Engaging Indigenous Parents in Preparing their Children for School. Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth

his paper examines the evidence showing high levels of vulnerability in the Indigenous population from the early years of life and span physical, social and cognitive areas of development. For many of these Indigenous children this early vulnerability will impact on their ability to do well at school; most will find learning extremely difficult, and their general health, social and emotional wellbeing and education outcomes are likely to limit their opportunities later in life. At the same time, the strengths of Indigenous children, parents, extended families and communities are often overlooked and diminished by inappropriate interventions, unintended outcomes of policy decisions and inexperienced (albeit well intentioned) practitioners. There is widespread system failure underpinned by dominant paradigms and bureaucratic inertia that results in a lack of access to resources and services, unrealistic funding cycles, short program implementation timeframes, and inappropriate performance measures to evaluate program effectiveness. System-wide racism and misunderstanding foster feelings of mistrust and betrayal among Indigenous communities and fuel the effects of transgenerational loss and dysfunction experienced by thousands of Indigenous families. The paper examines the research and practice evidence relating to engaging parents and families in early development and the process of school readiness, and draws on the knowledge, wisdom and practice experience of Indigenous people.