Australia Promotes Indigenous Preschools

07/18/2008

Australia Promotes Indigenous Preschools

Today - All Fool’s Day - is a day that for centuries had been associated with high spirits and merriment. It’s a perfect day for us to remember the importance of lightening up.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

The Australian government has been severely criticized for its past discriminatory treatment of the nation's Indigenous people, the Aborigines, and has only recently made serious efforts to right this wrong. Last month ABC News Australia reported on a pledge made by Australia's Prime Minister, in an "apology to the Stolen Generations," to have every Indigenous four-year-old attending an early childhood facility within the next five years.

Six schools were announced under the Government's plan to improve Indigenous outcomes. Each school involves a teacher being based at a pre-school hub who will then make regular visits to five remote community sites.

Northern Territory Education Minister Marion Scrymgour, who will be responsible for much of the results, observed, "It's a program that is long overdue and I've always said that we're never, ever going to get our young people into secondary if we don't focus on primary and particularly target early childhood education."

Early Education and Indigenous Populations to be addressed at 2009 World Forum

One exciting feature of the 2009 World Forum on Early Care and Education in Belfast, Northern Ireland, will be the bringing together of early childhood educators from indigenous communities in Oceania, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Americas to share strategies and priorities in educating young children in Indigenous communities. Ideas will be shared on passing on language and cultural traditions to future generations as well as preparing children to preserve Indigenous cultures in the era of a global economy. Please share other topics you would like to see addressed at the upcoming World Forum in this week's Exchange Insta Poll. Learn more about the 2009 World Forum.

GOOGLE HIRING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS: Google has expanded its employee child development program by opening a world-class children's center in Mountain View, California and is now hiring teachers.

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