Aboriginal students’ journeys to university – privileging our sovereign voices

Renae Isaacs-Guthridge

doi:10.55146/ajie.v53i2.1101

Authors

Renae Isaacs-Guthridge Edith Cowan University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8397-6695

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.v53i2.1101

Keywords:

Aboriginal students, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, university

Abstract

Since invasion the trajectory of colonial education in Australia has been linear; most students are expected to complete primary and secondary education, and, if accepted, seamlessly transition to university by 18 years of age. The reality is that many students do not experience continuity in their education, let alone reach university, and this can be particularly problematic for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024; Productivity Commission, 2024). Put simply, Australia’s education system continues to fail many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, further silencing our sovereign voices. Drawing on an Indigenist research paradigm (Rigney, 1999) and Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing (Martin / Mirraboopa, 2003; Moreton-Robinson, 2013), five Aboriginal university students generously shared their journeys to university through a collaborative yarning approach (Shay, 2019). Each journey is narrated through a strengths-based counter-story that generates key teachings for an Indigenous education futurity that is premised on, and responsive to, the voices of Aboriginal students

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Renae Isaacs-Guthridge, Edith Cowan University

Renae Isaacs-Guthridge is a proud Noongar and Yamatji woman with matriarchal connections across each Nation. An experienced educator for over 25 years, Renae has worked in a variety of roles from primary to higher education contexts. Renae is currently employed as a lecturer at Kurongkurl Katitjin, Edith Cowan University’s (ECU) Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research, teaching Aboriginal Contexts in Education to undergraduate and postgraduate pre-service teachers. She is passionate about Aboriginal education and questions the adequacy and cultural responsiveness of Australia’s colonial education system, forming the basis of her work towards a PhD titled Aboriginal Student Transition to University – A Strengths-based Approach.

References

Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem, J.-A., Bol Jun Lee-Morgan, J., & De Santolo, J. (2019). Introduction: Deconlonizing research: Indigenous storywork as methodology. In J.-A. Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem, J. Lee-Morgan & J. De Santolo (Eds.), Decolonizing research: Indigenous storywork as methodology (pp. 1–4). Bloomsbury Academic.

Australian Human Rights Commission. (2020). Wiyi yani u thangani: Women’s voices securing our rights securing our future. https://wiyiyaniuthangani.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-03/ahrc_wiyi_yani_u_thangani_report_2020.pdf

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. (2023). Languages alive. https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/languages-alive

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). 2.05 Education outcomes for young people. https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-05-education-outcomes-for-young-people

Australian Women’s Register, The. (2002). Valadian, Margaret (193 — ). https://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0213b.htm

Behrendt, L., Larkin, S., Griew, R., & Kelly, P. (2012). Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Final report. Australian Government, Department of Education. https://www.education.gov.au/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-higher-education/review-higher-education-access-and-outcomes-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people

Beresford, Q. (2012). Separate and unequal: An outline of Aboriginal education 1900–1996. In Q. Beresford, G. Partington, & G. Gower (Eds.), Reform and resistance in Aboriginal education (pp. 85–119). UWA Publishing.

Bessarab, D., & Ng’andu, B. (2010). Yarning about yarning as a legitimate method in Indigenous research. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 3(1), 37–50. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/37083

Bin-Sallik, M. A. (1989). Aboriginal tertiary education in Australia: How well is it serving the needs of Aborigines [Doctor of Education]. Harvard University. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/aboriginal-tertiary-education-australia-how-well/docview/303760383/se-2

Bishop, M. (2022). Indigenous education sovereignty: Another way of “doing” education. Critical Studies in Education, 63(1), 131–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2020.1848895

Bishop, M., & Vass, G. (2021). Talking about culturally responsive approaches to education: Teacher professional learning, Indigenous learners and the politics of schooling. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 50(2), 340–347. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2020.30

Bishop, M., Vass, G., & Thompson, K. (2021). Decolonising schooling practices through relationality and reciprocity: Embedding local Aboriginal perspectives in the classroom. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(2), 193–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2019.1704844

