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Poor education is letting Indigenous

children down
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Introduction:

There are several issues that are faced by the indigenous children on the education front which is
letting the indigenous people down. As per the census data of the year 2011m it was found that
more than 85% of the Aborigines and the Islanders of the Torres Strait live in the capital towns
and cities across Australia and their children are failing in the basic literacy and the numeracy
tests. The more shocking fact is that these minorities have not even improved over the last four
years. Among all the students the total strength of the indigenous students is around 4.8%. It has
been found that despite the success of the other Australian students indigenous students miss out
the major portion of the Australian life. The article with the title “Poor education is letting
Indigenous children down”( http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-06/hughes-and-hughes-
indigenous-learning/4112432) points out towards the existing problems that are faced by the
indigenous students in the present education system in Australia and the actions that should be
taken to improve the education system so that the indigenous students are also able to take the
complete benefit of the Australian education system. particular focus should be provided on the
implementation of the STEM education for the indigenous children.

What do you see as challenges for a global manager?

As a global manager it is very much important to have a diversified workforce and indigenous
workforce that are also highly skilled. For this purpose it is important that the indigenous
population is trained and skilled properly by the education department particularly in the STEM
subjects. El-Deghaidy& Mansour (2015) explore and evaluate the possibilities and challenges of
STEM education in Australia, providing evidence that there are many factors potentially both
facilitating and delaying the effects of this form of instruction in this nation. Thus, the spread of
STEM education will have a positive impact on the overall quality of the education systemin
terms of the following processes and characteristics: the transformation of outdated and
ineffective school curricula, drastic changes to low education standards and teaching methods,
and a focus on extensive improvement (El-Deghaidy&Mansour, 2015).In addition, the report
from the Department of Education and Training, 2013, confirms that STEM jobs are the future-
forward jobs, STEM abilities are need not only terms of their academic field but also beyond
STEM careers.(English 2016). El-Sherbeeny (2014), who highlights the pressing need to adopt
engineering education for indigenous women in Australia, claims that this country should
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establish dominance in science because it will contribute to the development of high-quality

engineering education in Australia. Mosaad (2016) is a proponent of the idea that by
implementing STEM education, Australia will totally revamp its education system. Moreover,
gradual and timely adoption of STEM education at a national level will not only boost economic
diversification and promote sustainable development, but will also maximize the quality of
education as a whole (Mosaad, 2016). Finally, Pavan (2016) provides evidence that
implementation of STEM education will be a success when it focuses on increasing the
accessibility of engineering education and allied sciences for indigenous people in this country
because the poor access for indigenous women to education in Australia impedes rapid
development (Pavan, 2016). Despite STEM education being a widely discussed and debated
issue as numerous researchers investigates its positive outcomes, its fundamental impact on
economic development and social changes, and the link between STEM education and
globalization, there is a lack of sufficient data about the ways in which the promotion of STEM
education will benefit the development of education as a whole.

Discuss the area(s) (cultural, organizational or situational environments) in which a global

manager needs to develop a good understanding.

STEM has become a popular method for the delivery of knowledge across the various leading
national and international educational institutions in Australia. The major factors that have led to
rise in the demand of the STEM education comprise of proper infrastructure, changing pattern in
the demographic profile in the country, rise in globalization, initiatives of the government,
outsourcing and the rise in the demand for the IT knowledge based services. On 2014 ministry of
education declared to start an open platform Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) portal for
imparting STEM education to aboriginal students which will be helpful in bridging the existing
gap between the education and the employment in aboriginal students in Australia and this
initiative was first of its kind (Alnaim, 2015). The new initiatives for STEM education has been
designed keeping in mind the needs and the requirement of the Australian aborigibal Women,
youth and the disabled citizens living the rural areas of the country (Allamnakhrah, 2013). This
new learning program envisages providing such skills and opportunities to the communities
which will help them to progress successfully. As the private sectors have been rising on rapid
basis thus there is an ever increasing demand for the skilled workforce in Australia. Thus, high
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quality of vocational education in the different sectors like IT, healthcare, retail and
manufacturing is the need of the hour and the e-learning initiatives will help to economic
empowerment to the people of Australia.

