Indigenous Australia a powerful presence in the National Year of Reading

Indigenous cultural leaders are throwing their weight behind a campaign to get Australia reading.

Kunggadji and Birri-gubba writer and children’s laureate Boori Monty Pryor is inspiring a new generation of readers as an ambassador for the National Year of Reading (NYR).

Other Indigenous ambassadors include writers Marie Munkara and Anita Heiss. And Aboriginal singer Shelley Morris is promoting NYR’s touring exhibition, which starts its travels around the country in her home of Darwin.

Pryor and Morris brought their trademark energy and passion to the gala launch of NYR when it was opened by Prime Minister Julia Gillard recently at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.    view full story

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Find out more

Schooling is one of the building blocks in the Closing the Gap strategy, agreed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). It recognises that a good education is the way to jobs and opportunities in later life.

Two of the Closing the Gap targets set by COAG in 2008 relate to schooling:

• to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for children within a decade
• to halve the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 (or equivalent) attainment rates by 2020.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has a wide range of programs to assist Indigenous students.

Indigenous students are benefiting from the three Smarter Schools National Partnership Agreements and the Youth Attainment and Transitions National Partnership that are underpinning the Education Revolution. These agreements are for all Australians, but have Indigenous-specific measures.

Education is also being addressed as part of the Australian Government’s Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory legislation.

Education or non-government sector initiatives also support this building block:

• Stronger Smarter Learning Communities
• Australian Indigenous Education Foundation
• Dare to Lead
• Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience
• Generation One.

For more information on Indigenous schooling, including programs and student assistance, go to

• Indigenous at the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
• Indigenous Literacy Foundation.