Buckskin, P., Tranthim-Fryer, M., Holt, L., Gili, J., Heath, J., Smith, D., Larkin, S., Ireland, S., MacGibbon, L., Robertson, K., Small, T., Butler, K., Chatfield, T., Anderson, P., & Ma Rhea, Z. (2018). NATSIHEC Accelerating Indigenous higher education consultation paper. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/215558/

Bunda, T., Zipin, L., & Brennan, M. (2012). Negotiating university “equity” from Indigenous standpoints: A shaky bridge. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16(9), 941–957. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2010.523907

Burgess, C., Thorpe, K., Egan, S., & Harwood, V. (2022). Learning from country to conceptualise what an Aboriginal curriculum narrative might look like in education. Curriculum Perspectives, 42(2), 157–169. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-022-00164-w

Cannella, G. S., & Manuelito, K. D. (2008). Feminisms from unthought locations: Indigenous worldviews, marginalized feminisms and revisioning an anticolonial social science. In N. Denzin, Y. Lincoln & L. Smith Tuhiwai (Eds.), Handbook of critical and Indigenous methodologies. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483385686

Carlson, B. (2023). The future is Indigenous. In B. Carlson, M. Day, S. O’Sullivan & T. Kennedy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Australian Indigenous peoples and futures. Taylor & Francis Group. https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=7276981

Dei, G. J. S. (2006). Introduction: Mapping the terrain – towards a new politics of resistence. In G. J. S. Dei & A. Kempf (Eds.), Anticolonialism and education: The politics of resistance (pp. 1-23). Sense Publishers.

Dei, G. J. S., & Jaimungal, C. S. (2018). Indigeneity and decolonial resistance: An introduction. In G. J. S. Dei & C. S. Jaimungal (Eds.), Indigeneity and decolonial resistance: Alternatives to colonial thinking and practice (pp. 1–14). Myers Education Press.

Department of Education. (2024a). 2022 Section 1 commencing students. https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/2022-section-1-commencing-students

Department of Education. (2024b). Australian universities accord: Final report. https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/accord-interim-report

Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. (1999). Higher education: Indigenous education strategies 1999–2001 (0642239061).

Devlin, B., Disbray, S., & Devlin, N. R. F. (2017). History of bilingual education in the Northern Territory: People, programs and policies. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2078-0

Dudgeon, P., Herbert, J., Milroy, J., & Oxenham, D. (Eds.). (2017). Us women, our ways, our world. Magabala Books.

Fredericks, B., Carlson, B., & Bargallie, D. (2020, July 1). “Nothing about us, without us”: Performative allyship and telling silences. Croakey Health Media. https://www.croakey.org/nothing-about-us-without-us-performative-allyship-and-telling-silences/

Gale, T., & Parker, S. (2013). Widening participation in Australian higher education: Report submitted to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), England. CFE (Research and Consulting) Ltd and Edge Hill University. https://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/365199/widening-participation.pdf

Harrison, N., & Skrebneva, I. (2020). Country as pedagogical: Enacting an Australian foundation for culturally responsive pedagogy. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 52(1), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2019.1641843

Jackson-Barrett, E. (2011). The context for change: Reconceptualising the 3Rs in education for Indigenous students. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(12), 21–32.

Jackson-Barrett, E., & Lee-Hammond, L. (2019). Education for assimilation: A brief history of Aboriginal education in Western Australia. In O. Kortekangas, P. Keskitalo, J. Nyyssönen, A. Kotljarchuk, M. Paksuniemi & D. Sjögren (Eds.), Sámi educational history in a comparative international perspective (pp. 299–316). Springer and Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24112-4_17

Jackson-Barrett, E. M., & Lee-Hammond, L. (2018). Strengthening identities and involvement of Aboriginal children through learning on country. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 43(6). https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2018v43n6.6

James, R., & Devlin, M. (2006). Improving Indigenous outcomes and enhancing Indigenous culture and knowledge in Australian higher education. Australian Government, Department of Education, Science and Training. http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30006780

Jaremus, F., Sincock, K., Patfield, S., Fray, L., Prieto, E., & Gore, J. (2023). Pressure to attend university: Beyond narrow conceptions of pathways to a “good life”. Educational Review, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2023.2287417

Jordan, D. (1985). Support systems for Aboriginal students in higher education institutions (724343490). Tertiary Education Authority of South Australia.

