ACHIEVING OUTCOMES FOR ABORIGINAL STUDENTS THROUGH ABORIGINAL
DECISION MAKING IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT FOR
SCHOOLS AND PRESCHOOLS
ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY VOICE
Information for local communities, principals, directors and governing
councillors
The Department for Education, and Children’s Services (DECS) affirms its commitment
to reconciliation between all Australians.
In each school or preschool, the governing council, in partnership with the principal or
director, makes decisions about how its resources are used. If the council is to know
what parents want and what students need, it needs to build partnerships with parents
and other members of the local community.
Local governance and school-based management has the potential to facilitate greater
participation of Aboriginal people in educational decision making and to support the key
goal stated in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy
(NAEP).
Goal 1: To establish effective arrangements for the participation of Aboriginal
parents and community members in decision making regarding the planning,
delivery and evaluation of preschool, primary and secondary education services
for their children.
This document outlines the rationale for establishing Aboriginal decision making
structures and processes in the local school or preschool community and provides
advice and strategies on increasing effective Aboriginal involvement in partnership. It
describes the relationship of the Aboriginal Parent community voice to the governing
council.
What is Aboriginal Community Voice?
The Aboriginal Community Voice will be the key structure to implement this greater and
more effective participation in educational decision making. Theses groups have been
called Yurrekaityarindi, which literally means ear encircled – to hear and to be attentive
in a reciprocal manner. The name Yurrekaityarindi is not appropriate in some cultural
contexts. Cultural groups are encouraged to use a name appropriate for their own
community. An aboriginal Community Voice committee of Aboriginal people reflects the
diversity of Aboriginal families in a community. It will be officially recognised by the
governing council and the principal or director as the formal group providing advice and
communications between the school or preschool, and parents and the broader
Aboriginal community.
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Success for Aboriginal students derives from the cultural support, recognition and
acknowledgement that can only be achieved by active and effective relationships
between Aboriginal parents and the school and preschool community.
In the past, many Aboriginal parents have felt unwelcome or have felt that they and
their children were not important to the school. When programs were set up to support
Aboriginal children, parents rarely influenced decisions made about those programs.
Governing councils of schools and preschools will need to work hard and commit to
building strong partnerships with Aboriginal communities.
Principles
The principles, which support the formation of Aboriginal Community Voice committees,
are described in terms of the right of all Aboriginal students to high quality schooling
and the rights and responsibilities of parents as the first educators of their children.
Through local governance and management, schools and preschools acknowledge the
capacity of all Aboriginal students to learn by:
 Providing a climate that welcomes and values all Aboriginal students and that
expects and supports them to achieve equitable and appropriate educational
outcomes
 Establishing effective teaching and learning relationships between the educator and
the Aboriginal learner
 Enrolling all compulsory aged Aboriginal children and expecting all Aboriginal
children to attend school regularly, be actively engaged and to participate in a
meaningful and confident manner
 Expecting all Aboriginal students to be fluent in Standard Australian English and, at
the same time, being inclusive of the students’ home language
 Increasing the number of Aboriginal people across all staffing levels and increasing
the involvement of Aboriginal community members in schools and preschools
 Providing a curriculum which:
o Allows Aboriginal students to share in the same educational opportunities
experienced by other Australian students and which allows them to be strong
in their own culture and language and to reposition their cultures, languages,
histories, beliefs and lifestyles in a way which affirms identity and the ability
to operate in cross-cultural situations
o Supports all students to understand and acknowledge the value of Aboriginal
cultures to Australian society and to possess the knowledge, skills and
understandings to contribute to and benefit from reconciliation between
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples

Acknowledging the role of Aboriginal parents as the first educators of their children
by:
o Providing a climate that welcomes Aboriginal parents and caregivers as
valuable members of the school and preschool community
o Actively increasing public confidence in education and children’s services
through explicit involvement of Aboriginal parents, caregivers and community
in the achievement of equitable and appropriate educational outcomes
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o Supporting parents and caregivers of Aboriginal students in their
responsibility to ensure that their children attend school or preschool
regularly
o Acknowledging the close relationship between levels of Aboriginal
educational outcomes and poverty, health, housing and access to
government services and infrastructure by developing cross-portfolio
mechanisms to address these issues.
Aboriginal students and their families
The Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) is committed to
improving the educational outcomes for Aboriginal children and students. This
improvement will be strongest when it happens with the support and involvement of
Aboriginal families and communities.
All members of a governing council share responsibility for the learning outcomes of
students in a school and preschool. DECS’s Aboriginal Education Plan sets out the
desired outcomes and strategies to meet the needs of Aboriginal students. Governing
councils must know how to apply these strategies in their particular contexts.
