Campaign:
The Northern Territory Government wanted to improve its education system and released a report - Future Directions for Secondary Education in the Northern Territory - which contained 52 recommendations for change. The report was swiftly and angrily rejected in the media by the education community.
Our Approach:
Socom designed, co-ordinated and lead a Territory-wide community engagement program engaging the NT community in constructive and informed discussions on the recommendations. Despite the remoteness and distance between communities and many language barriers, Socom was able to work with these communities to determine which recommendations would most effectively improve the education system and have broad community support. Special attention was paid to the engagement of parents, young people and the Indigenous community.
Results:
The result was a comprehensive community consultation report detailing the communities’ views on all of the recommendations in the Secondary Education Report. The report was submitted to the Department and the Minister for Education in September 2004.
DEET achieved acceptance of 44 of the 52 recommendations, enabling the Government to introduce the $42 million "Building Better Schools" program to improve secondary education in the Northern Territory.
