indigenous tutorial assistance scheme
Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS)
Programs like the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) are essential to Jumbunna's efforts for learning development.
Students who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander have access to supplemental instruction via ITAS, which is offered regularly throughout the academic year. To help students meet their academic objectives, Jumbunna hires skilled tutors to pinpoint and address each student's unique academic requirements.
A contract between UTS and the Commonwealth Government provides funding for ITAS, which is overseen by the National Indigenous Australian Agency.
Request ITAS supplemental tuition assistance.
You must be of legal age to apply for ITAS.
Native American and/or Torres Strait Islander (able to provide a UTS Statutory Declaration or Confirmation of Aboriginality)
enrolled in a UTS undergraduate course or the Unistart program
UTS has been determined to need more education than UTS can afford.
Students who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders are encouraged to apply online. The current session's ITAS applications are currently being accepted.
programs for additional fees.
The Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) is a tuition program for reading and numeracy that supplements traditional teaching materials and aims to advance these abilities at crucial junctures in the first seven years of school. ATAS, the program's prior name during the previous quadrennium, has been changed to ITAS.
Tutors are paid by ITAS to support classroom instructors by providing one-on-one assistance in and out of the classroom. For this reason, ITAS tutors are referred to as providing "in-class" help, as opposed to tutors for the year 10–12 program and tutors who work in homework centers after courses are over. The amount of funding for ITAS will be determined by the proportion of indigenous children who have not passed the year 3, 5, or 7 reading or numeracy benchmark examinations or who are in danger of not passing these age-appropriate curriculum performance levels. Higher funding levels are available for students attending distant and very remote schools.
Justification for the ITAS adjustment
Any kind of policy discourse from the relevant minister is almost always absent from a Senate committee report's evidence. Rarely are ministerial remarks or speeches intended for second reading written with the intention of answering the types of questions a committee could have. Due to political factors, not procedural laws or customs, ministers often cannot come before Senate committees. DEST notes that ITAS financing is meant to be a "top up" to that supplied in the mainstream recurring budget from both the Commonwealth and the states and territories, but it does not justify or explain policy. According to a DEST representative, the government's policy is as follows:
The government claims that in this quadrennium it wanted to more strategically focus its Indigenous-specific funding so that, if the mainstream — for lack of a better term — was failing these kids at those points, strategically letting us use those funds to provide intensive support to those kids there. The key testing points in the mainstream were years 3, 5, and 7. No one is disputing the need for tutorial support throughout the early stages of education, but doing so may not be the best use of IESIP. Why aren't such expenses covered by General Recurrent Grants? [47]
The committee observes that DEST was unable to provide any evidence supporting an evaluation of the educational validity of the failure-based financing methodology. Given the information in this chapter, it may be inferred that this policy was motivated by the need for reporting.
The committee is concerned about three concerns related to modifications to the ITAS standards. First, there has been a cut in financing; second, it has been targeted; and third, it has been delayed. The repercussions of the financial cuts are still being felt, but they should ultimately be disclosed via performance reporting. Targeted funding is a more pressing concern because, in the opinion of teachers and system administrators, its guiding principles are inherently flawed from an educational standpoint because they are based on fixing what went wrong rather than laying a solid foundation for literacy in the early years of education. The distinction is that, at least with ITAS, in-class help flows to systems for distribution to their schools and the direct benefit of students, thus the committee's worries about financing delays repeat many of its critiques of PSPI.
The committee also notes that there has been a lot of criticism of the effects of the government's targeting on pupils from rural areas. A restricted budget's targeted use of cash has led to the underfunding of certain priorities in other sectors. Students in schools with low native student enrollment are those who are impacted in this case. The demands of kids in urban schools, notably those in the Top End who are partially nomadic and from NESB households, seem to have been underestimated by the government as well. Even if, at peak periods, the enrollment of indigenous students may considerably surpass the necessary number to obtain ITAS support, their itinerancy might prevent schools from receiving ITAS money. As a result, "targeting" ends up being a blunt tool of financial policy that, in this and other instances, does not always serve the pupils in the greatest need.
When the new program is fully implemented, there is a chance that fewer pupils will be cared for at certain schools. The new model does not account for the possibility that students who have previously succeeded in meeting criteria may need more assistance in subsequent years. Funding for 1666 students is expected to total around $3.7 million. It can seem as if fewer students will be qualified for more funding[48].
