 |
Media Release
INCREASED FUNDING FOR MURDI PAAKI TO BENEFIT STUDENTS
5 August, 2004 MIN 836/04
The educational achievements of Indigenous students in the Murdi Paaki region of New South Wales are to be accelerated through extra funding for two important Australian Government projects.
The Books in Home programme and What Works Success Zones project are highly innovative initiatives that have already achieved positive results for Indigenous students throughout Australia.
Murdi Paaki is situated in Western New South Wales and covers almost one-third of the State, stretching from the Victorian border to the Queensland border. It is one of seven Council of Australian Governments (COAG) trial sites and for which I am the lead Minister.
Books in Homes programme
The Books in Home programme will continue for another year. This means almost 6,000 primary school children in the region will experience the joys of reading high quality books through additional funding of up to $420,000.
Over the next three terms all primary school aged children in the region will receive nine free books, thereby encouraging these children to read more.
Launched in Murdi Paaki late last year, the Books in Home programme encourages primary school students to engage with literature by having an extensive range of high quality books at their fingertips – books that meet a broad range of reading abilities.
Almost 54,000 books will be made available free of charge to children in the region. Students are able to select from 48 books each term and each school receives a master set of books for its own library. All primary school students in the region have already received nine free books over three school terms for their personal use, allowing them to own a ‘library’ of books to keep and share with other family members.
The Murdi Paaki initiative follows the highly successful Books in Homes pilot conducted by the Australian Government in 2001 in the Northern Territory and Queensland, involving almost 11,000 primary school aged children.
Echoing the positive results from the pilot, the Murdi Paaki students already in the programme have been motivated to read at home for pleasure, with demonstrated improvements in their reading skills and general school performance. Feedback from school principals and teachers has been universally favourable.
The programme is being managed on behalf of the Government by the Alan Duff Charitable Foundation for Books in Homes Australia.
Extension of the What Works Success Zones Project
I am also pleased to announce today funding of $395,000 to support the extension of the What Works Success Zones in the Murdi Paaki region, to accelerate the educational achievements of Indigenous students.
The What Works project provides a package of professional action materials designed to help teachers and schools improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The What Works project encourages teachers to have high expectations for the success of their Indigenous students. More than 10,000 principals, teachers and other educators have had access to support since the project began in 2003.
As part of the current What Works project, intensive support is being given to groups of schools in “Success Zones”. Two of the Success Zones take in the Moree and Bourke School Education Areas located in the Murdi Paaki area. The schools have been encouraged to meet and form action groups to identify best practice, share ideas and support each other to co-operatively address issues in their region.
The extension of the What Works Success Zones in the Murdi Paaki area will enable further support to be offered to more than 200 schools in the next twelve months. An Indigenous Education Plan will be developed to enhance the education of 6000 Indigenous students in this region. This plan will set achievement targets for Indigenous students to encourage their success at school.
One of the positive results of the project continues to be the partnerships between government agencies which are working together to find ways to help schools engage Indigenous students and improve their learning outcomes.
For more information on both programmes go to: http://www.whatworks.edu.au/ and www.biha.com.au
Media Contacts:
Dr Nelson’s Office: Ross Hampton 0419 484 095
Dept of Education, Science & Training: Laila Lacis 0412 040 034
|
