TY - CHAP
T1 - Policy Change in 2008
T2 - Evidence-Based or a Knee-Jerk Response?
AU - Devlin, Brian
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Since the 1970s school attendance and student performance data have been used to determine the status and future of bilingual education programs in remote NT schools. They have primarily been evaluated for educational planning purposes, which is both acceptable and necessary. Regrettably, evidence has also been selectively compiled by Government officials at different times, as in 2008, to serve a particular political purpose. Bilingual education has always been contested since its inception in the NT. It is argued in this chapter that had this educational approach been better understood, there would have been greater official willingness to maintain support, and to continue refining it as a model of schooling appropriate for students in remote areas. Instead, in 2008 and 2009, some decision makers publicly debunked bilingual-biliteracy education, which they poorly understood, thereby diverting schools and communities, and distracting their attention away from the work that needed to be done.
AB - Since the 1970s school attendance and student performance data have been used to determine the status and future of bilingual education programs in remote NT schools. They have primarily been evaluated for educational planning purposes, which is both acceptable and necessary. Regrettably, evidence has also been selectively compiled by Government officials at different times, as in 2008, to serve a particular political purpose. Bilingual education has always been contested since its inception in the NT. It is argued in this chapter that had this educational approach been better understood, there would have been greater official willingness to maintain support, and to continue refining it as a model of schooling appropriate for students in remote areas. Instead, in 2008 and 2009, some decision makers publicly debunked bilingual-biliteracy education, which they poorly understood, thereby diverting schools and communities, and distracting their attention away from the work that needed to be done.
U2 - 10.1007/978-981-10-2078-0_17
DO - 10.1007/978-981-10-2078-0_17
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9789811020766
T3 - Language Policy
SP - 203
EP - 218
BT - History of bilingual education in the Northern Territory
A2 - Devlin, Brian
A2 - Disbray, Samantha
A2 - Devlin, Nancy
PB - Springer Singapore
CY - Singapore
ER -