At a time when the country feels more divided than ever, there’s an inspiring initiative coming out of the Christian education sector. Phillip Heath, the Head of Sydney’s prestigious Barker College, is challenging all Australian private schools to partner with First Nations communities.
Phillip has already created bilingual campuses in three locations, including northeast Arnhem Land and is advocating for the establishment of at least 50 similar schools around the country. Phillip recently joined us on 20Twenty to talk about why he believes there’s never been a more important time to collaborate with Indigenous schools.
Significant Hurdles
When it comes to reporting educational outcomes in Australia, Indigenous children are often in a category of their own. They’re frequently excluded from the mainstream database because statistically speaking, they face significant hurdles getting through a typical school day when compared to their non-Indigenous peers.
‘Their attendance rates are lower,’ says Philip, ‘and their health and wellbeing rates typically are lower. And it’s not simply in remote Australia, it’s in metropolitan Australia too.’ Phillip believes this data reflects the long-held policy of the nation to allow primary school education to do its best, and then bring a different approach to high school, including things like boarding school, to help bridge the gap.
A Matter of Justice
‘Schools with capacity and particularly with a Christian conscience need to enter this space,’ says Phillip, ‘because it is a matter of justice in the living experience of the land.’
Current data suggests that indigenous kids are up to 40 times more likely to be stopped by law enforcement agencies on suspicion of misconduct. There might be perfectly legitimate fears about how they’re behaving in public, but there is also a sense in which Australia has not yet come to terms with its own story.
‘Education is one of the key components in all of that,’ says Phillip. ‘It’s terribly important for schools with some sort of capacity and conscience to get involved.’
Genuine Reconciliation
Like all genuine reconciliation, any presumptions about the cultural experience people may have had must be left at the door. We often think that we are going in to help, and in one sense, that is true. But by entering into the story of another, we need to enter into it fully and respectfully. It is not our role to rescue people, but to work with them and create new possibilities.
‘It’s about relationship,’ says Phillip. ‘It’s about partnership. And that must be in its fullest and most authentic sense of sharing. We must be willing and prepared to sit and listen and be taught ourselves.’
‘In my experience, God blesses this work incredibly.’
Listen to Phillip’s full interview on 20Twenty below:
