Indigenous students

Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States have indigenous populations that pre‑date the arrival of European settlers. Classroom diversity in these countries thus reflects the long-standing diversity of the population as well as new arrivals to the country. Despite the very different histories of colonisation and approaches to schooling these populations among the different countries, and despite strong performance of immigrant students on PISA in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, there is a clear need to improve the learning outcomes of the indigenous people of these countries.

The Aboriginals of Australia,4 the First Nations of Canada,5 the Māori of New Zealand6 and Native Americans of the United S tates7 have all been identified as populations that could be better served by their respective education systems.
Challenges identified across all countries include:

• difficulty in accessing and receiving the level of early childhood education and care recommended;
• lower levels of literacy and scholastic achievement;
• lower rates of graduation;
• proportionally higher representation in vocational education and training streams than their non-indigenous peers; and
• lower rates of participation in tertiary education in many of these countries.

These trends are of concern for equity imperatives as well as for economic reasons. Education plays significant role in improving many aspects of the quality of life, impacts on employment and earning potential, and is linked to improvements in health and well‑being. It has been argued, for example, that education can help people to lead healthy lives by making healthier lifestyle choices, can help to mitigate ill-health by enabling people to better manage their illnesses, and prevent further ill health (OECD 2007d).

Although they have had very different traditions of immigration, the educational situation of the indigenous populations of Chile and Mexico also share many of the same characteristics and have similarly been targeted as in need of improvement by policy makers, community members and practitioners alike.

Suggested improvements include investing in early learning programmes, improving higher education engagement by creating institutions designed for this population, and supporting the preservation of indigenous languages. These strategies emerge not only out of standard policy options for improving educational attainment and participation but also out of a recognition that, for indigenous communities and traditions, it is essential to recognise the importance of schools and communities working together. This includes involving indigenous people in the education system as providers, not just as users, as well as cultivating the leadership capacity for indigenous school leaders and teachers.

It is clear that in the effort to accommodate and reap the benefits of increasing diversity in today’s classrooms, teachers will be on the front lines. Schools and communities depend on educators to help integrate students of
different languages and backgrounds, to be sensitive to cultural, linguistic and gender‑related issues, to encourage tolerance and cohesion, and to respond effectively to the needs of all students. Teachers are also expected to prepare students for the high-tech world – to help them learn how to use new technologies and to keep up with new and rapidly developing fields of knowledge.

They are counted on to encourage students to be self-directed learners, and they play an active role in constructing their own learning environments and being open to the community. These shifts in the roles and duties of teachers come at the same time that attracting and retaining effective teachers is a challenge currently faced by many OECD countries (OECD , 2005).
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