The First National Curriculum document outlining how Agoriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages can be taught in schools has been released for public consumption.
Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett said the draft Framework for Aboriginal Languages and Torres Strait Islander Languages would supports community language revival and maintenance.
Under the framework there will be three different learning pathways to best cater for particular groups of students including the First Language Learner Pathway, which will cater for students whose first language is still spoken as the main or one of the main languages of everyday communication.
‘Keeping language alive in our community is really important, but until now there has been no national approach’ Mr Garrett said. ‘Under the new national curriculum we want to see a more consistent approach while still making the curriculum flexible and able to take into account local needs and circumstances’.
He said there were more than 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages spoken in Australia. ‘This draft framework sets out how teachers and schools can work with local communities to keep language alive and encourage more young Indigenous Australians to learn and communicate in language,’ he said.