Kinnane, S., Wilks, J., Wilson, K., McNaught, K., & Watson, K. (2014). “Can’t be what you can’t see”: The transition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into higher education. The University of Notre Dame. https://www.notredame.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/2882/SI11-2138-OLT-Final-Report-FINAL-Web.pdf

Kovach, M. (2021). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations and contexts (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press.

Krakouer, J. (2015). Literature review relating to the current context and discourse on Indigenous cultural awareness in the teaching space: Critical pedagogies and improving Indigenous learning outcomes through cultural responsiveness. Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=indigenous_education

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465

Lawry, J. R. (1965). Australian education 1788–1823. History of Education Quarterly, 5(3), 166–173. https://doi.org/10.2307/367115

Lowe, K., Moodie, N., & Weuffen, S. (2021). Refusing reconciliation in Indigenous curriculum. In B. Green, P. Roberts & M. Brennan (Eds.), Curriculum challenges and opportunities in a changing world: Transnational perspectives in curriculum inquiry (pp. 71–86). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61667-0_5

Lowe, K., & Weuffen, S. (2023). “You get to ‘feel’ your culture”: Aboriginal students speaking back to deficit discourses in Australian schooling. Australian Educational Researcher, 50(1), 33–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-022-00598-1

Martin, K. (2012). Aboriginal early childhood: Past, present, future. In J. Phillips & J. Lampert (Eds.), Introductory Indigenous studies in education: Reflection and the importance of knowing (2nd ed., pp. 26–39). Pearson Australia.

Martin, K., / Mirraboopa, B. (2003). Ways of knowing, being and doing: A theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous and Indigenist re‐search. Journal of Australian Studies, 27(76), 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443050309387838

McInerney, D. M. (1989). Urban Aboriginal parents views on education: A comparative analysis. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 10(2), 43–65.

Moodie, N. (2023). Stepping stones to Indigenous futures: Rethinking precarity in Indigenous education and work. In N. Moodie & S. Maddison (Eds.), Public policy and Indigenous futures (pp. 95–109). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9319-0

Moodie, N., Vass, G., & Lowe, K. (2021). The Aboriginal voices project: Findings and reflections. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 49(1), 5–19.

Moran, U. C., Harrington, U. G., & Sheehan, N. (2018). On country learning. Design and Culture, 10(1), 71–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2018.1430996

Moreton-Robinson, A. (2013). Towards an Australian Indigenous women’s standpoint theory. Australian Feminist Studies, 28(78), 331–347. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2013.876664

Moreton-Robinson, A. (2017). Relationality: A key presupposition of an Indigenous social research paradigm. In C. Andersen & J. M. O’Brien (Eds.), Sources and methods in Indigenous studies (1st ed., pp. 69–77). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Morrison, A., Rigney, L.-I., Hattam, R., & Diplock, A. (2019). Toward an Australian culturally responsive pedagogy: A narrative review of the literature. https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2019/08/apo-nid262951-1392016.pdf

National Press Club of Australia. (2024, March 27). June Oscar AO’s address to the National Press Club of Australia. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBP60Ct7fUU

Partington, G. (1998). “In those days it was rough”: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and education. In G. Partington (Ed.), Perspectives on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education (p.33). Cengage Learning.

Perso, T. (2012). Cultural responsiveness and school education with particular focus on Australia’s First Peoples: A review & synthesis of the literature. Menzies School of Health Research and Centre for Child Development and Education. https://www.menzies.edu.au/icms_docs/312407_Cultural_Responsiveness_and_School_Education.pdf

Perso, T., & Hayward, C. (2015). Teaching Indigenous students: Cultural awareness and classroom strategies for improving learning outcomes. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Phillips, L. G., & Bunda, T. (2018). Research through, with and as storying. Routledge.

