Moving from his home town in Alice Springs to Shepparton in the heart of Victoria's Goulburn Valley fruit bowl presented 23 year old Charlie Maher with considerable lifestyle changes.
His participation in DEST’s Indigenous Youth Mobility Programme (IYMP) allowed Charlie to handle these changes by increasing his skills and therefore his self-confidence through training. During 2006 he has attained a Certificate III in Sport and has also completed a first aid course and secured certificates in food handling and sports training.
Charlie’s developing self-confidence has also allowed him to take up a part time position as a student liaison officer and mentor with the Alternative Education Pathways programme at the local Notre Dame Catholic college. This programme, funded under DEST’s Whole of School Intervention initiative, provides vital secondary school opportunities for students who are not succeeding in the mainstream system.
Other highlights of Charlie’s year included being selected in the Aboriginal All Stars football team which played in the National Country Football Championships on the Gold Coast in July. Charlie performed so well at this carnival he was selected in the Australian Country Football team.
With funding of about $56.3 million from 2004 to 2009, IYMP offers significant benefits to young Indigenous people willing to travel and take up training and development opportunities available in larger centres.
Parental commitment - Some of the parents and students involved in the Parents and Learning Group initiative since its inception |
The Parents and Learning Group (PAL) is a partnership between Rio Tinto and Napranum community, near Weipa in northern Queensland. PAL is a project that started in 2002. The programme was developed and trialled in the Aboriginal community of Napranum. This was in response to requests from parents of preschoolers for assistance with activities and strategies they could use at home with their young children to help prepare them for formal schooling.
While the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation was the principal funding source in the development and implementation of the programme, the Cairns District Office provided financial and other support to the Napranum community to finalise the trial in 2002 and maintain its continuity.
PAL is a two year home-based programme, which actively engages parents with their children in educational activities outside the constraints of "the school”. PAL tutors deliver educational kits – which have early literacy and numeracy as their focus – to parents at home. Parents undertake to read the story books and work with the educational activities in the kits. Kits are changed on a regular basis and the aim of the programme is to promote parent belief in themselves as effective contributors to the early education of their children.
The programme involves a parent or extended family member working with their child during school term. PAL personnel are Indigenous community members who are also parents who are trained and supported to teach participating parents how to use the kits and to ensure effective delivery within the community. The programme operates from the Napranum Preschool and maintains collaboration between preschool staff, parents and external early childhood professionals.
Expansion of the PAL programme is a major initiative for DEST’s Cairns District Office, as are extensive programme arrangements it has operating in Cape York. The department has engaged the Creche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland (C&K) to extend the programme to other communities in Cape York. Hopevale Community is currently operating a PAL program and Mapoon Community will soon commence.