Addressing education gaps and the ‘whole of life’ crisis facing Australian Indigenous youth

EDUCATION HAS A MAJOR ROLE TO PLAY in building social capital and diverting Indigenous youth from a lifetime of underemployment, unemployment, social alienation and socially destructive behaviours. Despite a few positive developments, the education status of the Australian Indigenous population is catastrophic. Closing the education gap is essential to capacity building in the hundreds of dysfunctional Aboriginal communities whose plight is manifestly unnecessary in a wealthy developed nation. Education is the key to creating the Aboriginal leaders, teachers, professionals and self-sufficient individuals of the future. It is capable of expanding opportunities for full social, political and economic participation