toby likes English is because he can choose what he wants to do for his major assignments, and then just get on with it.
Once he has had the work explained to him he prefers to work on his own.
His Tourism teacher has noticed his preference for working alone.
Toby's library aide friend believes that Toby sometimes needs to be pushed, and that he responds to gentle pushing.
This is something his Tourism teacher has been doing, gradually pushing him to work even harder.
She has found that when setting work she needs to be very specific about what is required. If she breaks things into a series of steps Toby will follow them and check with her as he progresses.
When the work interests him and he can relate to it, Toby does it very well. His Tourism teacher describes two such pieces of work.
Although Toby says that although he is fairly confident he will not always speak in front of the class.
Toby's Aboriginal identity
Toby's mother comes from a large family. She was born in a small railway town where there was a large Aboriginal population. Her mother is Aboriginal and her father has an Afghan background. When her parents moved here Toby's mother and some of her brothers and sisters came too. Some are still here but others now live in various rural centres.
Toby's maternal grandparents live in the same town as Toby and his family, and Toby gets on with them really well.
But they have not spoken to Toby about their early life and their cultural heritages, and he has not asked.
Toby's mother learned a bit of her cultural heritage from her mother's brothers but not much at all from her mother. She comments:
A lot of Toby's grandmother's language is gradually disappearing, too. Toby's mother has never spoken much of the language, although she could understand a lot of it when she was younger.
According to his mother, Toby is proud to be Aboriginal.
Toby agrees that he is not always proud of his Aboriginal identity.
His mother has observed his reaction to such situations at home.
According to his mother, Toby has been in quite a lot of trouble at school because of the arguing or fighting that has resulted from him being teased about his colour.
Toby admits that there have been times when he has let the name calling upset him and a fight has resulted.
But Toby doesn't often say anything about it at home, and his mother is not aware of him following it up at school. She feels that, at times, he has bottled up his anger at the racist taunts until he could take no more.
Toby does try to ignore the name calling and, on some occasions, if it has persisted he has sought some help to resolve the problem.
Toby's Tourism teacher is not aware of any incidents of racism that have led to Toby arguing or fighting with students. The Tourism class is small and most of the students are quite mature. She has seen no evidence of problems in the classroom.
Toby's friend who works in the school library says there is very little racism at the school.
Toby doesn't agree with his friend about the amount of racism in the school. From his perspective, it isn't always what is said; it is sometimes the assumptions behind a question or statement and he gives an example.
That may have been some time ago, but Toby obviously remembers the incident as being unpleasant.
Toby has been in conflict with teachers because he doesn't feel that they respect him, yet demand his respect. He also feels that some teachers have picked on him because they don't like him. Toby has assumed this is because he is Aboriginal.
Toby's mother agrees that most of Toby's conflicts with teachers are because Toby does not feel that the teachers respect him.
Until quite recently Toby could not let situations where he felt he was not respected go unanswered.
Toby's year level coordinator feels that one of the reasons why situations like that tended to remain unchanged is because Toby tends to hold grudges.
His mother's strategy to avoid escalating the conflict is to leave him alone for a while to calm down:
Toby feels that he has now changed and situations like that don't arise so often.
Toby's school has an Aboriginal Studies room where the AERT and the AEW are based. The room is open before school and at break times and many Aboriginal students congregate there. Toby uses the room a lot.
The Aboriginal Studies room is mainly where Toby mixes with other Aboriginal students because, unlike many other Aboriginal students, Toby has always mixed with non-Aboriginal friends. His friend, the non-Aboriginal library aide, explains the relationship between her and Toby.
She has noticed that Toby also mixes with non-Aboriginal friends at school.
Toby agrees:
This contrasts with the trend within the school that the local Youth Strategy support person has noticed.
Toby really enjoyed the Australian Studies he did last year.
Despite his apparent appreciation of the Aboriginal issues included in the course, Toby didn't talk about the issues and how he felt about them.
Also, he finds he gets tired of emphasising the Aboriginal perspective too much.
He feels that there are plenty of opportunities to learn a lot about Aboriginal issues, particularly from secondary sources and from other subjects.
Maybe this is why he does not go out of his way to incorporate Aboriginal issues in his other work unless he needs to. His Tourism teacher comments on this.
Toby has not sought to involve himself in any Aboriginal groups at school apart from the band that he dropped out of some time ago.
Toby - summary
Toby has had behaviour problems right through school. Most of these seem to have been inappropriate responses to students and teachers for what he has perceived as racist comments or behaviour. It appears that the school administration have been particularly understanding and forgiving about these because they have allowed him to stay at school when most students over the age of compulsion who had behaved like Toby would have been excluded. Toby has reacted to comments that he really should leave school by becoming more determined that he will be the one who decides when he leaves.
Toby has friends among his non-Aboriginal peers and, apart from associating with other Aboriginal students at break times, has not really associated with other Aboriginal students in class. This is just as well because there are now very few in his year level. In fact, Toby has a very independent learning style. In Year 12 Toby has continued to have success in those subjects where he has a good relationship with the teachers but has done little or nothing in other subjects. Toby wants to fulfil the requirements of the SACE so may return to school for another year. Figures 4.1 and 4.2 that follow provide conceptualisations of the interrelationships between the various factors associated with Toby's retention, attainment and identity.
Figure 4.1 A causal network matrix showing the interrelationships between the various factors important in Toby staying at school and achieving success.
Figure 4.2 A causal network matrix showing the interrelationships between the various factors important in fostering Toby's Aboriginal identity or arising from it.
BRET
Bret is a Year 11 student at an 8-12 school in a regional centre. There are more than 600 students at Bret's school and less than five per cent of them are Aboriginal. The retention rate of Aboriginal students is rather low so the majority of the Aboriginal students are in the early years of high school. The percentage of Aboriginal students at the school varies quite considerably from year to year, and even during the year, as there is a high transiency of Aboriginal families in and out of the town. Bret's Year 12 Music teacher explains:
The town's reputation for being extremely racist has spread widely in educational circles. However, according to one of Bret's cousins who is also a student at Bret's school, Aboriginal people believe that the inter-racial strife between groups of Aboriginal people in the town is far worse than the racism of non-Aboriginal towards Aboriginal. This was reported by Bret's Year 12 Music teacher who knows Bret, this cousin and some members of his family quite well.
Bret's aunt supports this view. She explains that, "Up here they all shout and scream at each other." The problems between groups of the Aboriginal people in the community, and racism from non-Aboriginal people, have permeated the school. In the relatively recent past there have been some serious incidents. For this reason the school now has an AERT and an AEW even though the percentage of Aboriginal students at the school would not normally warrant both of these.
Bret lives with his mother and members of his extended family just out of town.
The family community has its own bus and uses that to take all the children to school, and those who have left school to TAFE. Bret's grandfather is active in ATSIC and one aunt is training to become the director of a local Aboriginal organisation.
According to Bret's Homegroup teacher, Bret is 'different' from any other student she has ever had.
His aunt adds:
Despite his individuality and apparent lack of conformity, Bret's Science teacher believes that he does respond to peer group pressure. She cites one incident where he does appear to have been influenced by peer group pressure.
Bret's retention
Bret has been at his current school since part way through Year 8. It did not take him long to build up a reputation with teachers. His reports describe him as being "hyperactive", wandering around the room and constantly socialising with other students. According to Bret he used to "run amuck" in class, especially if there were several Aboriginal students in the class with him, but he does not blame them. It was him:
A modification to Bret's diet improved his behaviour a little. Then he discovered Music and a teacher who was willing to teach him all he wanted to learn in a way that he could learn. According to his aunt he has stayed at school because of his.
Bret's aunt explains how his mother and the extended family have been supportive of the school, particularly in relation to extra curricula activities involving music.
She also recognises the support that has come from the Music teacher who is responsible for the Nunga Band.
As a result of this support, Bret and the Nunga Band have travelled widely, won competitions and even recorded on a compact disk.
Bret has found another outlet for his abundant energies, Drama. Although Music is more important to him as he would like to have a career as a song writer and musician, or even a Music teacher, he feels that he can learn a lot from Drama too. Both have been important in him staying at school.
But Adelaide is a long way from where Bret lives, and his family are concerned about the negative experiences he would be exposed to as he is, in the words of one of his Year 11 Music teacher, "a very impressionable young man". His aunt adds:
His Year 11 Music teacher recognises that Bret's immaturity could also be one of the reasons he is still at school.
But he goes on to say that "Bret really likes school", particularly the people.
Bret is a very popular individual. Although he is also talented as a sportsman, an actor and a leader among his peers, it is his music that has made him really popular. According to his Year 12 Music teacher, as a result of his popularity among his peers he was:
In the end he was talked out of standing for the position. According to this teacher, he was told that:
Bret's Science teacher feels that the push and example from his family have also been important influences in Bret staying at school.
Their family emphasis on the importance of education and employment for Aboriginal people has, according to Bret's Year 12 Music teacher, put them at the forefront of some of the conflict in the community.
Bret's aunt tells of her experiences after leaving school early.
She feels that role models are really important and that getting a job is the only way to get anywhere in society.
