Communities are taking initiative to boost Indigenous education rates

Australia's Prime Minister has noted high attendance rates in remote Indigenous communities in far north Queensland as those communities implement strategies to improve education.

Tony Abbott rides a bus with Bamaga Primary School children during his tour through far north Queensland (AAP) Source: AAP

Prime Minister Tony Abbott observed high attendance rates during his visit to schools in far north Queensland in late August as communities have been working to improve the education of Indigenous children in the region.

"We’ve just heard about the tremendous success that the programme is having in getting kids to school here," Mr Abbott told media on the sidelines of his visit to Bamaga Primary school in Australia's north.  

One of the community initiatives is the work being carried out by organisation Stronger Smarter Institute. 

"A Stronger Smarter educator had deployed some of the meta-strategies taught in our flagship Stronger Smarter Leadership Program and engaged students and parents in an honourable way," Stronger Smarter Institute CEO Darren Godwell told NITV.

We believe that every Indigenous child deserves to attend one every school day, no matter where they live

Mr Godwell added that there was no boutique remedial program called Direct Instruction or Explicit Instruction, near the tip of Australia, nor near classrooms at North Pensinsula Area State Campus. 

According to the 2015 Close the Gap report, the federal government's target to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achiemvents for Indigenous children is not on track to be met by 2018. The target to ensure access to early childhood education for all Indigenous 4-year-olds in remote communities has not been met. 

"We believe that every Indigenous child deserves to attend one every school day, no matter where they live," said Mr Godwell.

We have to make our classrooms and our schools meaningful and we have to kind of get kids to understand and communities and parents to understand

Indigenous education expert Dr Chris Sarra of the institute has been a key player in rolling out the education techniques.

"We have to make our classrooms and our schools meaningful and we have to kind of get kids to understand and communities and parents to understand that school is a place where we would go where we can get some kind of worthwhile learning outcomes," Dr Sarra told NITV News on Wednesday.