In 2008 the Northern Territory Government made changes to its policy on bilingual education in eight Aboriginal schools. The Northern Synod has prepared a statement giving its views on these changes and has also written an open letter to the NorthernTerritory Minister for Education on the same matter in December 2008.

A reply from the Minister has yet to be received.

 A further statement explaining why the Northern Synod is involved in support of Indigenous languages is available. This statement calls on the Northern Territory Government to rescind its November 2008 Ministerial Statement on bilingual education and the English for the first four hours of the school policy.

 The Synod is also pleased to make available the document: Indigenous Languages in Education. This document, prepared by Dr Charles Grimes from the Australian Society for Indigenous Languages (AuSIL), looks at the current research into the provision bilingual education and discusses the gap between what the research shows and the practices and polocies in Northern Territory Schools. Hard copies of this publication may be obtained from the Synod office or may be downloaded from the AuSIL website at http://www.ausil.org.au/node/3741