Bret's attainment
Bret's career aim is quite realistic, according to his Year 11 Music teacher, as the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) auditions students rather than requiring academic qualifications.
He is not really motivated to succeed academically across the board because he doesn't see a need for many of the subjects offered by the school. This is recognised by his Year 11 Music teacher.
Even in subjects where he is highly motivated his poor concentration span causes problems when it comes to learning. His two music teachers explain how this has led to a rather unusual learning style. His year 11 music teacher says:
His year 12 music teacher observes:
Bret's success in Music is in the practical area. He still cannot read music. He explains the reason for this.
Bret's aunt feels that it is still important for Bret to learn to read and write music and believes that this is something Bret wants to learn.
His teachers have tried a variety of strategies to help him with this. Getting him to help others to play the guitar was his Year 11 Music teacher's:
Bret says he does the same sort of thing with the Nunga Band when they are learning one of his songs.
However, his Year 11 Music teacher finds it difficult to justify sitting down and forcing Bret to learn to read music because he has contacted CASM and:
As well as playing the guitar very well, Bret writes his own songs and performs them. He began writing poetry in Year 8, at his previous school.
Bret's English teachers have commented on his reports that he has problems with writing, but he is still able to write songs. According to his Drama teacher:
His Year 11 Music teacher comments on the quality of his songs.
Bret is encouraged to perform at school assemblies, both individually and as part of the band, and has done so very successfully. Much of this is part of his Year 12 Music course.
According to his Drama teacher it is Bret's ability to perform well in front of his peers that has made him so popular.
His Homegroup teacher describes one of his performances.
Drama is another area in which Bret is succeeding although he did not initially recognise for himself that he had talent in this area. He acquired an interest in Drama the previous year when he was asked to join in with a Drama class because he had been hanging around instead of being at his support lesson. He did join the class and achieved success there. Then, this year, Nunga Drama was offered along with the standard SACE Stage 1 Australian Drama. Bret choose both.
Despite his talent and his proven ability to perform there are times when Bret becomes quite shy. His Year 12 Music teacher explains what this means:
Then there are times when Bret goes all shy and won't perform. According to his Drama teacher, on the last occasion this occurred:
This is particularly so with teachers. The same teacher continues:
Bret's aunt feels that it has been relatively easy to support Bret in his music because his mother and grandparents play the guitar as well. She wishes it was as easy with other school subjects.
One of the teachers who went away with the Nunga Band on one of their trips reported Bret's mother's attitude to education and her current frustration.
Bret's aunt is often frustrated that Bret does not work as hard in other areas compared with his Music. His Drama teacher agrees, but is more realistic.
In other curriculum areas Bret has had mixed success. He is doing Year 10 English and Science because he wanted to "update" himself in these areas, having done the Year 9 courses when he was in Year 10. Bret's earlier hyperactivity meant that he did not have a good background in any of the basic subjects and that he could be difficult to handle in class. However, he recognised and admitted the problem, was usually apologetic, and was never rude or aggressive, so a few teachers persevered with him. His Science teacher has not had many problems with him.
But his lack of attention to his work is sometimes a problem for other Aboriginal students. The teacher continues:
For this reason she feels that Bret:
Bret agrees that he is easily distracted in Science, mainly because he does not find it interesting.
He says he is enjoying his English at the moment because he has been able to choose his own topic, but even there he has concentration problems.
However, he doesn't ask for help in class.
Bret has never done much in the way of homework. He does some homework on the computer, but not much else apart from music. In fact, he doesn't bring a bag to school. Anything he needs to transport between home and school goes into his guitar case. Last year the school trialled running a homework centre for Aboriginal students. One teacher reports:
Bret's Aboriginal identity
Music is a very important part of Bret's life. He writes his own songs as well as singing solo and with the Nunga band at school. According to his Drama teacher, Bret expresses aspects of his Aboriginal identity strongly in some of his writing.
Bret's aunt believes that these understandings have come from the way Bret has been brought up and the stories he has been told even if, at the time, he and his cousins may have appeared to be disinterested in hearing the same stories repeated.
Bret has also been able to express his pride in his Aboriginal identity in his Nunga Drama class. Aboriginal students from several year levels join together for this class. Part of the course involved studying the ABC TV show 'Heartland' and the teacher organised for one of the cast to visit the class.
Last year there was some very unpleasant racial conflict in the school. Bret had a bit of a reputation for 'exploding', a reputation earned when he first came to high school. His Year 12 Music teacher recalls:
During this incident Bret kept right out of the fighting and actively tried to ease the racial tension. According to his Drama teacher:
His Science teacher supports this view and gives an example.
And, when it comes to facing racism himself he does not now respond aggressively. This has been noticed by his Year 11 Music teacher.
However, there are still times when Bret cannot contain his anger. Bret's Year 12 Music teacher recalls one incident. Another young Aboriginal person was selected over him to go on a Rotary exchange to Japan because Bret's family were not part of the town group.
Bret - summary
Although Bret is not achieving academic success in traditional curriculum areas, he is making a real impact on his school. His personality, his musical talent and his positive focus have helped raise the status of Aboriginal students in the school among the staff, and among both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students.
The school curriculum has been flexible in allowing Bret to undertake studies at three year levels, and concentrate on the performing arts. Bret has been supported in his artistic endeavours by individual instruction and flexible teaching styles. It is clear that Bret will now go on to further his music career. However, as a Year 8 student at secondary school, it is unlikely that anyone would have foreseen him staying at school and achieving success at post compulsory level. The school Music program and the Music teachers changed that, with the support and encouragement of his immediate and extended family. Figures 4.3 and 4.4 that follow provide conceptualisations of the interrelationships between the various factors associated with Bret's retention, attainment and identity.
Figure 4.3 A causal network matrix showing the interrelationships between the
various factors that have contributed to Bret staying at school and achieving success.
Figure 4.4 A causal network matrix showing the interrelationships between the
various factors important in fostering Bret's Aboriginal identity or arising from it.
GINA
Gina is a Year 11 student at an 8-12 school in a regional centre. There are between 400 and 600 students in the school and less than 5% are Aboriginal. Gina lives with her non-Aboriginal mother and her younger brother. She was born here but has spent several years, at different times, in other parts of the country. Gina describes her movements in the following way:
Before she came back to live with her mother Gina spent time living with an aunt in the same town, and with church friends. These moves also necessitated her moving schools. Gina has found all the moving difficult:
One teacher, who is more a friend than a teacher because she hasn't ever taught Gina, comments on the ease with which Gina makes friends, and relates this to her mobility.
Gina talks about her relationships with others in the following way:
Comments from her Year 10 Caregroup report support that this is usually the case:
Gina's retention
Although Gina is pregnant, she is still determined to stay at school and complete Year 12. She has support from several quarters for this and has talked to several people about it. Her teacher friend comments:
Gina still has to work out where she will live and go to school when she has the baby at the end of the year. Her mother says:
On the other hand, Gina says:
Friends have been very important in Gina finding herself and in wanting to do something with her life. This is her response when asked why she wanted to stay at school.
Her mother agrees with this and provides other reasons for why Gina may have decided to stay at school:
According to Gina:
Also, according to her mother:
So there is plenty of incentive for Gina to stay at school. In addition, she also has started exploring job and further education opportunities.
I know that I have to go right through school, and everything.... Yeah, I think that's the right attitude. People don't like school, but if you look at what you want to become, there's not much time, if you are in Year 11 or Year 10, to decide. But you can always go to another place to become what you want.
Both parents support her in this career choice.
And her mother organised work experience for her with a local photographer.
Gina knows that most further education will take her away from home and she and her mother have explored a few options.
Her mother is concerned that Gina needs to have somewhere suitable to board when she goes away to study.
Gina's attainment
Gina is in a special class at school. She is comfortable with this.
One teacher, who takes this class for two subjects, feels very positive about the progress the students in the class are making, and particularly about Gina's achievements.
Gina's mother is also pleased with Gina's achievements so far this year:
However, this is not true for all subjects. Gina is rather independent, particularly when it comes to study. She likes to be able to organise for herself when she is going to work on particular subjects, and how she is going to use her time, and she has problems with some teachers because of this. Gina explains this in the following way:
Gina's teacher friend has observed Gina at work and comments on how she uses her time.
Gina's Australian Studies and English teacher has noticed and catered for her apparent need to leave class occasionally. He also finds that Gina seems to appreciate his flexibility.
Many of Gina's school reports comment on the high standard of her literacy skills. For example, one of her Year 10 English reports states:
Gina's English teacher has also recognised the quality of her literacy skills.
The teacher who taught her last year, and has known her since she originally came to this school, relates Gina's success at school to the quality of the literacy skills which she brought to secondary school.
This is quite surprising because Gina feels that changing schools so often has made it difficult for her to succeed. She found the transition between primary school and high school particularly difficult, complicated by movement between different states.
And her mother reports that Gina did not do very well in primary school when she was with her.
The teacher who takes Gina for two subjects where she is succeeding, English and Australian Studies, believes that Gina's "behaviour and her academic success are related." Gina agrees that it is only since her behaviour has changed that she is succeeding at school.
