Homeland Learning Centres (HLC) are primary and secondary educational facilities in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory of Australia, sometimes referred to as homelands or outstations. HLCs are operated by the Northern Territory Department of Education instead of schools. They do not have full-time qualified teachers for their students. there were 29 HLCs in the Northern Territory.
In the 1970s and 1980s, some Aboriginal families in the Northern Territory left larger communities (which had been based around church missions) to move back to their traditional lands, a movement known as the Homelands movement.[1] The very remote communities they created are usually referred to as "homelands" or "outstations". When faced with the difficulties of providing education in these Indigenous communities, the Northern Territory Government created Homeland Learning Centres (HLCs). Most are in very remote locations and some are often not accessible by road during the wet season. The NT Government built HLCs for Indigenous students in very remote communities while building schools for non-Indigenous students. According to the Education Department's Annual Report 2001–2002, "All Homeland Learning Centre students are assumed to be Indigenous".[2]
More than 70 HLCs were constructed, the most recent at Emu Point in 2005–2006.[3] Three were operated by the Catholic Education Office. The majority of HLCs are in East and West Arnhem Land (for HLC locations see the List of Homeland Learning Centres). The number of HLCs operational each year may vary, as some homelands are not always populated. The number of HLCs was gradually declining as some closed and others were upgraded to schools.[4] In 2008, the NT Government announced that two HLCs – Alparra and Baniyala (Yilpara) – would be upgraded to schools.[5]
Year Number of HLCs[6]
1998 54
1999 54
2000 55
2001 50
2002 54
2003 55
2004 53
2005 53
2006 51
2007 46
2008 45
2009 46
2010 45
2012 39
In May 2009, the NT government issued a policy statement on outstations/homelands, in which it stated: "Government will continue to provide support to larger outstations/homelands and homeland clusters through schools, homeland learning centres and residential models".[7]
In July 2017, the NT government invested to be used over the following three financial years[8] [9] "for refurbishment and upgrade of homeland learning centres to improve the educational experience and learning for students". In 2017–2018, building improvements were completed at Gangan Homeland, and works began in the Yirrkala region at Garrthalala, Dhalinybuy and Wandawuy.[10]
there were 29 HLCs in the Northern Territory. Works had been completed at Raymingirr, Mungkarta, Donydji HLCs, and an initial stage of work completed at Gochan Jiny-Jirra in the previous financial year.[11]
Homeland Learning Centres (HLCs) are not schools – they are not classified as schools by the Northern Territory government or by the Australian Federal Government, and differ from schools in three respects:
HLCs were built at low cost, without electricity or flush toilets. Most were single classrooms, and some were built as shelters with roofs and walls but without windows or doors. By the mid-2000s, many had been upgraded to electricity supplied by generators, but most still did not have ablution facilities such as handbasins, hot water, or flush toilets. Accommodation was not provided for teachers.[12]
HLC establishment and operation is based on the number of school-age students in a remote community, although there is often significant variation in actual implementation.
School age was considered to be from four to seventeen years. Twelve school age children entitles a community to an HLC; if the number drops below nine the HLC is closed.[13] HLCs are entitled to one non-qualified "Assistant Teacher" for each 17 students, and a visiting (non-resident) qualified teacher for every 22 students.
HLCs do not have their own principal. They are the responsibility of a school principal who is in charge of a "hub" school in a larger community. Yirrkala Homelands School, however, has no hub school – its principal is responsible only for several HLCs in East Arnhem.
Qualified teachers visit HLCs from one to four days each week.[14] Visiting qualified teachers are not present at HLCs for the full school day, due to time spent travelling to and from the HLC. In 2009 the NT Department of Education stated they plan to 'increase teaching by qualified teachers up to 5 or 6 hours per day in a virtual or face to face context'.[15]
HLCs are staffed by Indigenous Assistant Teachers. Assistant Teachers do not have teaching qualifications recognised by the Northern Territory Teacher Registration Board, or by other Teacher Registration Boards in Australia. Some Assistant Teachers have little or no English literacy or numeracy.
Until 2003, Indigenous students of secondary school age at HLCs did not receive a secondary education – "HLCs offer a primary education only – i.e. no preschool or secondary".[13] From 2003 secondary age students at some HLCs followed the "post-primary" curriculum used in remote Indigenous schools. In the post-primary curriculum mainstream, secondary subjects including humanities (such as history) and science (such as biology and physics) were either not included or were only superficially studied. Mathematics and English were rudimentary. The Program Book used in 2005 in some HLCs included:[16]
"Secondary English:
Where Do We Want Secondary Students to Get To?
Speaking
Reading
Writing
"Secondary Mathematics:
Where Do We Want Secondary Students To Get To?
Students at Homeland Learning Centres (HLCs) have the lowest English literacy and numeracy in Australia. NAPLAN(introduced in 2008) is Australia's national primary and secondary literacy and numeracy testing program. The NAPLAN results for 2008–2009 confirmed earlier state- and territory-based testing that show Northern Territory remote Indigenous students fail to meet Australian literacy and numeracy standards.[17] NAPLAN data showed that literacy and numeracy failure rates in very remote Northern Territory schools and HLCs approach 100%. Independent literacy testing in October 2007 showed that of 29 students aged 5 to 17 in one Homeland, none were beyond Year 1 (age 6) level.[18]
The University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education has partnered with Yirrkala Homelands School and the local public school at Yirrkala since 2011, a program by which pre-service teachers can complete a two- or four-week, self-funded placement. Some return to teach at remote schools. By November 2018, more than 60 student teachers had participated in placements in rural and remote settings, including North East Arnhem Land, and of these, 18 graduates returned to teach in NT schools.[1]