The Australian Government’s Stronger Futures package will provide children in the Northern Territory a $583 million investment over 10 years after Aboriginal people telling the Government that education is a priority.

 

This will provide students with better access to improved education, with school attendance and enrolment rates in many communities a priority.

 

The funding will ensure that 200 teaching positions are retained in remote Northern Territory schools to ensure children have access to quality teaching. It attempts to enhance the quality of teaching to ensure children learn vital literacy and numeracy skills resulting in the best chance of getting a job in the future.  

 

This investment will ensure that all remote teachers, including local Aboriginal teachers, have the skills they need to provide specialist teaching in intensive numeracy and literacy for students with English as a second language, or who may experience learning difficulties.

 

The funding will also assist the Northern Territory Government to invest in professional development for Aboriginal school staff. This will help to increase the number of Aboriginal people with education qualifications and create pathways to assist local people to become teachers and education workers in their communities.

 

The Government will also continue to fund the School Nutrition Program, providing nutritious meals to about 5,000 students in 67 schools every school day to help them learn over the next decade. 

 

About 170 local Aboriginal staff are employed through this program to help in the preparation and delivery of meals.

 

Also on the agenda is providing funding to build up to 100 teacher houses in remote Northern Territory communities to tackle the shortages in staff housing.

 

The education funding includes the Government’s previously announced $85.6 million enhanced Improving School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure (SEAM).

 

This measure will be closely aligned with the Northern Territory Government’s Every Child Every Day strategy, to ensure greater engagement between schools and families and give parents extra support when they need it.

 

Under this initiative, if children fall below the set attendance benchmark, schools and Centrelink will work with families to develop attendance plans that will work to address barriers to attendance. This funding for SEAM includes providing Centrelink social workers and other support services to assist families.