East Kimberley Girl’s Program

A commitment to Improve Girls Education and Life Chances in the Kimberley

In partnership with the Gelganyem Trust

In 2007, the Fogarty Foundation entered into a partnership with the Gelganyem Trust to commission research into a culturally suitable Girl’s Education Program for the East Kimberley.

At the time, the Gelganyem Trust was seeking to identify a program that would directly achieve improved school retention and attendance rates for girls in the East Kimberley.

As a first step, the Gelganyem Trust partnered with the Fogarty Foundation and commissioned Kurongkurl Katitjin (a Noongah phrase meaning ‘coming together to learn’) which is part of Edith Cowan University’s Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research. ECU collated data about indigenous teenage girls, who are disengaged from mainstream education, their reasons for disengagement, and what is needed in order for them to re-engage in education.

The report was completed in February 2009 and identified three main barriers to girls’ lack of engagement in mainstream education, namely:

1. The current school environment where negative influences, such as bullying, occurred.
2. The home environment where negative influences such as poor role models, lack of discipline and serious social problems occurred.
3. Personal/social reasons such as ‘shame’ in intimate relationships or teenage pregnancy.

In addition, the Report also highlighted that the girls’ educational expectations were low, as were their employment goals.

Based on the data in the ECU Report, some of the main recommendations for the types of educational programs to re-engage with these girls included:

• the location – somewhere that the girls feel comfortable going to;
• be run by people who the girls respect and like, and feel comfortable being with;
• provide support to increase girls’ academic skills, particularly to improve their literacy and numeracy, and their skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Standard Australian English;
• support and develop the girls’ knowledge and understanding of their own language and culture;
• develop their confidence and resilience;
• develop their life skills, such as goal setting, emotional intelligence and healthy lifestyles; and
• broaden their knowledge of career and other life opportunities;

Next Steps

The report findings concluded that there is no existing single program that will be able to target all the different needs of girls to improve their educational opportunities.

The Fogarty Foundation has encouraged the Gelganyem Trust and the Miriuwung Gajerrong Ord Enhancement Scheme, the two major Traditional Owner Groups in the East Kimberley, to commit to working in partnership, to shape and deliver a robust and innovative project that directly addresses the educational needs of girls in the East Kimberley.

Update: May 2010

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed involving the Miriuwung Garerrong Ord Enhancement Scheme (MG OES), Gelganyem Trust, Kununurra District High School, Wuman and the Kimberley District Office of the Department of Education. The parties of the MOU plan to set up and deliver an off-school campus education program for girls who are disengaged from the formal educational system. The initiative started in Term 1 2010 and aims to return the young women to school (either in Kununurra or beyond) or start them in vocational training, or meangingful employment. The MOU will be reviewed in October 2010.