The teacher Gina had last year comments on how Gina's achievement then was dependent on her relationship with the teacher.
Gina's Australian Studies and English teacher agrees that good relationships with teachers are necessary for Gina to succeed at school. When relationships are good Gina understands what to do and there is little need for negative forms of discipline.
Gina feels very positive about this teacher.
Gina emphasises the need for teachers to be friends as well as teachers. In reference to the high school she attended immediately prior to coming to her current one, she says:
She also comments on this in relation to the teacher who takes her for two subjects.
In more general terms she says:
Gina is talking about herself as much as any one else. She is very open about a lot of her personal life, sometimes inappropriately so. Her English and Australian Studies teacher comments:
However, Gina is not always comfortable about sharing these sorts of things. She is behind in Community Studies because she is reluctant to keep a journal, one of the requirements of the course. She says:
According to Gina's Australian Studies and English teacher, Gina's mother has not helped in this because she has reinforced Gina's dislike of this task.
However, the real reason for Gina not completing this task may well be that she is not comfortable with sharing personal information with that particular teacher because she sees the teacher as being racist. Gina recounts a recent experience.
When things like that happen Gina sees the AEW at the school.
Gina felt this was much better than going to the focus room because she was doing something she saw as being relevant for her instead of just:
Gina's English and Australian Studies teacher has found that he has to be fairly flexible about deadlines for work.
Gina's inability to stick to all deadlines may be related to the fact that she does very little homework at home. Her mother does not chase her about it.
And Gina does work in her study periods. The teacher who taught her last year has observed this.
Gina's Aboriginal identity
Gina has very fond memories of her early upbringing in rural Queensland. This has been a strong influence in her identification as an Aboriginal person.
Gina's father and her grandmother still live in Queensland, as does an older sister.
Gina has regular contact with her father, usually by phone, and he and his mother, Gina's grandmother, visit on special occasions. According to her mother, Gina's relationships with her father are good.
When Gina's mother talks about Gina settling down she is referring to Gina's behaviour. Some of Gina's reports indicate that in the past Gina has been disruptive, and even violent at school. According to her mother, much of this was a reaction to students:
Gina is quite open about what she used to be like, and the reasons why.
The name calling started in primary school. Gina's mother recalls that one time she even ran away from school, going to another one instead.
But it is not only Gina's peers that can upset her in this way. Gina does not get on very well with her maternal grandmother because, according to Gina, she refuses to acknowledge Gina's Aboriginal heritage and she can be racist.
Although Gina associates her behaviour problems with racist name calling, the teacher who takes her for two subjects does not believe that there is any relationship between the two.
According to her mother, Gina identifies very strongly as Aboriginal, and is very proud of her identity. This is why she gets so angry when she is put down because of it.
Gina's pride in her identity has been recognised by teachers. One teacher, who taught Gina for two subjects last year, reflects on how Gina was at school last year.
Gina's teacher friend is also aware of Gina's pride in her identity.
Gina's desire to share her cultural knowledge is recognised by her English and Australian Studies teacher.
Partly because she lives so far from the place of her birth and has spent so much time away from it, Gina relates very strongly to the other Aboriginal students in the school and Aboriginal families in the town.
According to the teacher who taught her last year: "She's helped make the Aboriginal students a very cohesive group." Gina feels that this has been a necessary reaction to racism from some students in the school.
She also takes an active role in helping others. Her teacher friend comments on this.
Gina's mother also talks about her helping Aboriginal students:
Gina acknowledges this herself.
Gina's helping role is not restricted to students. The teacher who taught her last year comments on the way she helps teachers in their relationships with other Aboriginal students.
Gina also wants to help non-Aboriginal people understand more about Aboriginal history, and values the support of her Australian Studies teacher in this.
Sharing knowledge of Aboriginal culture helped build up the special friendship she has with her teacher friend. The teacher relates how this happened. When they first met:
According to her English and Australian Studies teacher, although Gina's behaviour has changed, she is prone to "enormous mood swings". This may have something to do with the fact that she is pregnant. The teacher who taught her last year feels that Gina's pregnancy could be one way in which she is consolidating her identity.
Gina - summary
There are several factors in Gina's background that suggest she would not have been expected to stay at school into the post compulsory years. For example, changing schools often, particularly between different states, usually means missing out on basic skills development, and Gina says she missed out on Year 7 all together; violent behaviour also means missing schools due to suspensions; and moving between different family members does not provide a very stable background for learning at school.
Despite these 'negative' factors, Gina has made a successful transition to senior secondary schooling. She is strong in her Aboriginal identity and has become a leader among the Aboriginal students at her school, even though she is not related to any of the local Aboriginal people. Her cultural heritage comes from her father who lives interstate with the rest of her Aboriginal relatives. Gina has good literacy skills and is achieving academic success in at least some curriculum areas. She also has plans to complete Year 12 and go on to further study, even though she is now pregnant. Figures 4.5 and 4.6 that follow provide conceptualisations of the interrelationships between the various factors associated with Gina's retention, attainment and identity.
Figure 4.5 A causal network matrix showing the interrelationships between the various factors important in Gina staying at school and achieving success.
Figure 4.6 A causal network matrix showing the interrelationships between the various factors important in fostering Gina's Aboriginal identity or arising from it.
Unexpected stayers - summary
Like Nicolas, Larry and Sally, the three possible stayers, Toby, Bret and Gina had also had problems at school, but their problems were more extreme. Toby was fortunate that he had not been excluded from school because of his behaviour; Bret was so hyperactive most teachers despaired that they would be able to teach him anything; and Gina had had a very unsettling home background as well as being violent at school.
However, each of them also had personal characteristics that were able to be used positively. Toby was independent and determined, and single minded about him being the one to decide when he left school. Bret was musically talented and very likeable, looked up to by younger Aboriginal students among whom he was a leader. Gina had good literacy skills and made friends so easily she became a leader and teacher for the other Aboriginal students at her school.
Each school catered for these unique students. At Toby's school the administration allowed him to apologise time and again so that he could stay at school. The curriculum at Bret's school was flexible enough for him to be able to concentrate on the performance arts, both Music and Drama, and do so at different year levels and in multi-level classes especially for Aboriginal students. Then, at Gina's school there was a special class for students who, it was anticipated, would have difficulty coping with the SACE. In addition, at each school there were some teachers who built up good relationships with these students and provided flexibility and support within their classes to enable the students to succeed.
Finally, all students had support and encouragement from home, both for their work at school and their Aboriginal identity. It is likely that without any one of these supports the three unexpected stayers would not have stayed at school beyond the compulsory years of schooling, let alone achieved success.
Now that all ten case studies have been shared, including some of the commonalities within each of the three groups of students, it is possible to compare and contrast across groups the various factors which have been important in the students' retention, attainment and Aboriginal identity. The following chapter summarises trends that appear to be significant, suggesting that these factors might also be important for other Aboriginal students elsewhere in Australia.
It's not much sense dropping out because if you go all the way to Year 12 you might get a job easier. If you leave school earlier you won't find it easy getting a job, apart from an easy job like working in a shop or pumping petrol, or something like that....Second term this year I was going to leave school but I thought about what I was going to do when I leave. There's nothing to do because there's not many jobs in a small town. I don't want to go away yet because I haven't saved up enough money and I'm not organised to leave. So I thought I'd just stay at school.
Last year we were supposed to do work experience, but I pulled out of that because of other reasons. I thought that I would do it sometime in the holidays. I wanted to do the National Parks and Wildlife last year, but I'm having second thoughts about that because I don't know what I want to do, what I want to be when I leave school. When I have figured out what I want to do I'd like to do work experience at that place.... I'll take my time and think about what I want to do and where I want to go, and what in the job would make me interested in it when I leave school.... I'll figure out something before the end of the year.
I don't even know what he wants to be when he finishes school. He hasn't set his mind on any career, or anything. I just put it to them that the longer they are at school, the better the opportunities there are when they do eventually finish.
I told my friends that I was going to leave school and they told me not to because I wouldn't get anywhere. I'd only be out on the street on the dole. They were my non-Aboriginal friends.... [My grandparents] just tell me to try my hardest at school and see how well I go. They are encouraging me to stay at school.
They probably only think that because they didn't think they would get anywhere. With me it's not 'shame job' to stay at school, get an education and pass Year 12, and get a job when I get older. They're the ones who won't get a job.
Some teachers, when I was in Year 10 and 11 said it would be better if I left school. But I didn't need their advice and I'd do whatever pleases myself. They told me it would be better for other students if I left school because of the conflicts I had had and best for me because I wasn't getting an education at school.
[I]f we've got any problems at school she'll go in and find out about it and then come home and help us sort it out.
I know there's been a few times he got into trouble at school and I just got sick of it and told him to leave school. After I came back from seeing the teachers when he was suspended earlier this year, I told him that I had told the teachers he wouldn't be back. He went back and seen the teachers himself and said he was going to behave himself and he wasn't leaving.
But if I wanted to stay at school or leave, it's up to me to decide, not them. I just stuck to what I believed and stayed at school.
