The core issue is that many Indigenous students in remote parts of Australia struggle with reading, even when they’re eager to learn and see themselves reflected in what they read. But here’s where it gets controversial: can books that mirror remote Indigenous life truly close the reading gap when the broader educational system still faces resource and context challenges? And this is the part most people miss: the alignment between curriculum, culturally relevant texts, and classroom support often determines whether reading becomes an accessible, enjoyable habit or a source of frustration for students.
In remote Western Australia near the Northern Territory border, ten-year-old Brynetta Lewis loves a simple tale about an ant and a snail sharing lunch. The humor comes from the snail eating fish and chips, a detail Brynetta finds amusing. She finished eleven books in a school reading challenge at Warakurna Campus Ngaanyatjarra Lands School, where Ngaanyatjarra is her first language. Reading these stories in English, she says, felt easy.
Yet national testing data reveals a wide gap for Indigenous students in very remote areas. In Year 5, about 72.5% of Indigenous students were flagged as needing extra reading support, compared with 13.2% of non-Indigenous peers. The gap persists across year levels and tends to widen with greater remoteness.
Haydon Staines, coordinator of First Nations educational leadership at Charles Darwin University, notes that for many remote students, English is a fourth or fifth language, which compounds the difficulty of learning to read. Access to consistent schooling and adequate resources also plays a big role: students can be left behind or experience interruptions as schools struggle with staffing, programs, and funding.
Staines, who is of Warlpiri, Luritja and Jungala heritage, points out a key mismatch in some standardized reading assessments: questions assume experiences (like catching a tram) that aren’t familiar in Aboriginal contexts. For remote Indigenous students, such prompts can feel out of reach, making high performance harder to achieve.
He argues that texts reflecting remote Indigenous cultures and ways of life are essential to improving reading outcomes. The best readers often have a genuine love for reading, which grows when the material is interconnected, relatable, and meaningful to them as Indigenous learners.
Brynetta’s teacher, Brendan Lewis, observes higher engagement among Warakurna students when they can identify with the material, even if the language differs. Engagement fuels perseverance with challenging words, punctuation, or unfamiliar text structures.
Warakurna Campus principal Erin Brown echoes the sentiment that culturally responsive texts are invaluable for teaching reading, though she acknowledges the need for more decodable books and readers that progressively increase in difficulty. The school benefits from local Yarnangu involvement, which consistently boosts student enthusiasm for learning.
In short, reading is a crucial skill with practical and imaginative benefits. Proficiency in reading enables access to information, storytelling, and companionship through books, reducing loneliness and expanding horizons. Brynetta, proud and excited to complete the challenge, anticipates reading more in the future, describing herself as a quick reader.
Educators like Lewis are encouraged by the progress already seen from implementing the reading challenge, and they are eager to explore how further culturally responsive materials and robust support can uplift Indigenous students’ reading outcomes across remote communities.