However, this is unlikely since ITAS (as opposed to the former ATAS) does not contain an administrative cost component that must be borne by governments and systems. In order to close the achievement gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students, it is predicted that the number of tutoring hours given to each student may be reduced by up to 25%. [49]
The financial loss is particularly large for several institutions. The Nyikina Mangala Community School's principal, Ms. Michele Forbes, demonstrated to the committee the huge variations in financial results possible with the new methodology. There are just 2 pupils who are qualified to take the benchmark test out of the 30 students at the Mangala School, who range in age from 4 to 17. The school got around $30,000 annually under the prior agreement, but just a few thousand dollars are anticipated under the current one. As Ms. Forbes noted, the funding disparity is virtually equal to a teacher's wage. [50]
ITAS and academic principles
According to IEDA's final report (2004), ATAS was a key strength of the program, even if there was no universally accepted reporting standard.
[51] Although it was not much, some of the most convincing data that was submitted to the committee cast doubt on the usefulness of ITAS under the current arrangements. In February 2005, the committee first heard criticism of the educational justification for Darwin's post-failure tuition. There were two connected problems. The first was that the financing was only available for years 4, 6, and 8. The second was that pupils in isolated areas were to get the scholarship. In other words, pupils attending schools in Darwin's suburbs were expected to get the same treatment as those attending schools in the big cities in the south.
First, let's talk about the money for years 4, 6, and 8: according to the government, funds should be used to address corrective requirements discovered as a result of benchmark tests carried out the year before, rather than continuing to provide assistance. It may be anticipated that assessment of this software will at least reveal some form of outcome, even if the justification for this was not properly articulated. In a major concession, the government has agreed that the school may spend the funds granted by this formula anyway it sees fit. For instance, it may be targeted at young children, which is where most experts feel it works best. The government's emphasis seems to be on having a standard by which to gauge progress, but the cash will still be distributed based on the benchmark tests.
If there are no short-term benchmark results, the alternative approach of spending money—concentrating it in the early years of schooling or distributing it on the advice of schools choosing the most at-risk pupils—may provide outcomes that are more difficult to assess. The committee takes it as a given that the government seeks early signs of success by all means feasible. The assumption is that education finance policies should be based on what can be reported rather than what is most important for attaining learning outcomes in the long run. The committee prefers a more flexible distribution of funds to those determined to be in most need so that ongoing support may be focused on the formative years of education. This is in line with the most recent learning studies, not only for pupils of indigenous descent. The committee thinks MCEETYA needs to create some radical policy to guarantee that this study is implemented.
A remedial learning program has come under fire for a variety of things, many of which are predicated on failure. According to the coordinator of indigenous education for the Catholic Education Office in Darwin, who called the financing model "pedagogically flawed" since it is just a financial formula—a method of allocating cash—this is a perverse incentive. The committee was given the assurance that the money would be spent wisely, notwithstanding the government's justification. [52]
The Queensland Catholic Education Office's representatives saw the system as indicative of a larger lack of understanding about the requirements of indigenous kids in addition to being pedagogically flawed:
The strategy does not take into account that the requirements of Indigenous kids are detected much earlier when dealing with those who do not pass the benchmark exam. Indigenous children have a variety of social, emotional, and linguistic challenges that need to be treated right away. We are anxious to tell them, "Okay, they failed the benchmark exam; let's now offer them some further aid." [53]
The majority of four-year-olds who started school had non-standard English or Creole, which was disclosed to the committee but was not taken into account in either the ITAS or SRA financing components. These pupils struggled greatly to master ordinary English. The state manager of DEST described the government's strategy of leveraging recurrent spending to address the needs of indigenous kids to the CEO in Townsville, and the CEO's answer was that DEST seemed to think it was simple for a school or a system to reallocate funding to meet new objectives. Realistically, however, there was little room for flexibility since teachers' salaries were barely covered by funds. [54] The CEO in Townsville informed the committee that everything else, including professional development, teacher housing, and transportation, had to be covered by the 18% non-teacher portion of the budget. Priorities could not be changed, it has informed DEST:
Yes, I said that. "You have to find a method to accomplish it," is the common response we get, which is nearly irritating. That kind of thinking is characterized by a certain arrogance—or stupidity, I don't know—in my opinion. "It would be very wonderful for a DEST officer to be placed in our office when we're trying to juggle the budget pot, so you can actually come to an understanding of precisely what we are trying to accomplish," is the customary response you offer back as you sit there and take it and cop it. [55]