Sometimes he's fairly reasonable. Earlier this term I helped him negotiate a contract for his behaviour in one of his classes. He was quite reasonable in doing that and as far as I know he has stuck to his contract. Once he had the guidelines, and it was very simple straightforward things.... He could see something written down, I suppose, and that gave him a better idea of how to deal with conflict in the class. He seems to have been able to do that.
[T]hings haven't changed. He's still the same. I always say that it's the teachers' problem because they took him back. But it hasn't put him off school. I don't know why. Knowing Toby, he'll probably do the same thing as his older brother and repeat Year 12. I wouldn't be surprised. Once they get into Year 12 I don't pressure them. It's up to them to make that decision, whether they want to repeat it.
The one who's in Year 11, I think he's continuing on to Year 12 next year.... I think they'll all stay on and continue school until Year 12. I guess it depends how they [the two youngest] like high school when they get to it. The brother who's in Year 11, he wants to be a chef when he leaves school. He's doing Food and Catering, and he's got a job cleaning, and when he's not cleaning he sometimes does the cooking. He's really interested in cooking. He's mainly into cooking cakes and decorating. The younger one wants to be a policeman when he leaves school so he'll have to try really hard throughout high school.
[T]here's a group of Aboriginal boys in Year 11 who are attending almost every single day. That's more than we could say for groups of boys like that in the past. One of them is Toby's brother. They might not be performing brilliantly at school, but they are here and they are doing stuff. They are at least getting 'RA' [low pass] grades because they are doing some work. They are quite supportive of each other, I think, making sure they all get their work done. Sometimes we manage to get some positive peer pressure.
He might be at school because he's got his Abstudy. I don't know. I wonder how much he depends on the money for his survival and whether it is his lack of maturity which means he hasn't got the courage to contemplate leaving school.
Those teachers who have only seen the negative side of him don't provide him with the support he needs to change his behaviour. If you have to confront him on an issue that is a bit tender he can be a bit volatile, so many teachers are reluctant to do so. There is no consistency for him. The two teachers he gets on with have lived and taught here for quite some time so they have an understanding of the issues for Aboriginal students. Also, one of them is doing 'Girls at Risk' work as part of her role as well. But if there is no consistency, where does that leave him?
When he does something wrong, people are stepping in and putting a lot of energy into him. He's getting a false sense of what the world's about because there are constantly allowances made for his behaviour.... When it came up that the issue of consequences was different because he was in Year 12, I questioned that. There are some people who consider it very important to be able to say that we have 'X' number of male Aboriginal students still at school. That is important if they are achieving at school, learning academically and developing personally. With Toby I don't think that's happening. I think it is the opposite.
Yes, it's alright, once you know what you're doing in your work, what work there is to do.
I passed it, and if you pass it for the semester you don't have to do it again, but I'd like to do it again. It was good. It was the only subject I didn't need help with. I knew what I was doing and got it done.
[H]e is attending Tourism lessons regularly.... He's only had one unexplained absence from me so far this year, and only three absences all together.... I only see one side of him, so to speak, in my subject. I see positive things about him. If there's negative things I don't tend to see that. I'm happy that he's attending lessons and working in lessons.
Yes, he's doing very well in it. A lot has to do with the teacher's approach. He gets on very well with her.
I contribute that to two things: one, myself; and two, the subject that I'm teaching him, Tourism. The course is as inclusive as I can make it and he obviously enjoys it.... I think I'm fairly flexible and I think he appreciates that as well, but he knows I don't put up with any misbehaviour.
I have had one lesson where he came in and he was in a bad mood. He was late and disrupted the lesson when he came in. I asked him a question and he said he didn't know, so I said I'd come back to him. And when I got back to him he said he wasn't going to answer, so I told him he could go out of the class. But he came and apologised and we sorted it out.
He's a fairly outgoing sort of person. I think if he likes you he likes you, if he doesn't he doesn't, and I think he makes up his mind fairly quickly. On first impressions, I think, he would make up his mind that he likes or dislikes a person. It might mean that if he doesn't like a particular person you might need to get a counsellor involved.... I know he's not attending some subjects very well.... I know that in one subject last term he only attended three lessons.
The thing, too, is that he isn't passing the subject. He's only on a 'D'. He's doing some of the work well, mostly that relating to oral work, but he's not completing all the required written work. I don't think he does much homework, but then again, when he was suspended for a week earlier in the year he rang me to see if he could come in and hand up his summative assignment. Toby's a little bit slower than the rest, but I think he should be on a 'B' quite honestly.
He shares a room so he does his homework anywhere, really. Some things he'll do in his room, but if the kitchen's free he'll come in here. He doesn't do much study at home. If he does do any homework it must be at school in his frees.
Yeah, that's because I do it at school. When I do the work that's set I don't have any to do at home.
I've worked in the library and that's where they do all their study lessons. Every time he comes in I ask him what work he has and is he doing it. I've never had any hassles with him down there. He's always working.
Most of my problems have been with teachers because they have kept picking on me, or giving me work too hard, but that was because I never bothered to ask them for any help or anything. I used to try and do it all on my own, but you can't, you've got to ask the teacher to help you sometimes. I had to learn that teachers are there to help, so you can ask them for help and get the work done that has to be done. When I ask the teachers they do help, but not if you don't ask. When I was in Year 9, the teacher kept asking me if I needed help, and I said 'no'. A few days later we had a test and I didn't know anything about the work we had to do, and couldn't do it. That's when I learnt to ask.
Yeah, it does. If you don't like the teacher and you aren't going to say anything to them, how are you going to get your work done? You don't even like to ask the teacher for help.
Toby's the second eldest. Sometimes, if he thinks that I have made the wrong decision about one of the other boys he steps in and tries to say that he's right, and tells me what he thinks they should be doing. I'm only one parent, and the eldest son is not here, so Toby thinks that he can take the role of the father figure.
He's a funny kid, is Toby. In a situation where he is the one in control he would be very successful. He doesn't react very well to authoritarianism. He doesn't react well if he has no scope for negotiation. He doesn't react well if he's backed into a corner.
He can be very polite. When he wants something he will come up and be extremely polite about how he asks, and very considerate. Last week he was going away for the weekend with his mother. They had to leave on Friday and he had an exam on Friday afternoon. He was really good about the way he came and asked if he could do the exam a day earlier. His mother also phoned the AERT to organise it.
Easy, most of the time. The work that I find hard I just go and get help from the teachers, if I don't know how to do it. But most of the time it's easy.
I find it easy. It's not hard. If you don't know what to do you ask the teacher and he'll show you what to do and you'll follow along really well.... I only had two exams, Maths and English. I'm not sure how I went in Maths. We haven't got our marks back yet. English I got 12 out of 20. I just passed.
English is really good. We've got a major assignment. When you've got a major assignment you can choose what you want to do it on - places you haven't seen or heard of before. You find out all the information you need and get it done.
I get the teacher to explain things rather than the other students because they don't understand it either. Once I understand the work I just do it.
He likes to work a lot by himself. He'll always report to me and if I say he's got to work in the classroom he will, but he likes to go the library.
Sometimes you need to push him. I get on his back and help him along, but that's what all kids need. They go off study for a little while but, as Toby will probably tell you, I'm on his back all the time: "What work are you doing? Who for?" Just to check on him. He can pass but he just needs a bit of pushing now and again.
I've been pushing him all the time, but gradually. It's no good putting too much pressure on all at once. He's working, but he's not working to his full potential, and that's the next step.
I give them a lot of time in lessons to go on with their summative assessment tasks. I give them the basic formative, but then go straight on to their summative assignment. With Toby you need to be very specific. They had to do a questionnaire for another assignment, where they had to provide A, B, C and D. I talked to Toby really specifically and from that he came and showed me a rough copy of it, and then he had to trial it. So there's all those steps needed for him to complete a task satisfactorily.
He uses a lot of slang words in his language. I don't know whether that's because he is Aboriginal or whether it's just his age. They had to write a 300 word piece. I got them to write a letter to a friend. They had to talk about an occupation in the tourism industry. Then he was able to write as he speaks. He wrote to a friend his own age. The moderator thought this was really good.... In another assignment they had to pick a natural environment that has been almost exploited through tourism.... He chose Monkey Mia. He went and did all that stuff and presented it as an oral which he chose to do just in front of me.
I'm confident. When it comes to talking in front of the class it depends who the audience is, and what you have to talk about. I like talking to people in my own age group, but I don't like talking to groups of older people.
Good, excellent in fact. They are really good to me and I'm good back to them.
No. I don't know much. I don't talk to them about that sort of thing.
She hardly talked to us about it either. I don't know why. We always tried to get her to open up. I don't think her childhood was a very happy one so she's trying to keep it in the back of her mind and not let anyone else know about it. Her dad was a white bloke and she was very fair. He ended up bringing all the girls up, taking them wherever he went, from one station to another, because he was a drover. But her half brothers used to come and tell us things about what happened when they were still living with their mum. Sad really. Her dad used to tell us lots of things when he was alive, but you sit down and listen when you are younger, but you forget a lot of it. We should have had tape recorders around. A lot of the history has gone. When the old people go it's gone too.