Pihama, L., & Lee-Morgan, J. (2018). Colonization, education and Indigenous peoples. In E. A. McKinley & L. T. Smith (Eds.), Handbook of Indigenous education (pp. 1–9). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1839-8_67-1

Productivity Commission. (2024). Closing the gap annual data compilation report July 2024. Australian Government. https://www.pc.gov.au/closing-the-gap-data/annual-data-report/closing-the-gap-annual-data-compilation-july2024.pdf

Purnululu School. (n.d.). Purnululu School. https://www.purnululuschool.wa.edu.au/

Reynolds, H. (2021). Truth-telling: History, sovereignty and the Uluru Statement. NewSouth Publishing.

Rigney, L.-I. (1999). Internationalization of an Indigenous anticolonial cultural critique of research methodologies: A guide to Indigenist research methodology and its principles. Wicazo Sa Review, 14(2), 109–121. https://doi.org/10.2307/1409555

Rigney, L.-I. (2020). Aboriginal child as knowledge producer: Bringing into dialogue Indigenist epistemologies and culturally responsive pedagogies for schooling. In B. Hokowhitu, A. Moreton-Robinson, L. Tuhiwai-Smith, C. Andersen & S. Larkin (Eds.), Routledge handbook of critical Indigenous studies (ch. 43). Routledge.

Sarra, C., Spillman, D., Jackson, C., Davis, J., & Bray, J. (2018). High-expectations relationships: A foundation for enacting high expectations in all Australian schools. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 49(1), 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2018.10

Saunders, M. (2019). Goori-futurism: Envisioning the sovereignty of Minjungbal-Nganduwal Country, community and culture through speculative fiction. SFRA Review, (330), 59–64.

Shay, M. (2019). Extending the yarning yarn: Collaborative yarning methodology for ethical Indigenist education research. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 50(1), 62–70. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2018.25

Shay, M., Sarra, G., Proud, D., Blow, I.-J., & Cobbo, F. (2023). “Strive with pride”: The voices of Indigenous young people on identity, wellbeing and schooling in Australia. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 37(2), 327–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2233939

Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies research and Indigenous peoples (3rd ed.). Zed Books. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350225282

Spillman, D., Wilson, B., Nixon, M., & McKinnon, K. (2023). Reinvigorating country as teacher in Australian schooling: Beginning with school teacher’s direct experiences, “relating with country”. Curriculum Perspectives, 43(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-022-00176-6

Tuck, E., & Gorlewski, J. (2016). Racist ordering, settler colonialism and edTPA: A participatory policy analysis. Educational Policy, 30(1), 197–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904815616483

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2021). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Tabula Rasa, (38), 61–111.

Turner, M. K., & Children’s Ground. (2023). Apmerengentyele. The M.K. Turner Report: A plan for First Nations-led and designed education reform in Australia. https://childrensground.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/The-MK-Turner-Report-Childrens-Ground.pdf

Tynan, L. (2021). What is relationality? Indigenous knowledges, practices and responsibilities with kin. Cultural Geographies, 28(4), 597–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/14744740211029287

Uink, B., Bennett, R., Hill, B., van den Berg, C., & Rolfe, J. (2022). Interrogating relationships between student support initiatives and Indigenous student progression. National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Uink_Murdoch_Final.pdf

Uink, B., Isaacs-Guthridge, R., & Bennett, R. (2024). Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other under-served university students through Indigenous relationality. In C. Stone & S. O’Shea (Eds.), Research handbook on student engagement in higher education (pp. 77–86). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Universities Australia. (2022). Indigenous strategy 2022–24. https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/publication/indigenous-strategy-2022-25/

University of Sydney, The. (n.d.-a). Our history. https://www.sydney.edu.au/about-us/our-story/australias-first-university.html

University of Sydney, The. (n.d.-b). Who is Charles Perkins?. https://www.sydney.edu.au/charles-perkins-centre/about/who-is-charles-perkins.html

Veracini, L. (2014). Understanding colonialism and settler colonialism as distinct formations. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 16(5), 615–633. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2013.858983

Watts, B. H. (1982). Aboriginal futures: A review of research and developments and related policies in the education of Aborigines: A summary. Australian Government Publishing Service.

Weir, M. (2014). Dr Margaret Weir. University of Western Sydney. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/

Woods, D. (1998). Racism, reconciliation, rights – the 3Rs of Indigenous education in Australia today. Australian Educational Researcher, 25(1), 53–70.