According to the Australian Education Union (AEU), the new ITAS system has three major flaws. First, it penalized schools that had productive programs by taking away their funds. Second, as pupils go through the years and as the courses get more difficult, the system does not provide assistance. Third, delaying tutoring until the fourth or fifth year of school went against accepted wisdom and practice, which holds that young children who need learning help must get early intervention. [56]
By concentrating attention on post-benchmark failure, the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia disputes the choice to deny ITAS access to pupils in grades K–3, 5, 7, and 9. It emphasizes that assistance at that stage is ineffective because, for kids who are at danger of dropping out of school, early intervention is essential to their academic performance. [57]
The committee observes that ITAS financing is not particularly connected to certain academic years. There's some latitude. However, if finances are restricted to the failure score, flexibility is more challenging. In reality, a school would benefit if the great majority of pupils were classified as falling short of the standard. The financial incentive will be gone for schools that have worked hard to succeed. Even worse, there will be legitimate justification for bigger funding allocations in future years without the continuity of funds that comes after failure. West of Katherine, NT, the Amanbidji School submitted the following to the committee:
One kid from each of the grades 3, 5, and 7 was found to have attained the level on the first MAP benchmark exams after we [husband and wife instructors] were hired. In 2004, after continuous, continuing ATAS tutoring, we obtained results from the MAP assessment showing a benchmark pass rate of 100% in year 3 and a pass rate of 85% in year 5. There were no 7th graders. Our school has successfully shown how all outcomes assessed using the benchmark tests have greatly improved as a result of the ATAS. The pupils who have not met the threshold in 2005 will not continue with accelerated learning without the tutor's continued help. Students only get further help and consolidation during one-on-one sessions. [58]
The proposal came to a depressing conclusion with the prospect of money for 2005 decreased to 25% from that obtained the year before and a lot of hard work from 2004 put in peril due to lack of follow-up assistance.
Similar remarks were made by the Ross Park Primary School Council in Alice Springs. The number of ITAS tutoring hours at this school, where Aboriginal students make up one in four students, has decreased from 85 hours per week in 2004 to only 12.5 hours this year. Only five children in years 4-6 will now get tutoring, down from 56 pupils in years 1-6 who received it last year. According to the submission, ATAS was a great success, with more students passing the exam standards than ever before. The submission stressed the following:
According to our observations, it often takes kids considerably longer than a year to catch up to standards, particularly if they do not have access to a rich learning environment at home or the chance to acquire pre-formal learning skills and ideas.
The majority of our ATAS-supported students have achieved standards, but they still need ATAS help to go on. The newly gained confidence may be fleeting if parental support is lacking or the school is no longer able to afford to provide it. Children often fall behind again after this help is stopped, according to our school's experience. Additionally, since the criteria are so low, some children can barely meet them. They require substantial ongoing assistance just to maintain their current level.
Some students may experience greater disadvantages under the new ATAS system through no fault of their own. Those who miss the MAP test, for example, due to illness or an "oh, sorry" from their employer, will have to wait an additional two years before they can begin tutoring.Even if they were one of the fortunate five chosen to get coaching at Ross Park Primary School, it could be too late by that point to have much of an influence. [59]
More than any other topic, ITAS submissions have drawn attention to the disconnect between financial policy and instructional practice. It is a result of having a financing source that is disconnected from the conditions of spending yet nonetheless requires that movements be carried out that have no bearing on reality. It is evident to the committee that the majority of the people it dealt with did not comprehend that ITAS was a financing formula created only for the practical benefit of measuring simplicity. In general, system administrators were more aware of this than educators. The strongest criticism of ITAS often came from those who were vainly looking for a justification based on educational values. These mostly originated from indigenous educators and those working at the "chalkface." One of them shared her personal experience with the committee:
Additionally, I now know that before receiving financing for tutoring, a kid must take the necessary exams and do badly on them; the school, which has daily contact with the child and is able to provide samples of their work, is not to be included in the selection process. My own experience has taught me that most kids who don't perform at grade level already have low academic self-esteem and feel horrible about themselves. Some of them would go to any length to avoid being tested so that their incompetence would not be "rubbed in their faces."Children who skip school, say they're unwell, or are gone on legitimate family business are instantly denied access to cash for tutoring. Why bother going when you can't take part in the majority of the activities offered at school? Tutoring facilitates access and promotes involvement. Attendance is encouraged only by the knowledge that they have a tutor there to help. [60]
The committee believes that these ideas constitute a "holistic" approach to teaching and nurturing, which is luckily widespread in schools but has to be available in ever-greater quantities as budgets are further cut.