[I could only speak] a few words, but I could understand it because mum used to talk it. I think it was her main language right up to a few years before we moved here. She doesn't talk much of it now. All the family and relations used to talk it too, especially if they didn't want us to know what they were talking about.
Yes, they all are. I know they are because if something comes up in conversation about someone being 'so white' they indicate that they don't want to be like that. 'I wouldn't want to be that white. I'm happy the colour I am.'.... When people talk about getting a suntan they say proudly that they don't have to stand in the sun to get a tan.... Toby always says, 'I'm proud to be black.' The only time they wish they weren't dark is when their so-called friends call them names.
Sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'll stick up for myself, but sometimes I'm not because that's all they use against you if you have an argument with them. When they keep talking like that, about what colour you are, it makes you not proud of who you are.
He is the darkest in the family and the other kids at home sometimes call him 'black this' or 'black that', and he'll turn around and lash out at them.... He reacts both verbally and physically.... You can see the expression on his face when his brothers call him those sorts of names.
I think sometimes the colour of his skin gets to him. He's got a lot of friends of different cultures. He thinks that everyone is going to treat him the same way as he is treating them, and if someone turns around and calls him a name, by his colour, he gets really upset about that and lashes out.... He has had a lot of trouble at school because of it.
Sometimes it ends up in an argument or a fight. Mainly what causes the fight is if people start talking about your colour and the way you look.
I don't know whether he says anything to the teachers at school about it. He bottles it all up. He keeps it to himself. Sometimes he will come and say, 'So and so called me this, so and so called me that.' I tell him not to take any notice of them. Because if he is going to let it get to him he's going to be in trouble for the rest of his life.
I try not to worry about it, or let it get to me, but...you just can't help what colour you are, or how you're different to other people. It's just the way it goes, but people have got to learn not to be racist. Sometimes, if I find it getting to me, I'll go to the counsellor and tell him what people have been saying to me. He'll help me let them know how I feel. Then they apologise.
No, not against Toby. I've been aware of harassment he has done against other students, but I don't have any first hand knowledge of that. It's only information I have heard from other people... Because there's only seven students in the class...there's no discipline problems; there's no harassment problems. Most of them are 18 and quite mature. I've got one student who's 17, but he lives by himself; one who's repeating Year 12.... Toby would be one of the youngest ones.... It's just not an issue in the class.
No, I don't think so. The school really keeps a close eye on that sort of thing. If anything, it's the Aboriginal kids against Aboriginal kids. They just call each other names and things like that, just like the non-Aboriginal kids do amongst themselves. The AEW likes to stomp on all that kind of thing.
A few years ago I had these people come up to me and ask if I was related to these other Aboriginal people. Non-Aboriginal people seem to think that all Aboriginal people are related to one another.
There was a few teachers that I didn't like. They told the class that if we respect them they would respect us, but they didn't. Mainly I didn't like them because if the teacher tells you not to talk in class, and others were talking, when you start talking the teacher growled at you. That really gets up my nose. That's why I didn't like the teacher. What I thought was that the teachers were picking on me because they didn't like me.
He likes to be his own boss. He doesn't like to be told. When someone tries to tell him to do something their way he'll want to do it his way, and he can end up having an argument.... It all falls back to respect. If the teachers have got respect for the kids then the kids will give it back to them. If it's only one way and the teachers want respect from the kids, this is where Toby comes into conflict. He wants respect all the time, even in decision making, at home and at school.
There were a few [teachers] I didn't like and I said a few comments to them and they said things back to me. We had people trying to sort out the problem between us but it didn't change anything.
A lot of kids are most forgiving and don't hold grudges. Toby doesn't seem to be like that. He holds a grudge. If he has friction with a particular teacher he doesn't let go and move on. The friction seems to stay. Whether that's entirely Toby's fault is another matter.
...because I know if I say anything to him he'll start talking back to me. To avoid that I just let him calm himself down first.
Yeah, I reckon I have. I used to use a few swear words in my comments to them [the teachers], but now I keep my comments to myself.
Nearly every day I'm there at recess and lunch times, and when I get to school in the morning. Sometimes I go down the street at lunchtime. I used to use the computers there but now I use the ones that are in the library.
He lived at the back of us for most of our childhood. We used to all play on the same park. There's not many years between us - as I was finishing high school he was just starting. Toby and his brothers have been just part of the family - those that went to the park. Toby was always there with us, just one of the group. Toby's a lovely kid. Now that I work here and he has to respect me because I'm at work, I still get on really well with him.
Toby hangs around with a lot of his Aboriginal cousins and his non-Aboriginal friends. He's got a mixture of both. That's good, because you need both. Ninety nine per cent of the time he's with non-Aboriginal people because there's not enough Aboriginal people doing Year 12.
Most of the Aboriginals I mix with at school are my relations, and my best friends are Europeans, non-Aboriginal I should say.
I've noticed that Aboriginal students stick very much together at high school, but they don't at primary school. They arrive at high school with their friends, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, but by the end of Year 8 all the Aboriginal students mix mainly with Aboriginal students, in the yard and in the classroom.
My favourite subject, the subject I am really interested in, was Australian Studies.... I knew a lot about the work that the teacher gave us because most of the work was on Aboriginal youth, and things like that. I didn't have to have any help from the teacher. I just got down to doing it.
No, I didn't talk at all. I talked to the teacher about the work I had to do and where I got the information, and that's all.
Sometimes, you know, you're Aboriginal but you get sick of doing things
on Aboriginal people. You get sick of it because you are one and you know everything about it.
Yes, from the book you've got and the videos you watch, even in other subjects. You can learn a lot from books and videos.
I bring it in. I've given them assignments where they have to think about this because we have to cover Aboriginal culture and history, and that's coming up later in the year. He doesn't bring it in himself.
No, the only thing I was involved in was the Aboriginal school band, but then I quit that about two years ago. I was a singer. My brother, he's still in there. He plays the drums and he's a singer.
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The number of Aboriginal people that come through the town is huge, but the number of Aboriginal students we have in the school at any one time is quite small. One of the primary schools has almost a 50% transience rate among their Aboriginal students.
At the moment she says that the problems with the other Aboriginal groups is worse than white racism ever is. She said, 'I can live with white racism because it is sort of inbred in people. These other Aboriginal people should be on our side, but they're not.'
Well, I'm living on a farm just outside of town with my mother, my grandfather, all my aunties and uncles and my grandmother. My father stops in [a distant rural centre]. I've got a pet dog and three guitars. I'm sixteen. I do music and I sing in the high school Nunga Band.... Guitars are my favourite things.
Bret's a very unusual boy because he moves to the beat of his own drum.... He is moving through life in his own way and he's fairly together. He treats other people well. He doesn't need to put them down.... I would see him as a free spirit.... Right at the beginning of the year he impressed me when he decided he would make himself acquainted with those he didn't know.... He just went around and said, 'I'm Bret. Who are you?' sort of thing, holding out his hand.... Then he'd stop and have a chat. So he actually mixes with white students very well.... He is just continually happy. It's infectious and the kids respond to it.
He's neutral. He doesn't pick sides. He can talk to both Nungas and non-indigenous people. He's pretty famous that way. He doesn't look at colour or race. He's crazy but he's good.... He might not have been smart in other areas but the personality is what's got him a long way. He's outspoken and he'll talk to anyone. And he doesn't change himself - it doesn't matter where he is or who he is talking to.
We had this thing at the start of the term about uniform. Bret's got school uniform and he wasn't wearing it.... One of the big things was that school uniforms are now compulsory in our school.... It turns up that he comes to the Science class and he is the only kid without a uniform on. They are going, 'It's not fair. How come he's allowed to get away with not wearing a uniform? Why is he given special privileges for not wearing a uniform?' I told them that I was dealing with Bret....It turned out that he couldn't be bothered wearing it that day, but he had it on from then on. So it was the pressure from the kids in his class, and being accepted by them also, which amazed me because he has always appeared to me he can handle being alone.
...probably trying to be a class act or something, showing off in front of them. It was just me being stupid, mucking around in class instead of doing my work.
Music, and the encouragement he has got from the teacher who does that lesson. He felt he was important because he was good at Music. He enjoys it too. There was a time when he was going to pull out, but then he wouldn't be able to get the help with his Music, so the teacher that's been doing the Music had a good talk to him and put a lot of support behind him. So he stayed. And I think that's the main reason why he has stayed at school.
The family is very close. We all live together.... We might get together and have a jam session, all singing together.... If there's any Music trips that go away it's our family that supports it. If it's all the Nunga Band that goes then we'll take our bus, cart the equipment and pay the expenses, because we know that's an area he is really interested in.... We got into buying our own equipment so that he and the others can practice out of school.
The teacher puts aside a lot of time and energy to work with him, even after hours and at lunch time. If there's trips they can go on he'll go with them.
My Music and my Drama. Mainly my music because I want to go to music university in Adelaide so I can do a course there in guitar, and learn how to play classical and all that other kind of stuff, and come back and get a Music teacher's job so I can show young students how to play different music on the guitar. Everything. I'd like to go all over the place and do that.
