Indigenous early school leavers: Failure, risk and high-stakes testing

Indigenous early school leavers in Australia's major cities comprise a significantly larger proportion of students than their non-Indigenous peers. Drawing on recent findings from the National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and the Australian Census, this paper examines what those data may or may not tell us about those young Indigenous people and their engagement (or lack of engagement) with education. The paper explores the notions of educational failure and risk as they apply to this cohort of young people and then lays out a critique of the application of high-stakes tests, such as the NAPLAN, with particular reference to the educational disengagement of Indigenous youth. The paper concludes with some alternative policy options derived from evidencebased research in Australia and principles underlying education policy in what are often cited as some of the best educational systems in the world.