Third recommendation
The committee suggests that the funding mechanism for ITAS be determined by the number of kids that schools evaluate and identify as being in the lowest 20% of their cohort, rather than as a result of failing to satisfy year 3, 5, and 7 goals.
Mobility issues
Numerous submissions and witnesses brought attention to real-world issues that the ITAS's designers did not seem to have considered while creating the new rules. One of these is the movement of students. It is fair to say that, after hearing the testimony provided for this investigation, DEST seems to have addressed some of the criticism of their planning in this area.
The funding for ITAS is predicated on the number of students who try the Multilevel Assessment Program, which is where the issue first arises (MAP). A large number of pupils would not have gone to class on the day when these examinations were given. According to the CEO in Darwin,
Children who took part in the Multilevel Assessment Program for the benchmarks only get financing if they succeed, according to this statement. Many of our kids are absent during the three weeks that the MAP is administered due to no fault of their own—their families are away for the months of August and September. While schools make every effort to locate students, sometimes they are unsuccessful. They are absent during those three weeks. A school may have had twice or treble the number of students participating. As a result, they are not included in the ITAS financing. [61]
The committee is aware that parents may request an exemption if their kid misses an exam, but few parents would know about this and wouldn't be better prepared to request it even if they did.
The South Australian Government's proposal makes note of the fact that native students move about three times as often as non-native pupils. It draws attention to the fact that indigenous kids' ability to receive in-school tuition is impacted by their travel between institutions. Indigenous children may be eligible at one school but lose this eligibility if they transfer to a metropolitan school. Here, it is argued that financial aid should accompany the student rather than be tied to the institution they attend. [62]
More specific examples of the difficulties brought on by student movement at a distant school in the Northern Territory were presented to the committee. Ten tutors worked at Shepherdson College on Elcho Island in 2004, according to the college's administrator. There weren't any until March 2005, because NTDEET hadn't yet informed the school about financing for kids in grades 4, 6, and 8 who failed the MAP exam in 2004. The principal brought out the mobility issue as one financial issue that DEST may not have taken into account in its management plans.
If you pause to consider that you are in an indigenous community, you will see that the majority of them have a turnover rate of between 150 and 250 percent. The funds are allotted to a certain pupil, as it were. The kids may have taken the MAP exam here, but they are now attending school in Milingimbi. When the money is given to Milingimbi, the student may already be in Ramingining or back on Elcho Island, so we have to start looking for them in order to transfer the funds. Trying to keep track of where the kids are in the system will genuinely be an administrative headache. [63]
Similar objections were voiced by a number of respondents, who saw the practice of assigning financing to schools based on test results from one school year and applying them to the next year as gravely flawed. In these circumstances, a student who switches schools between years won't 'carry' funds for tutoring; instead, the cash will stay with the institution where the kid took the test. Even if the DEST technique of evaluation is acknowledged as being successful in certain situations, the outcome is that funds are not disbursed according to need. According to the information provided to the committee, most indigenous villages see a turnover rate of between 150 and 250 percent. There is a big chance that the allocation will be wrong. [64]
The committee comes to the conclusion that mobility and attendance issues make ITAS financing arrangements more difficult. It rejects the idea that benchmark-based financing has a strong educational foundation. It is a formula that would be better adapted to handle a medical emergency like an outbreak. It may not have been necessary to mix up the matter with benchmark testing as the money will, in reality, be available for school administrators to spend on literacy and numeracy coaching at their discretion. The committee will pay special attention to how well this program is doing.