To achieve successful learning outcomes:
 Aboriginal parents and community members need to be informed by the principal or
director and the governing council about school or preschool policies, programs and
resources
 The role of Aboriginal families in the education of Aboriginal students must be
valued and respected by governing councils, non-Aboriginal parents, and by school
and preschool staff
 The principal, the director and staff need to ensure that Aboriginal peoples’ input
and advice is sought about the whole school or preschool and its educational
programs for all students.
Aboriginal people who are members of the governing council have the same roles and
responsibilities as other council members. Aboriginal council members can support the
council in communicating with Aboriginal parents, including suggesting ways to gain
support and participation.
Structure of Aboriginal Community Voice
Aboriginal Community Voice is a committee of Aboriginal people reflecting the diversity
of Aboriginal families in the local community. The majority of members will be parents
or caregivers of students attending the school or preschool. Other members could
include representatives of Aboriginal community organisations, Aboriginal public
servants and other Aboriginal individuals committed to education. It may be appropriate
for one or two student members to be included.
Non-Aboriginal people who parent Aboriginal children and students may become
associate members of the Aboriginal Community Voice committees. An associate
member is not entitled to vote in Aboriginal Community Voice meetings or to be elected
as an office holder. Non-Aboriginal staff (in particular, the principal/director) and
members of the governing council are encouraged to attend Aboriginal Community
Voice meetings as associate members.
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The Aboriginal Community Voice Committee will elect office holders: chairperson,
deputy chairperson, secretary or treasurer. Only members (Aboriginal persons) will be
eligible to nominate or vote. Persons nominated by the Aboriginal Community Voice
committee to serve on the governing council must be Aboriginal.
The Aboriginal Community Voice committee will be officially recognised by the
governing council and the principal or director as the formal group for advice and
communications between the school or preschool and parents and the broader
Aboriginal community.
Where there are a significant number of Aboriginal students, the Aboriginal Community
Voice committee will usually be an affiliated committee of the governing council, with a
constitution approved by the Minister. Where numbers in schools/preschools are small,
an Aboriginal Community Voice committee may become an affiliated committee for
several school and preschool governing councils within a region or district.
In other situations, a governing council may recognise the Aboriginal Community Voice
Committee as a committee of the council, comprising council members and nonmembers, to advise on matters pertaining to Aboriginal students and Aboriginal
Education.
Governing Council & Aboriginal Community Voice Committees
Governing council membership for schools and preschools with Aboriginal children and
students will normally include Aboriginal people nominated by the Aboriginal
Community Voice Committee. For schools and preschools with a significant Aboriginal
proportion of the total student population it is expected that the proportion of identified
Aboriginal council positions would reflect that number. It is strongly recommended that
at least two positions on the governing council be identified for Aboriginal parents.
The Aboriginal Community Voice Committee should be an affiliated committee of the
governing council and the right to nominate members to it is specified in the council’s
model constitution. Affiliated committees are formal structures recognised in the South
Australian Education Amendment Act 2000. An affiliated committee must have its own
constitution that has been approved by the Minister, and must operate within the
relevant legislation and regulations.
Where Aboriginal students are a significant proportion of the total student population,
formal affiliation should be established. However, schools and preschools with
relatively few Aboriginal students and parents may prefer not to affiliate and to benefit
from the flexibility of operating their Aboriginal Community Voice Committees without a
formal constitution.
Role of governing council and principal or director
Decisions about how to spend the resources provided through the budget will be made
by a locally elected governing council in partnership with the principal or director. The
governing council is accountable to the Minister for developing and achieving the
objectives and targets that are set out in each site’s annual Plan.
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The governing council is responsible for setting the objectives, values and strategies for
the school or preschool. As well as developing local policies and planning programs,
the council will monitor and review outcomes of the site’s plans and policies. The
council works with the principal or director and staff in identifying ways of measuring
outcomes and demonstrating progress. The council participates in the selection of the
principal.
The principal or director is responsible for the implementation of all operational matters
pertaining to the school/preschool. The principal or director remains accountable to the
Chief Executive, DECS, for staff supervision, for day-to-day management of the school,
and for the provision of quality curriculum, teaching and learning for all students.
The principal/director’s accountability includes provision of accurate and timely reports,
and information and advice relevant to the Aboriginal Community Voice functions. This
includes the monitoring and reporting of the use of resources provided through the
budget and the achievement of outcomes as identified in the Aboriginal Strategy 20052010.
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