Reading Gap Widens for Indigenous Students in Remote Australia, Despite Early Successes
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A ten-year-old girl’s enthusiasm for a story about an ant and a snail enjoying fish and chips highlights a stark contrast: while reading comes “easy” for some Indigenous students, national data reveals meaningful challenges for many in remote communities. Brynetta Lewis, a Year 5 student at the Warakurna Campus Ngaanyatjarra Lands School in western Australia, recently completed a school reading challenge, demonstrating a love for books despite Ngaanyatjarra being her first language.
Disparities in Reading Proficiency
However, this individual success story is set against a backdrop of concerning national trends. This year’s National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy Skills (NAPLAN) results indicate a ample gap in reading levels between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, especially in very remote areas of Australia. Approximately 72.5% of Indigenous Year 5 students in these regions require additional support for reading, compared to just 13.2% of their non-Indigenous peers.
The data further demonstrates that this achievement gap persists across all year levels, with reading proficiency declining as the distance from urban centers increases. This suggests systemic barriers are at play, hindering the educational progress of Indigenous children in remote locations.
The Challenge of Multiple Languages and Limited Resources
Experts point to several contributing factors. Charles Darwin University coordinator of First Nations educational leadership, Haydon Staines, explained that English is frequently enough a fourth or fifth language for students, “and we need to be mindful of that and provide texts that are meaningful to you as an Indigenous student,” he said.
brendan lewis, Brynetta’s teacher, echoed this sentiment. He observed that the 30 students at the Warakurna Campus Ngaanyatjarra Lands School, located four hours west of Uluru, are more engaged when they see themselves represented in the texts they read. “If students don’t see themselves in the media they’re consuming, they’ll disengage and then there won’t be the opportunity for learning,” Lewis said. “If they’re engaged they’re more inclined to push themselves when they come [across] … tricky words or tricky punctuation or different sort of structures of words that they’re not familiar with.”
Language revitalization and Community Support
Efforts to address these challenges extend beyond classroom materials. Near Alice Springs, a school is actively working to revitalize the severely endangered Pertame language, demonstrating a national push to preserve Indigenous linguistic heritage. Warakurna Campus principal erin Brown acknowledged the school’s access to culturally responsive texts but emphasized the ongoing need for more resources, particularly “decodable books and readers, that progressively increase in difficulty.”
Lewis also underscored the importance of local Yarnangu people’s involvement in education. “Every time that I have Yarnangu teachers in my classroom the students are more engaged and are just more enthusiastic about their learning,” he said.
Ultimately, fostering a love of reading is crucial, as Staines emphasized. “There’s the practical application or uses for reading, but there’s the creative practices about learning about new stories, finding emotion in different characters,” he said. “And I think if you’re able to read, well, then you’ll never be lonely, because you can always buy a book or get given a book and have some company.” Brynetta, proud of her accomplishment, is already looking forward to her next literary adventure. “I’m a rapid reader,” she said, embodying the potential that culturally relevant education can unlock.Lewis is optimistic about the future, noting that his students have “progressed so much in the small amount of time we’ve implemented the reading challenge, so we can’t wait to see what they achieve in the future.”