Remote pupils
The committee acknowledges the likelihood that the government has not had access to comprehensive counsel regarding isolated areas. In particular, the inability to comprehend what constituted "remoteness" in the targeting of money, the Catholic Education Office in Darwin informed the committee of the difficulties of dealing with indigenous students and their communities across the Top End. It was said that the government had decided:
It has a distinct southern Australian viewpoint in that it is assumed that the majority of students in urban schools speak English, or a language very similar to it, as their first language and have an urban Indigenous heritage. Our urban schools enroll a significant percentage of pupils whose parents are from isolated Indigenous Australia and who speak English as a second language. These young people attend our urban schools. Darwin schools are considered to be provincial, so they get financing at half the eligible student rate according to the formula, despite the fact that these kids are the same as those at Bathurst Island and Port Keats. They just so happen to reside in town camps, such as those in Alice Springs or the area outside Palmerston, and attend our urban schools. Therefore, the same student group is experiencing discrimination as a result of their temporary living situation—for example, two or three years spent in a town camp. I don't believe the financing system genuinely reflects the image of Indigenous Australia at the top of Australia. [65]
Some private schools in Western Australia struggle with remoteness. Similar circumstances occurred at the CAPS Coolgardie School, where Principal Jim Heslop informed the committee that the school's close proximity to Kalgoorlie made it challenging to keep the $32,000 in funding for the second half of 2004. [66] He was also unaware of the implications for the school's future at the time the committee visited Perth. Dr. Heslop says
As long as I can comprehend the logic behind the whole system, I don't mind accepting less financing. But since my school is now a distant school for all other categories and a provincial school for ITAS, I have lost around $36,000 that I had anticipated to gain when I was planning the budget for the previous year. I won't take up more than $24,000 at this time. The fact that we are classified as provincial rather than remote is made even more perplexing when you consider that a third of the students at my school come from places that are extremely remote, like Warakuna, and that they also bring with them any baggage that goes along with that remoteness. I also have no luck getting any explanation for this. [67]
IEDA's focus on pupils in distant areas has drawn criticism in South Australia. Submissions have criticized the need for there to be more than 20 enrolled indigenous students in order to qualify for ITAS funding. Only 53 out of 318 urban schools in South Australia achieve this requirement. According to statistics provided by the South Australian Department of Education, this aid will not be provided to close to 1500 indigenous kids. [68] A similar argument was made by the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia (AISSA). [69]
The fact that South Australia has the highest percentage of indigenous residents in its capital city, Adelaide, which reflects the designation of Adelaide as a "city-state," undoubtedly contributes to the state's sensitivity in this area. Now, even Port Augusta is considered to be "non-remote." Geographic isolation is not the main cause, as the response from the South Australian Minister for Employment, Training, and Further Education noted. Indigenous communities are more socially isolated than other groups in urban regions, which increases the likelihood that young people will drop out of school. [70]
The Northern Territory's Catholic Education Office gave the ITAS financing the greatest possible review. The CEO noted that there were no funds allocated for early childhood tutoring help.
On one hand, that's OK because we think we can be flexible with the funding we bring in at the school level to accommodate not just the cohort of children but also other pupils. However, I believe it falls short in urban schools in the Top End; north Queensland and north WA likely have similar problems. [71]
The committee observes that strain is put on schools in cities like Darwin, Karratha, Broome, Cairns, and Townsville because they must deal with nomadic pupils but are not provided with funding for them. Targeting the dollar based on distance causes anomalies that the government is unlikely to notice but which are a sign of poorly thought-out or advised policy. The committee requests that adjustments be made in light of the implementation experience.
Challenges facing boarding schools
The committee was informed that boarding schools had received funds inadvertently, especially when it came to meeting the DEST requirements for concept plan evaluation.
[72] The Queensland Catholic Education Commission noted the challenges in proving "partnership" between the school and parents in situations where frequent representative meetings between parents and the school are impractical due to the nature of boarding institutions.
The funding changes, which aim to provide special assistance to students in remote areas, present another challenge for boarding schools and their students because they fail to take into account students who, despite being from remote areas and in need of assistance, attend boarding schools in significant provincial and capital cities.