In his mum's eyes, and in nanna's and poppa's eyes, it's a long way from home. They feel that they're not going to know whether he's safe, whether he's okay, and with Bret's personality he talks to anyone, and they'd be frightened of that.... Bret wants to advance his music career and he wants to go to CASM, but his mum and his nanna and pop would be saying it's too far. We haven't even got relatives in Adelaide he would be safe with. There are some of his father's, but he's still too young.
I suppose he is here at school for another year to allow him to get a bit more maturity.
I would say he really enjoys people, being with people.... He really likes people. He wouldn't have a mean bone in his body. No matter who anybody is at school he is more than happy to be friends with them. I think that's part of why he really likes being here. Sure, he like his music and he likes going in there and playing, but why he really enjoys school, I think, is that he really enjoys the social aspects of the whole thing.
...overwhelmingly voted in as a Year 11 representative on the SRC at the beginning of the year, ahead of some quite popular boys.... It looked like the school was going to elect him as head prefect, or principal student leader. When it came about there were lots of people [staff] knocking it and saying, 'We can't have him.'
...if he was student leader he would have to be in his school uniform every day, and he would have to write and give speeches. He didn't like the sound of that. He was already chairperson of the SRC and had a lot to do with the running of the school, so he decided to stick with that.
Well, I think one of the major reasons that he is at school is because of his family. His mothers and his aunties were all very, I wouldn't say academic at school, but they definitely tried really hard.... They have achieved outside of school and I think he sees that as, 'I can do it because my aunties and uncles have actually been successful.'
His grandfather was the major Aboriginal leader in the town. They were original Aboriginals from here.... His grandfather is a really amazing man. I've only talked to him over the phone but from what I can understand he really wants something for his family. He goes out and gets what he wants. He has no time for people who sit around and don't do anything for themselves. That's where Bret comes in. He's got that same sort of attitude.... The family actually ended up leaving town because they couldn't stand being around all the other lot that are there, particularly when they started knocking Bret's family because they wanted to get somewhere.
I did my schooling here, but I left in the middle of Year 10.... I went to [a regional centre] and got into a six month training program and worked there for about four years. Then I applied for this position. It took me about five months to get it. Now I have to do a lot of training and study to get me in that office up the top there. Study is ongoing all the time. I'm noticing that.
Maybe someone who's been through the system, a role model, could come in and talk to the kids. Maybe even someone who has pulled out but has gone a long way since, explaining how they had to go back and do studies because they missed out on what was happening at school. The only way to get on in life is to get a job. In most cases you need Year 12.
He could have walked in there this year if he had wanted to. With his natural talent, and especially the way he plays the guitar now, it would be a wonderful thing for him to do.
You'll find he will do what he basically wants to do. What he wants to work at is more important. If you want to get him to do something he doesn't want to do you've got to find a way of appealing to what he feels motivated to do.
Probably the most uncharacteristic thing with Bret, because of his concentration and his will to just go out and do things, he has never had the time to sit down and learn how to read music, so all the things he learns is either by ear or by copying what I play or someone else plays for him.
He is very interesting to teach. I actually got him to learn something at the beginning of the year. Everything else he does he bases on what he already knows. At the beginning of the year I decided that I was going to try and teach him how to write music. Part of his course is that he has to be able to write down what he has composed. All I could do was give him the information, giving him a big blast of it for about 30 seconds, and then give him time for it to sink in. As soon as I see him fidgeting or his eyes wandering I stop straight away. I give him all the stuff verbally. If I get him to write it down he doesn't do very well at all. Verbally he can answer the questions straight away. He actually remembers it that way for a while. If I ask him much later he won't remember it unless it is something he actually uses.
The theory part is a bit tricky for me because when there were more Aboriginal students in the class we used to run amuck. Now I'm in the class by myself I'm usually doing all my work, writing it down.
He still can't read music and if he's going to go into a music career he will need to.... He's prepared to learn it because he can see that he needs it. If other teachers could show the same need and give him extra support he would probably improve there too.
...little way of trying to motivate him to read music. Teaching them to read, therefore teaching himself to read at the same time. He does a bit of that now in the Pop Music course in Year 11.
I work out the music, but I got to sort of show them how to play it and stuff. Bass, two guitars, drum - that's it. Five people. I sing, play guitar, lead and some back up vocals.
They have been quite happy to accept people like Bret, and just about everyone they accept has to learn to read music when they get there.... They will actually teach him to read music so I concentrate on showing him lots of different musical styles, showing him how to play and trying to get him out there to play for the community.
I entered a Valentine's Day contest and I came first. And then I started writing some poems. And then my teacher told me to put some music to them and I started writing songs and stuff...last year and the start of this year. I've written about seven or eight.
He has good control of language when it's oral, not when it's written. Yet, he surprises me and writes songs...within which are really quite deep and hidden meanings, or could be in those areas that you would think would not concern Bret. For example, he wrote a song for me about the volunteers that went to New South Wales to fight bushfires. It was done in twenty minutes and performed to the class immediately after.
He's got an incredible talent. I suppose you'd call it word painting. His songs and the words he writes are very, very good.
He is doing a course called Music Practical. There are two segments within the course, one of which he is doing band for, and the other one is composing and arranging.... He can do these on his own and come and see me when he has something he wishes to discuss. Therefore he doesn't have to come to class, which is good...because I don't think he would, because he is against all the regimentation of school.
He performs in front of them with some beautiful songs. He is now writing his own. They really appreciate that fact. I think they also appreciate the fact that he is Aboriginal, and they are seeing Aboriginal people in a different light, perhaps for the first time in their lives. There is huge prejudice in this town. Basically Aboriginal people can't do that sort of thing, and he can, and do it very well.
At an assembly we had he sat on a chair with his guitar and sang to the entire year level. This was very popular and they listened very intently. He created a world of his own around the chair...focused in on his music, and was absorbed in it. He looked around but they were completely absorbed watching him, and I'm talking about over one hundred Year 11 students sitting on the floor listening to him.
He doesn't want me to read any of the songs he has written. He goes all shy on me. It's pretty personal, I guess. Then, he's the sort of kid who will get up in front of the whole school and sing a song. On sports day he got up and sang the national anthem by himself over the micro-phone.... He loves the attention. But he doesn't want me to see the song he has written because he's a bit scared I'm going to knock it. Once he gets someone to say to him, 'Oh, that's good', he'll brighten up and off he'll go.
He said he didn't feel like it. I knew he did. He just didn't want to perform in front of the Nunga kids. I knew he had two songs ready. So, yes, sometimes he is affected by it. He is certainly affected by the other world side with people he's not familiar with and doesn't know whether he can trust them or not.
He sussed me out quite well. If you like, he sussed the Music teachers out. He can accept discipline from us very well now, but with other people he cannot. He just doesn't know where he stands with them generally, and that comes with the shy character.
The thing with Maths and English is that it changes. Therefore the parents don't understand it and can't provide the support they wanted to.
She said, 'Why can't our Nunga students work just because it's expected. Why can't they do that now. When we were at school we worked, we did everything. We did our work. We weren't using the 'I'm a Nunga. I can get all these privileges.' That is what our kids are doing.
He manages to operate in white society really quite well.... He understands basically what white society is about. I think he will manipulate it quite nicely later.... I think he is really very intelligent. I would very much like to see him achieve right across the academic range. I think he actually could, but he won't, he won't ever. He will just take what he needs from us and move on.
I have never had any problems with him in terms of discipline. If I say to him, 'Bret, okay, the class is doing this. It is time to get stuck into it and do it.' He's all right and off he goes.... He's never rude. He's frustrated. You can't really get angry with him. It's, 'Oh, I'm sorry', you know, that sort of thing. You can't really get angry with him for not working hard.
A lot of kids are saying it is now time to learn and forget about being a Nunga and having learning difficulties, or because you're a Nunga you are not going to work.... The girls in the class get angry with him because they see it as being a bad reflection on them.... I think he is just being lazy. I don't think it is because he sees it as 'You're a Nunga and you don't work.'
...works much better alone than he does in groups. He tends to veer off and talk about music, and you hear about his music, when he's in a group.
Well, I don't do much work in Science.... At the start of the year we made ginger beer. That was beautiful. I don't like Science that much. It's not my kind of lesson. I sort of get bored because there's nothing much to do in there. I was doing Year 11 Marine Biology but one of my Ab. Ed. teachers took me out because she thought it would be too hard.... I thought it might be a bit tricky on the work, but I knew I'd like the lesson. My Ab. Ed. teacher thought it would be easier for me in a lower class so I could update myself on work.
English, that's going good. I'm doing some advertising, a sort of pamphlet. ... What I'm doing is a guitarist. I'm really enjoying my work in there. It's just that sometimes I muck around, when the lesson gets a bit boring. But I do most of my work in there.
None of [the teachers] ever help me because I never ask them for help. They keep telling me to be quiet 'cause I'm always making a noise in class. That's in my English and Science classes.
The first day ten students came and they got heaps done. The next day the kids that didn't come bullied the ones that had. 'You squares, what are you doing spending time on schoolwork?' So just two or three kids ended up doing it and they were girls. Bret came to one, I think, but that was of because of travel distance.
