From Attendance Crisis to Participation Crisis Reframing the

From Attendance Crisis to Participation Crisis Reframing the Indigenous Attendance Problem Ian Mackie Assistant Director General Indigenous Education and Training Futures

The Need for Innovation The Equilibrium

The Four Pillars of Innovation • Dynamics of Recognition • Connectedness • Principles of Persuasion for Principals • The Service Guarantee

Where are we? Data show us Indigenous education has been in a longterm equilibrium. This equilibrium has been marked by: – low expectations and aspirations among students, communities and teachers – low student achievement – low student attendance – high student and community marginalisation, suffering and poverty.

Attendance Year Indigenous Non-Indigenous Gap 2006 86. 0 92. 6 6. 6 2007 85. 4 92. 3 6. 9 2008 84. 4 91. 7 7. 3 2009 83. 9 91. 3 7. 4 2010 84. 8 91. 5 6. 8 2011 84. 5 91. 4 7. 0

Regimes of punishment 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 804 943 931 1030 Cancellation 327 367 529 816 1114 Long suspension 5819 6794 7390 7086 Exclusion 4926 Queensland Department of Education Training and Employment Data warehouse www. deta. qld. gov. au

Why attendance is important

Indigenous Education Achievement

Reasons for Attendance Crisis • Poor or hostile parental and carer attitudes towards school • Poor societal support or an insufficient valuing of education • Poor teaching & inconsistent attitudes and policies towards non-attendance • Poor Governmental support in terms of lenient application of the law; unsuitable curriculum and little provision for alternative schooling arrangements • Poor attitudes among the children in terms of the presence of bullying, peer pressure to skip school, poor self-esteem and lack of career aspirations • Poor jurisdictional strategies and policies • Poverty and unemployment and economic stagnation • Culture gap between boys and girls, rise of sub-cultures • Problems in research – little evidence of what works (Adapted from Purdie & Buckley, 2010, p. 3).

Truancy in NSW; Iemma Govt 2008

Part Two Innovation & Dynamics of Recognition & Identity

The Differentiated Other Same Other Trace Resource Exotic Comical Pitiable Resented Feared/Despised • Consumer Producer Fascinating Erotic

The Feared/Despised Other

The Resented Other We now have a situation where a type of reverse racism is applied to mainstream Australians by those who promote political correctness and those who control the various taxpayer funded "industries" that flourish in our society servicing Aboriginals, multiculturalists and a host of other minority groups. In response to my call for equality for all Australians, the most noisy criticism came from the fat cats, bureaucrats and the do-gooders. Pauline Hanson Maiden Speech – Hansard

The Pitiable Other

Comical Other

The Exotic/Erotic Other

Other as resource

Other as Trace

The Other as Resource & The shape of Australia

Indigenous Australia

Bernard Salt: The Australian May 26, 2011 • Net overseas migration… peaked at a historic 316, 000 in the year to December 2009 • Dropped to 177, 000 the following (election) year. • The net overseas migration assumption required to deliver the big Australia 180, 000. • We seem to have settled on a trajectory that will deliver the big Australia's 36 million by midcentury.

David Uren: The Australian, May 06, 2011 If Australia stopped all migration, its population would still grow by 1. 1 million over the next 10 years from natural growth: • The numbers of working age would rise by only 21, 000. • The numbers aged 65 and over would rise by 944, 000.

Part Three Connectedness

Defining Connectedness The extent to which community, family, & students feel personally: • accepted, • respected, • included and • supported by others in the school environment (based on Goodenow, 1993, p. 80)

The Connectedness Paradigm Build the connected: Student Family • • Child Family School Community

What’s so good about Connectedness? Helps with students’: Helps Prevent: • Violence • academic motivation, academic achievement, • Alcohol & drug abuse • quality retention, • Risk behaviours • emotional & mental health

Part Four Principals of Persuasion

Principal as Persuader/ Compliance Professional

Architects of Nudge Theory: Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein

Nudge Defined A nudge is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way

Automatic System (Humans) Is rapid and feels instinctive • Gives us: • Gut reactions – the power of inertia – The tyranny of the default setting

Reflective system (Econs) • More deliberate and self conscious; • E. g. converting speed of delivery in metric into imperial measure; • Speaking a foreign language (Reflective); • Speaking native language (Automatic);

Choice Architect A choice architect has the responsibility for organizing the context in which people make decisions

Loss adverse We are loss adverse • People are twice as keen to keep something than they are to gain the same thing. • E. g. UK Govt back down on privatisation of forests. People didn’t want to lose their forests. • Can we persuade parents & students that schooling is something they own and so should not lose? • One day of schooling is worth about $60. Don’t lose it.

Sinful goods • Immediate benefit • Later costs

Standard non-attendance letter This letter: Approved by lawyers Threatens a fine Is disconnected from the psychology of change Language is complex Compliance value?

Possible nudges: Loss adverseness Ian has lost 10 days of his schooling this term. Lee’s attendance is above the state average. If he loses a lot of days then he will probably lose the chance to get a good job. Well done. Every day counts

From the Mackie Persuasion Matrix Reciprocity: be the first to give Authority/ Source Credibilitylook professional Consistency/ get them to commit publicly Relativity: Of coffins & Hearing Aids Scarcity Liking Get them to like you Social Norms Everyone is saying ‘yes”: I must too. Ego In the Marriott Narrative Hotel transportation

Part Five Innovation & the Service guarantee LEL

The Toxic Pipe Line Disconnected→ Dropout→Prison By the time they are in their 30 s some 52% of Afro-Americans have been in jail. http: //www. aclu. org/school-prisonpipeline-game

The Virtuous Pipeline Connected→ Retained → Educated → Job

Which Future-in the Present?

From Hattie 1: What we need • Remove any disparities between schools and between ethnicity achievements • Ensure all have adequate resources and teaching to attain appropriate outcomes • Further reduce competition between schools. Encourage sharing • Allow schools to become the major unit of evaluation • Measure success more in terms of teaching & learning effects

From Hattie 2: What good teachers do • Establish clearning intentions • Provide challenging success criteria • Employ a range of learning strategies • Know when students are not progressing • Provide feedback • Visibly learn themselves

From Hattie 3: Such that students… • Understand what the learning intentions are • Are challenged by success criteria • Develop a range of learning strategies • Know when they are not progressing • Seek feedback • Visibly teach themselves