Since 1967, enormous progress has been made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia in gaining access to, and participating in, tertiary education. National statistics provided by the Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET, 1992), show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are enrolling in, and graduating from, a wider variety of courses in ever increasing numbers.

One of the early missionaries at Milingimbi is said to have rounded up men from a ceremony and hosed off the sacred designs they had painted on their chests. I have often been told that story, always by Balanda1 usually as a way of illustrating how terrible missionaries can be. Ali the same, other Balanda in other places were often a lot worse. Missionaries for example did not poison water holes and flour. Moreover the missionaries were not always feared or distrusted.

The Wiltshire Committee's Review of the Queensland School Curriculum produced some surprises. One of these was for teacher educators. The Committee had not originally intended to investigate the preparation of teachers, yet several recommendations were made. The Wiltshire group say that practising teachers made so many adverse references to the quality of their preservice training that comment and recommendation were justified. The committee's recommendations are interesting in that they focus quite heavily on the links that might exist between teacher preparation on campus and teacher preparation in schools.

The over-riding objective of an Aboriginal Education Policy should be to achieve equity between Aboriginal people and other Australians in participation at all stages of education by the turn of the century. Education opportunities must be available to Aboriginal people regardless of where they live and in a manner that is appropriate to the diverse cultural and social situations in which they live. It is therefore essential to ensure access for Aboriginal children and adults to school and tertiary education, to ensure that Aboriginal communities are able to influence the way in which education is provided, and to ensure that it reflects their social and cultural values (Hughes Report, 1987: 17).

This is a P-7 school with 200 students. Aboriginal students: 85%. There are 2 qualified Aboriginal teachers in the school while some Aboriginal Teaching Assistants (ATAs) are in their second and third year of teacher training. Ngarinyin, Worrorra, Wunambal, Nyikina, Bardi and Kriol are all spoken in Derby.

Earlier this year I was approached to speak to a gathering of Principals and other senior education officers from the WA Department of Education attending a Kimberley School Management Team Conference held at Derby during August, 1994. The topic is one of major concem to education providers in the north west and is certainly central to the legitimisation of the Aboriginal Independent Schools as well as their day-to-day operations. Assuming a wider audience I have therefore prepared the following paper in an attempt to consolidate as well as expand upon the points I made while addressing this meeting. In an attempt to maintain a sense of immediacy I have also retained the first person approach to its delivery.

The following paper was presented to a group of teachers, curriculum advisers, school support centre personnel and review officers at a one day conference organised by the Metropolitan West Region of the Queensland Department of Education. The time allocated for this session was 35 minutes. I therefore decided to focus on what I consider to be the two major barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student participation in schooling: recognition and valuing by teachers of children's identity and language. For other factors contributing to children's participation, such as curriculum relevance, parent/community involvement in decision-making, I provided participants with handouts which I had developed during the past four years or so.

Koorie High School is a Government school. It is not the school's real name but it is the name I will be using for this article.

Koorie High School is an innercity comprehensive high school from Years 7-12 in Sydney. It has a total population of 344 students, 186 at the Intensive English Unit on a different site and 158 in the mainstream high school campus. Fifty-five percent of the 158 students are Aboriginal. There are also 32 students in the Back-To-School Program, an annex of the main high school. All of these students are Aboriginal. I will mainly be referring to the main high school and no reference will be made to the Intensive English Unit as they are not part of this study.

Prior to 1994, Lockhart River was a P-7 school. Students from the community wishing to undertake secondary studies had to leave the community and attend secondary school at Bamaga, Cairns or elsewhere. The emotional and cultural upheaval caused by such a move had a significant effect on these students' achievements.

St Paul's Catholic School was established in 1967 and provides primary education for children around Darwin from Transition to Year 7. The present enrolment is 270 pupils coming from the immediate areas such as Nightcliff, Coconut Grave, Rapid Creek, Millner, Alawa, Jingili, Moil, the northern suburbs, and even from as far as Palmerston and the rural areas beyond. There is a very diverse population of students from various cultural backgrounds attending S t Paul's. Approximately 20% of the children currently enrolled are Aboriginal, and there is a considerable representation of Greek, Italian, Filipino and Chinese family backgrounds.

Since colonisation, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have been compartmentalised by white society in many facets in their lives. This paper focuses on education, detailing problems faced by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Participation of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in formal education (including post-compulsory) has been very low compared to other Australians, thus upward social mobility has not dramatically changed. In both health and welfare, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are still highly disadvantaged in society (Keen, 1988). The current federal government proclaims itself the champion of social justice and equity, yet these issues remain at the forefront of indigenous problems. Major questions have to be asked about how Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders consider the relevance of schooling, the way they learn, how they are taughtandby whom. Moreover, what is an appropriate mix of cultural preservation and education and training to ‘fit in’ with a capitalistic society? Is this the same for all indigenous groups in Australia, considering the diverse range of urban and rural groups?

Doomadgee State School in far north Queensland has set up a special ‘village school’ to net erratic and non-attending students, with impressive results.

Capalaba State High School this year stepped up its support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students by increasing awareness of their culture.