In order to focus on its belief to make “investment in talent and intelligence” one of the

significant priorities in the present day education system in Australia, the government of

Australia has decided to open up new universities in the different parts of the country which will

specifically focus on STEM education in their entire curriculum will be replaced by the e-

learning materials. But there is a lack of proper research studies which could identify the

efficiency of the protocols that are being used for the e-learning and advanced education systems

and the impact such advanced mode of education on the aboriginal youth and the aboriginal

government employees working in various ministries and departments of Australian Government

(Alotaibi and Alsaeedi, 2016). It is important to identify whether the present approaches to

implement the STEM courses has been able to increase the interest of the student in these

subjects and disciplines. Also it will be important whether the students are able to success in the

higher level STEM courses and whether the students are able to retain the information taught

under the STEM courses for longer time periods and develop a deep understanding of the topics

(Williams, Walter, Henderson, & Beach, 2015). In the present time the changes and

transformation in the world is taking place at a very fast pace and the 21st century is the century

for teaching and learning. The main importance of the learning and the teaching of the 21st

century is that these are based on the real life application of the knowledge or project based.

Discuss the global management skills that need to develop in order for a manager to be
effective and successful?

Performance management may be defined as a process which is generally used by the managers
of a company to get the employees of the company to achieve company’s goals and objectives of
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the company. It is a systematic way of improving the overall effectiveness of the team members
and improving the capabilities of the team members (Mone, et al, 2011). But there are various
challenges that can arise when during the implementation of the performance management such
as development and planning of the individual mission and objectives, managing and reviewing
the performance of the employees and adequately rewarding performance of the employees.

The main challenge that is faced in the implementation of the performance management system
and tools is to clearly establish the mission and individual objectives which can help an
employee understand his responsibilities and duties. The motive of developing a proper mission
statement in terms of the employee’s perspective is that it will help to motivate the employees.
The motivated employees show better persistence, productivity and performance and are thus
more self-driven (Dahling and Malley, 2011). Thus the motivated employees are more engaged
with their job. The second challenge is managing and reviewing performance. The main
challenge in this segment is to increase the communication in the organization so that employees
can participate actively in the formulation of the business plan. A proper employment
communication will be helpful in increasing the job satisfaction and performance of the
employee and thus it will result in the success of the organization. The main aspect of managing
the employees is to provide them the qualitative and the quantitative standards for judging them
so that the employees will be aware of the standards, which will be helpful in encouraging them.
Another main challenge is to reward the employee’s depending upon their skills and
accomplishment (Armstrong and Baron, 2004). This process is process is important to the
organization as it provides the company feed back of the employee performances and the
important changes that are necessary to be carry out in the organization.

In order to enhance the implementation of the performance management systems by enhancing

the integrated training and development it is important that the employees are have the
opportunity to evaluate themselves (Aguinis, 2012). Integrated training and development will
help the employees to understand how the performance of the employees is related to the overall
vision of the company. The continuous training and development of the employees will help
them to improve their skills and knowledge which in turn will improve their productivity and
performances. These processes will help the employees to update their knowledge so as to
increase their efficiency by recognizing their deficiency and addressing them (Armstrong and
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Baron, 2004). The training and development will provide an opportunity to strategically evaluate
the performance of the employees which will be helpful in rewarding the performance of the
employees. The performance evaluation can be used as a tool to discuss with the employees their
course of training that they feel necessary to carry out their activities. These systems will
motivate the employees to give their best performance. There are some researchers who have
emphasized on the assessing and evaluating the learning so that the effectiveness of the teaching
can be improved. One of the important aspects of the different practices that were developed for
improving the learning and the teaching process is that all these processes were developed
independently. Thus each of the practice focused on different goals and thus they are based
different type of population. The earlier research studies lacks in the communications across the
different disciplines of STEM and within the sub-disciplines. Hence after many years of
financial support and years of effort there is very little knowledge about the effectiveness of the
approaches that has been used for the implementation of the STEM courses. It has been found
that in the recent times there has been rise in the number of jobs which requires the knowledge of
STEM disciplines. Also there is a growing trend of the individual and the societal decisions
being taken on the basis of the understanding of the STEM, like comprehending the medical
diagnosis or evaluation of the claims related to the environment and the management of the day
to day activities which are widely based on the different computer based applications (Wagar &
Carroll, 2012).