The CEO in Townsville gave the committee a copy of a newsletter sent to parents by the president of Abergowrie College in Ingham, which included the following passage:
The loss of programs we operated in 2004 totaling $133, 000 is another area of worry I want to bring to your notice. Our experience with the new DEST money has been terrible so far. Due to a shortage of funding, we have had to eliminate our well designed extra-attention homework program, Indigenous program officer, Uncle's program, sponsored parent teleconferences, indigenous athletic scholarship program, and dance troupe subsidiary funding. I've attempted to pay for our additional help with homework program for year 8 students out of school fees this term, at a cost of $15,000, and I'm just hoping I can find money to continue this into term 2.
The strange thing is that it appears that government organizations like DEST want to prioritize funding for isolated schools, completely oblivious to the fact that the vast majority of our students come from isolated or extremely isolated areas.
I don't understand why these pupils don't get funds, but as you know, we do our best to support each student and his family.[73]
Similar opinions were raised by the committee on their visit to Darwin's Koormilda College.
At the committee hearing in Melbourne, DEST addressed these comments. The government said that it was informed of the issues boarding schools were facing, but they were unable to provide the committee confidence that the matter would be remedied adequately. [74]
Fourth recommendation
The committee advises the Government to change its policy to guarantee that students from rural regions enrolling in boarding schools in cities continue to be eligible for the cash that is allocated to children in remote areas.
effects on the availability of tutors
3.41 There were various complaints submitted to the committee about the tutorial situation, including pupils suffering while waiting for tutors and the possibility that instructors would be under so much extra stress that many would have "burnout." Due to the tutoring gap, there would be a severe tutoring shortage if the program were to resume. The present situation demonstrates that the Commonwealth Government was unaware of the benefit of having individuals dedicated to an affiliation with a certain school and the emphasis that schools put on keeping a continued relationship with tutors. Tutors were scattered and were unlikely to return to the institutions they had been involved with, Yipirinya School in Alice Springs, an autonomous indigenous school, informed the committee. [75]
The modifications add to an already competitive market for tutors in most areas with a sizable population of indigenous kids. As the Jiggalong Remote Community School's principal explained to the committee,
We have little chance of luring a substitute teacher or a teacher to relocate to the area to fulfill the ITAS requirement. In essence, we are unable to access the ITAS funds because we are unable to bring in a teacher.
The rigorous guidelines for obtaining money make things more difficult. According to the committee's information, the cash may only be used to hire certified instructors; community members or other individuals with relevant but officially unrecognized credentials are not eligible. [76] Thankfully, at least some schools can employ committed Aboriginal Education Officers to serve in this capacity. [77]
Delays and completion of the program
The most urgent issue for the majority of schools was the financing delays, as was noted at the beginning of this chapter. This was unquestionably the situation in February, when the committee visited schools for the first time. Since then, DEST has been trying to find a solution to this issue, and the committee anticipates that additional funding-related issues that have previously been raised have become more obvious. However, some of the supporting data from the interim report deserves to be repeated here.
The government's larger adjustments under the revised legislation have been characterized by significant delays in financing for ITAS, in addition to an underlying drop in tutor hours. In Western Australia's South Hedland, a seasoned educator and school principal informed the committee:
The reason this was the worst delay I've ever seen was because there simply weren't any settings. We were clueless. There were no rules at all, and everyone always said at meetings that "no one is sure of the procedure yet" or "The plans for the process have not been formalized." [78]
The committee erroneously believes that this irritation has subsided but has not forgotten. Similar sentiments were also voiced in Townsville, where the Queensland Indigenous Education Commission informed the committee of its displeasure and those of the kids who would have received aid but for the funding's delays. The Commission was insistent that expenditures would have to come from school budgets if tutors were hired with the expectation that money would be reimbursed retroactively. Payments wouldn't be made in the past. [79] The committee took notice of the Commission staff's claims that they were unequivocally informed that financing would not be made available in the past. This runs counter to DEST's recommendations made to the legislative committee at the hearings on new estimates in February 2005. [80]
They are echoes of the early uncertainty. The committee reiterates its argument that this unfortunate experience shouldn't be forgotten and that a lesson should be learned from it. The MCEETYA CEO committee should at the very least examine the ITAS program throughout the next 12 months, paying close attention to concerns of fairness and accessibility as well as the other outcomes that will be monitored.