He talks about living in shadows...where Aboriginal people have to walk in shadows all the time. He will tell you stories very much, not necessarily from his own experience but from friends and family, about not being safe walking just as a group of young boys at night because they are going to get picked up by the police straight away without doing anything wrong, just the mere fact they are on the street. So they've got to live in shadows, if you like. He has written some very nice songs in that respect. He also shows a good understanding of Aboriginal plight. He understands that people have been taken away as children; understands that they are not equal no matter what we say. He won't get equal status until he can do something about it. He will take action, and I think, for Bret, that will probably be on stage getting the acclaim of an audience. He's come to appreciate that very much.
You're never going to get away from the fact that you're Aboriginal, You still have to respect Aboriginal ways even though you live in the city and not in the bush. If there's women's business, then it's the women's business and no one would discuss it. The same goes for men's business.... Those links are still there and they'll never be taken away. They are taught to the kids just in the way you bring them up. But the kids don't want to listen when pop tries to tell them about how things used to be. They keep saying to him, 'Poppa, we've heard that story over and over.' It's mainly the way you're brought up.
That has actually brought on huge pride. The kids are very proud of that and of course the drama classes met the leading Aboriginal lady out of the show. They walked away so proud. This reconfirms what I have to do with Drama is to get them into meeting those sorts of people, seeing those role models.
I can remember when he first came to the school, everyone was distressed if they had Bret in their classes because he was so hyperactive. In one of my lessons he even punched a kid in the face. He'd never do that now. I think he has realised that you have to learn to get on with people.
He can explode, he really can explode.... It's part of his family.... I know his family have been through bad times. His grandmother, grandfather, I believe, were children that were taken away, those sorts of things.... [But he] has not been involved in fights. In fact, he has actively tried to stop racial tension in this school. He has been a very good role model in that respect.... He doesn't seem to have, and I have to be very careful about choosing words, resentment.... He doesn't carry that at all.
He was one of the students wanting to get back to being everyone together. When Bret and [his cousin] sang at one of the assemblies not long after this incident had happened, everyone was just applauding and carrying on. That sort of positive stuff came from it. He was great in terms of kick back from the fights we had in the school.... When he is on his own he would probably be one of the most antiracist people that I know in the Nunga community. A lot of them have got a big chip on their shoulder in terms of what is right and what's wrong. But he and his whole family, him and his mother especially, are different.
Because Bret's so friendly, if anyone starts hassling or having an argument with him he will kind of go back inside himself rather than have a confrontation He will go back inside himself. I have never seen him lash out. He will just go very quiet.
He was supposed to be representing the Aboriginal population of the town. As chairperson of the SRC and all the other things he does, he can talk well to a group of people; he can relate well to people. The people who decide who was to go decided that he couldn't go because he was part of the other group.... That was the first time I have seen Bret angry beyond words. He'll normally say what is happening. He came to my class, after he had found out, and I could tell he was furious. He was red. So I let him go off. I heard him all the way out of the school. I think he went and got a guitar and strummed away for a while.
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When I was really young we moved to [a town] in Queensland with our family. I stayed there until I was about five or six. Mum and dad broke up so mum, my sister and I moved back here. Before that we stayed at Women's hostels, and everything else. When I was ten years old I moved to my father's house for a couple of years. And then I went up to my nanna's house in [a regional centre in Queensland]. Then I came back to [a rural centre in South Australia] and stayed with my mother. I travelled by myself. I stayed there for a year. Now mum has settled here and she's got a job. When I came back from my trips I was about fifteen. I've been around a fair bit, I think.
...because I've always missed all my friends that I've made in each place. But I end up travelling back to those places so I get to see them again. It doesn't matter if it's several years, I still know who they are.
She is a very friendly person...she is such an open person...probably because she has moved around a fair bit. You have to make friends quickly each time. I'd say she has quite a few close friends at school. I've seen her confide in them and them confide back to her in all sorts of situations. They're both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal.
I'm the only Aboriginal student in my class and I get on good with all the other people. I joke with them, and everything.
...friendly, cheerful...relates well to other members of the caregroup.
I know that recently she has become pregnant and that her family are supporting her. She came and confided in me and told me about that, and she was very excited.... But there's no way that is going to stop her finishing Year 12. I asked her, 'What about school?' when she has had the baby and suggested she might like to come back part time. But she said, 'No', and that her mother and her aunties were happy to look after the baby while she was at school, and she saw clearly that she would have enough time after school to spend with her child. It was most important for her to finish so that she could then make something of herself and then make a life for her family.
I'm prepared to swap shifts and be home during the day while she's at school, and her take it at night.
All my family in Queensland have said they will look after it. There's over a hundred of them. I'll be OK there. But my boyfriend, he's sticking by me and everything. That's another good thing. That's all that matters. He said he'll come up to Queensland with me.
If it wasn't for my friends I'd still be like that. Before, I thought I was nothing. I used to be right into drugs. I wanted to OD myself because my big brother died of tablets. I just thought, 'I haven't got a reason to live so why should I be here?' When I moved back to this town I was still into it, but not as bad. Now I haven't touched it for a year. I went back to my church and accepted God into my life for a second time, and he's helped me.
I'm really pleased with her. I think she's coping really good compared with how she was.... Now she's older she seems to have really grown up.... She's stopped and thought. Her and I used to argue a lot. That's why she moved to different homes.... She said when she went to the Salvation Army Officers, everything came into perspective.... I think she wants to do better than her brother and sister....She looks at it this way, 'Mum, you pay for my education. I know you only went to half of Year 8, and you did say, when you and dad were together, you were talking about college for me. My older sister and brother dropped out at Year 11. I want to give you your wish.' I told her that she's got the brains to do it. 'You've just got to knuckle down and do it.'
If I do finish school I'll be the first person in my family to achieve it. And I said to mum at the beginning of the year, 'If times get tough, I'll hang in there. I won't quit.'... [Dad] just says that he wants me to go to university because no one else in our family has been to uni. That's excellent because I want to make both my parents proud. What I think about when I go to school is that it's my parents that pay for me to get a good education. I've already gone further than they did at school.... My brother left part way through Year 12 and my sister left in Year 11.
Her teacher told her at the beginning of last term that if she continues to get 'A's like that, they've checked, and she will be the only Aboriginal child to get into Year 12 at the school.
Well, at the other school, at the start of last year, I didn't want to be anything. I know nine languages. I wanted to become an air hostess. My cousin works for Qantas. I looked at her and decided that if she could do what she wanted to do then I could become what I wanted to. I thought, 'I'm not very good at French any more, so I might as well try something different.' So I tried photography, and got 'A' plusses all the time, and decided that's what I'm really good at, so I'll keep going with it.
Last year my father gave me a $350 camera to help me. It really shocked me because he just gave it to me.
Now, at the school she's at, at the moment, they haven't got anything like that. They did a bit at the other high school. She's had to let it drop. After her matriculation she wants to go to a college where she can study up on photography. I got her a work experience job at the Fuji place last year. I thought that would help her a bit. I went in and saw the lady myself for her. She got a weeks work experience there and she really liked that. The only other thing I was thinking of was for her to go into the local newspaper, and see what the photographer does and how they develop their black and white photos.
I still want to go to college because I've got a lot of friends and family to support me. At first I wanted to go to Roseworthy College, but I found out that that was an Agricultural College. There's Adelaide University. I was planning to go up to Queensland to see my family because I haven't seen them for a long time, and they've got a big university...where my nanna lives.
She says she's going to write to the other colleges to find out what they offer for when she gets her matriculation.... We thought of Roseworthy because she could board there. She'll have to look into others where she can board, too.
I'm in this sort of special class, but it doesn't mean you're dumb or anything. It just means that you need a bit more help with some stuff.
The class was set up as a class of students that were reluctant learners and designated as having problems in achieving their SACE. That gave me an enormous amount of freedom in approach in getting them to pass. Because of that they've had much greater success. Because of everyone acknowledging that they're going to have problems, it has taken a lot of pressure off me, and off them as well. Because they have risen well above the expectations the school had for them, they [the administration] are happy with the way they [the students] are coming along. She's going to pass both subjects.
She's doing so well well at school. She's getting 'A's.
Some teachers don't spend the time with you...[but they're] always on your back and that's also putting you off it. They're always bugging you to do it all the time. That puts me off doing it.... During the study period [one teacher] will come straight in and ask whether I've finished it yet. And when I say no, that I'm doing another lesson, she just starts on me and I just don't do it.
This is what I see because we are in an open space area here, even though I don't teach her. She works for a while, but then she tends to need to take a break. She doesn't have a long concentration span.... It's never any sort of disruptive break. Sometimes she'll go off to the toilet and then she'll come back and start again. When she is working she likes to work by herself. That's just what I've noticed.
I give her the opportunity to go out of the class whenever she needs to. I've done that and she doesn't do that very often. I've got the feeling that if I told her not to go, and to sit still and do her work, she would have resisted against that. By me saying she can go and do whatever she wants, she tries to stay....Because of the fact that I've got them for two classes I try and set work and let her do what ever she wants to do, provided she covers the modules that are required for SACE. She's enjoying it. As long as she's enjoying it she's completing it.... She is one of the best students in the class in getting work done.