Is/are there any ethical implication/s? If there is/are, what is/are they?
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With the rise in the financial support and sponsorships from the various private and the

government organizations it has become possible to carry out research into the effectiveness of

the strategies related to the implementation of the various promising practices related to teaching,

learning, assessment and the process of the STEM programs for the aboriginals school children.

The researches in the field of the promising practices are generally based on the ways to improve

the process of teaching and the changes that can be made in the departments. In the last few

decades there have been various practices which has been implemented in different grain sizes.

Some of the methods have been based on the specific classroom while the other practices were

based on the restructuring of the curriculum (Addy, Simmons, Gardner, & Albert, 2015). The

main intent behind the introduction of the STEM education in the schools of Australia is to

impart such skills to the students so that they are more productive and they have the necessary

skills which will make them successful in the industry and business and hence can contribute

substantially in the development of the country. But these STEM education methods have not

been successful due to the fact that these are not designed keeping in mind the aboriginal

students. This is the main ethical question that is linked to STEM education of aboriginal

students.

It is a known fact that science, mathematics, engineering and technology are the achievements of

the culture which shows the humanity of the people, the power of the economy and they are part

of the fundamental aspects of the lives of the people. Innovation will be the key in the future

which will drive the creation of jobs in an economy and this innovation will be largely based on

the advances which have been made in the field of science and technology. The main goal of the

STEM education system in Australia is to increase the number of aboriginal students who are

pursuing advanced degrees in the field of STEM and increase the participation of aboriginal
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women and the underprivileged classes (Martinez Ortiz & Sriraman, 2015). Also it will be

important to increase the literacy of all students in STEM disciplines along with those students

who have taken the STEM related courses. There are thoughts of having schools which

exclusively focus on the STEM disciplines. These schools generally have the curriculum

designed around the STEM subjects and they have selective criteria for admission. These schools

generally enroll less number of highly motivated and talented students who have demonstrated

good aptitude in STEM discipline. There can be different criteria for the identification of the

successful STEM schools like the outcome of the aboriginal students studying in the school.

There can also be criteria which are based on the focused school and their programs related to

the STEM disciplines as schools are considered as the best way to achieve the desired STEM

outcomes (Smith, Rayfield, & McKim, 2015). The changes in the economic drivers and the

changes in the demographics due to the globalization and migration has contributed greatly to the

challenges which are being faced by Australia to have a competitive workforce which can match

the best global standards. There is an urgency for correcting the curriculum in the schools in

Australia and prepare generations related to the STEM leadership. This evaluation is important

for securing the economy and the national security of Australia as most of the advanced

countries in the world are preparing their citizens to work in an knowledge based environment.

With the increase in the focus in the science and technology, engineering and mathematics it will

be possible to create new scopes of job creation.

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References

Addy, T., Simmons, P., Gardner, G., & Albert, J. (2015). Research and Teaching: A New

"Class" of Undergraduate Professors: Examining Teaching Beliefs and Practices of Science

Faculty With Education Specialties. Journal Of College Science Teaching, 044(03).

http://dx.doi.org/10.2505/4/jcst15_044_03_91

Martinez Ortiz, A. & Sriraman, V. (2015). Exploring Faculty Insights Into Why Undergraduate

College Students Leave STEM Fields of Study- A Three-Part Organizational Self-

Study. American Journal Of Engineering Education (AJEE), 6(1), 43.

http://dx.doi.org/10.19030/ajee.v6i1.9251

Smith, K., Rayfield, J., & McKim, B. (2015). Effective Practices in STEM Integration:

Describing Teacher Perceptions and Instructional Method Use. Journal Of Agricultural

Education, 56(4), 182-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.5032/jae.2015.04183

Spring, C. (2014). Starbucks: Examining Brand Equity Through Effective Social Media. Journal

Of Purdue Undergraduate Research, 4(1), 94-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315471

Wagar, T. & Carroll, W. (2012). Examining Student Preferences of Group Work Evaluation

Approaches: Evidence From Business Management Undergraduate Students. Journal Of

Education For Business, 87(6), 358-362. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2011.628345

Williams, C., Walter, E., Henderson, C., & Beach, A. (2015). Describing undergraduate STEM

teaching practices: a comparison of instructor self-report instruments. IJ STEM Ed, 2(1).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40594-015-0031-y
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Appendix:

ARTICLE

Poor education is letting

Indigenous children down
The Drum

By Hughes and Hughes

Posted 6 Jul 2012, 2:25am

PHOTO: The highest failure rates are in

Indigenous schools - those with more than 75 per cent Indigenous attendance (AAP) (Glen
McCurtayne: AAP Image, file photo)

Recently released census Indigenous data for 2011 shows that

more than 85 per cent of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
live in capital cities and regional towns and work in a range of
occupations as truck drivers, tradies, professionals and
managers.
These Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people earn wages and
salaries or are self-employed, pay taxes, and own or are buying their
own homes. Their children attend mainstream public and private
schools where they perform like other Australian children.
More than 80 per cent of Indigenous students in New South Wales,
Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory
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achieve minimum national standards. There is a significant minority,

however, who are failing basic literacy and numeracy tests. And this
minority has not improved over the four years since NAPLAN tests
began in 2008.
Indigenous students comprise 4.8 per cent of all school students,
almost double the Indigenous population (2.5 per cent percentage of
the population), according to the 2011 Census estimates.
Higher fertility rates and a lower life expectancy explain only a small
part of this disparity. The rapid Indigenous population growth rate
evident in the 2011 Census is because virtually all children of
intermarriage are identified as Indigenous, which has led to a high
proportion of Indigenous students.
Students with an Indigenous and a non-Indigenous parent take pride
in both heritages, Indigenous and the other – be it Anglo-Celtic,
Chinese, Jewish, or whatever the origin of their parents and
grandparents.
Despite the success of most Indigenous Australians, a significant
minority continue to miss out on the benefits of Australian life.
Indigenous Australians are overrepresented in welfare dependent
families, and the high proportion of Indigenous students who fail
literacy and numeracy cannot progress to jobs and careers.
In 2008, the Commonwealth reduced Indigenous education targets
from 'fix the problem in four years' to 'fix half the problem in 10 years'.
NAPLAN results show that Queensland has made the greatest
progress in reducing failure rates, followed by Western Australia, but
even these states are far from achieving parity between Indigenous
and non-Indigenous students.
The other states and territories are not even on track to achieve the
COAG (Council of Australian Governments) target of 'halving the gap
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students' by 2018.
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COAG policies have become a principal obstacle to improving literacy

and numeracy because COAG sees 'Indigeneity' as the principal
cause of Indigenous student failure.
More than $360 million is being spent on Indigenous-specific
'culturally appropriate' literacy and numeracy programs each year.
These programs are not only wasteful but actually counterproductive
because they take attention and resources away from classroom
instruction.
A recent example is the additional funding of $800,000 to place artists
(theatre specialists, puppeteers, visual artists, and circus performers)
in schools that do not have the funds to employ full-time qualified
teachers for all their students.
It is no coincidence that Queensland, which only spent $850 per
student on such programs, has been much more successful than
South Australia, which has made no inroads into Indigenous failure
despite spending $6,000 per student on Indigenous-specific
expenditures.
The highest failure rates are in Indigenous schools - those with more
than 75 per cent Indigenous attendance. They enrol some 20,000
students, mainly in bush communities on Indigenous lands that have
no private sectors or real jobs, and are hence totally welfare
dependent. These schools typically have failure rates of more than 90
per cent.
More than 40 Homelands Learning Centres in the Northern Territory
do not have a qualified teacher all days of the week. Only a handful of
Indigenous schools such as the Cape York Partnership 'academies'
and three schools run by the Queensland Department of Education
have introduced rigorous literacy and numeracy instruction, a full
primary curriculum, and after-school 'club' activities.
In the few schools with high ethos, where students make progress
from day to day and from week to week, attendance booms.
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Another 40,000 Indigenous students attend 'residualised' mainstream

schools that draw students from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Indigenous students sit side by side with non-Indigenous students.
Instead of offsetting social disadvantage, these schools are swamped
by it, with poor discipline leading to high staff turnover and poor
teaching.
Employers complain that graduates from these schools do not have
adequate literacy and numeracy. These schools are not a problem of
Indigenous education but a national problem.
Governments at all levels are miserably letting down Australian school
students; instead, they need to refocus on achieving quality education
outcomes so that all students can have better opportunities later in
life.