...keen and eager and interested...has speedily completed all requirements and then settled to extension. She writes fluently.
Gina is very creative in her writing, and she is very good at writing....She is one of the best in the class as far as literacy skills are concerned as well, reading and writing...and she also should have no problems passing her Writing Based Literacy Assessment. She's also a very confident speaker, one of the most confident speakers. She is the only student in the class to read aloud. None of the others will.
I also believe much of Gina's success and confidence comes from her starting high school with quite good literacy skills.
I went to primary school over at my father's, in New South Wales. I went over there to him and they had high school starting in Year 7, so I started high school there, or just about to. Then I moved to Queensland and went to high school there. Then I came over to [a rural centre in South Australia] and went to high school there. So I missed out on Year 7. So that was pretty difficult, missing all the stuff from Year 7.
Besides fighting and stuff they'd say that she was very courteous and a well mannered child. As far as marks were concerned, no. I used to say to her that she had to do extra homework at home. [Did she do it?] No.
The other high school changed me.... The discipline they had there for when I got angry was great. It helped me. From Year 10 upwards it's been okay. All my grades have been good. I've had support from school so I want to give school a fair go now.
She tried really hard at school, I think. Her work was of a pretty good standard. Her writing was quite good, but she didn't have much confidence in herself. She wanted continual reassurance that she was doing the right thing. She had a very strong relationship with the teacher, more so than other kids in the class. At that time she was tending to ignore the rest of the kids in the class and having more of a one-to-one thing with the teacher. [Did she actively seek that help herself?] Yes. She was quite demanding, in fact. That's typically Gina.
From other teachers' comments I know that...she had many problems last year and the year before relating to teachers and trying to understand what they were getting her to do. With Gina I try to make it extremely clear what I expect from her. I break it into small chunks. I make sure that she understands what she needs to achieve within a certain time limit, like the end of the lesson....If the first time you speak to Gina it's about something she's doing wrong, and the same the next time, antagonistic views build up to boiling point on both sides.... I find you get the best out of Gina if you treat her exactly the same way you would like to be treated yourself. You can't keep putting the pressure on her. It doesn't work.
We get on really good with him. And he's always taking the time, no matter how long it takes.
I was friends with the principal and he really helped me. He was more than a principal. He was a friend also.
He jokes, and he's not just a teacher, he's a good friend as well. So we can cope really well with him and we don't mind telling him stuff.
Some students like the teachers to be a friend as well as a teacher, because they know they can talk to somebody if things get a bit harder at school.
At times home problems impinge on her. She's very public about her personal problems, which is something I've spoken to her about because sometimes she's too public about it.
I don't like writing journals for Community Studies because it's like a diary entry, and that's rather personal.
Unfortunately her mum has been telling her things she's not good at. She says things like, 'Mum says I'm not very good at writing journals.'
Sometimes we get treated unfairly, the Aboriginals, like me today. I totally refused to go to the focus room because I was treated unfairly. My friend asked for a pass to go out of the grounds at lunchtime and was given it. When I asked for one I was sent straight to the focus room. That's being treated unfairly. That's my Community Studies teacher. That really bothers me because I feel like getting very angry and telling them where to put it, but I know I can't do that so I just walk out and hold it in me. Sometimes I can't handle it and I just start crying.
She's really good. Today, instead of going to the focus room, she got me to go to the ASSPA meeting and wrote a note for me.
...missing out on work, whereas at the Aboriginal meeting [she] was learning things.
In some respects, yes. Once or twice I've had to let deadlines go by.... The thing is, with a class like that, if you say something must be due on this day, you won't get it. For example, for most of the class, Gina included, to write a 250 word letter to the editor, going through the whole writing process, might take them up to three weeks. Whereas, another time, when they are doing something they want to do, like an oral presentation of their choice, it might take only 80 minutes.
No, she does it in her free periods. Outside school she's very active. She teaches with the Salvation Army Kids' Club and she's got youth group of her own. She's busy nearly all week.... My children have always said, 'Mum, once we hit high school you can't help us with our homework. It's on our own back.' They do their own homework.
This year I've come across her a couple of lessons a week in her study periods. All of the Stage 1 students have some time off for study that's supervised. She uses that time in very self motivated ways. She uses her time well. She's quite surprisingly driven, really.... She certainly tries to get everything done and pass all her subjects.
[Dad] was brought up, and I was at a young age, with our tribal people. Even though nanna had a house we still lived off the land in the same kind of way. My people are Kookananagi.... I was brought up more with Aboriginal people, and I classify myself more an Aboriginal than a white person.
Dad's dad was part Cherokee Indian, and his mum was a full blooded Aboriginal.
She gets on very well with him. She was down there with him for nearly a year.... They don't see their father very often. He only comes down for special occasions, their eighteenth or twenty first, or something like that. She'll get on the phone and talk to him.... She said she wanted to go to her father, so, to please her and make her happy, and maybe help her to settle down more than she had been, I let her go. [Her nanna] comes down with Gina's father when there's something on.
...calling her names because she was black. She doesn't like that. It used to really stir her up, but now she's sort of got control of herself. She used to be a real 'walk off in a huff' kind of person.... A lot of times she was getting suspended, but now she's sort of buckled down.
When I was little, before I even got to high school, my father always told me to stand up for what you believe in. And I got heaps of racist remarks and everything else.... I had a bad temper. I got that from my father. He's a professional boxer. I used to throw things at people.
So I had to go and get her and take her back to her other school because she was having trouble with some of the children at the school.
My white nanna, my mum's mum, she tells me that I'm not Aboriginal, that I'm a white person. So I've got two different worlds that I've got to look at. That's what it seems like - two different worlds.... I just ignore her because she always says that and she says a lot of racist remarks, and everything. When I had my hair cut short she used to call me a big black African boong. I thought, 'That's not very nice, nanna.' I just went out. She always says that my poppa's the racist one, but I think it's the other way around. I'm the only dark skinned one in the family. She's a bit funny.
I don't feel that her behaviour and her Aboriginality are related.
Very strong. She gets very upset when people call her names. Out of all my children she's the darkest of them all.... She says, 'I'm proud to be Aboriginal. If they rubbish me maybe it's because they are jealous that they haven't got skin the same colour as I've got.'
She was also developing great pride in her Aboriginality. She knew quite a lot about her own background. For a start, she is part Indian as well. I think the AEW here has been a good sounding board for Gina. There were a couple of incidents when she got out of control last year, but with the AEW's help she was able to overcome them and come to terms with the teacher, not me. Now she laughs about it.
She's very proud of her culture, very proud of being Aboriginal. That's been evident ever since I first met her. And she's not afraid to talk about it. She would probably like to share it with other people.
She's very proud about the fact that she's Aboriginal and tries to bring this in to any free choice topic. For example, if they are doing an extended writing piece that SACE puts on them, she will do it from an Aboriginal person's point of view. If they are doing a piece of writing, 'If you believe in something then you have the ability to change the world', she will write about Aboriginal perspectives and how she's stood up for being Aboriginal, and why she believes this is important. For poetry she'll write about an Aboriginal issue. She wrote one she called 'Blacks in Brisbane.' She looked at the situation of the boy being hung in gaol.
The tribe down here's called Nookana. I know more of Nookana than I do of my own tribe. It's like a family to me.
At this school now some of the Aboriginal people can't go over to the oval because there's people over there that don't like them. So we've got a certain part where the Aboriginal people go. We've got white people that come as well, but we class them more as Aboriginal because they know the lingo and everything. We've known them longer than the other people.
She's pretty outgoing and is willing to help people younger than her.... She just likes helping other people get as far as she has come, I think.
[W]hen it comes to another Aboriginal child in trouble at school she'll be there to help them.
I help the Aboriginal people and if there's problems I'll probably support them as well.... When they're angry I calm them down and say, 'Don't do that because you'll get in a lot of trouble.' Sometimes I get angry, too. When they're upset I just talk to them about stuff that they want to talk about.
She's helped teachers relate to those students as well. She's like a mother figure with them. If you get on well with Gina you wouldn't have any flack from any of the other kids. They would warm to you more readily.
In Australian Studies we are doing the history of the Maralinga people, the 1950s, what happened to the Maralinga people. That's very interesting. I'm writing a letter at the moment to the people of the tribe, because they're at Ceduna now. We want a couple of elders to come up to the school and talk to us because we find it very interesting.... The teacher is really cool. He's not racist. He wants the other people to know what the black people went through. Aboriginal people know what the white people went through. He wants us to see both sides.
[Gina] accidentally said one of her Aboriginal words and I knew what it meant. So I talked to her about how I went to school at Ceduna and knew some of the language. It just got to the stage she would say things to me in Aboriginal across the yard. She really liked that. She really liked the fact that I knew and she could relate to me in that way. She sort of quizzed me about Aboriginal culture. I think that was just to see my reactions to it. Once she realised that I knew about it she was just more open with me. She will quite often chat to me in the yard.
She's quite open about the fact that she's going to have a child, and proud of it. It seems almost to be a rite of passage for her. It's almost as though it was a planned thing, which it could have been, as some way of helping her with her identity.
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