Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T22:42:57.985Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indigenous Student Perspectives on Support and Impediments at University

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2015

Rhonda Oliver ,
Ellen Grote Open the ORCID record for Ellen Grote [Opens in a new window] ,
Judith Rochecouste  and
Tomzarni Dann
Rhonda Oliver*
Affiliation:
School of Education, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia
Ellen Grote
Affiliation:
Independent research consultant, Western Australia, Australia
Judith Rochecouste
Affiliation:
Office of the Vice-Provost (Learning & Teaching), Monash University, Victoria, Australia
Tomzarni Dann
Affiliation:
Centre for Aboriginal Studies, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Professor Rhonda Oliver, School of Education, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia, 6102, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Aboriginal Australians are entering university in greater numbers than in past decades, yet many struggle to complete their degrees. This paper reports on the qualitative component of a research project aimed at enhancing understandings about this issue by investigating student perspectives about those structures that facilitate or impede their retention. Interview and survey data were gathered from 57 participants at one university and analysed for emerging themes. The findings demonstrate a diverse Indigenous student population in terms of age; comprised personal, professional and university networks; institutional services and resources; and the students’ personal qualities and study practices. Factors perceived to obstruct retention included: a lack of support from some teaching staff, schools and faculties; financial insecurity; and often interrelated issues surrounding university workload, jobs, health, as well as family and community responsibilities. These findings are discussed in the light of relevant literature and recommendations.

Keywords

Aboriginaluniversitysupportimpediments
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , August 2016 , pp. 23 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdullah, J., & Stringer, E. T. (1997). Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous learning, Indigenous research. Curtin Indigenous Research Centre, Perth: Curtin Indigenous Research Centre.Google Scholar
Andersen, C., Bunda, T., & Walter, M. (2008). Indigenous higher education: The role of universities in increasing the potential. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37, 1–8.Google Scholar
Asmar, C., Page, S., & Radloff, A. (2011). Dispelling myths: Indigenous students’ engagement with university. AUSSE Research Briefing, 10, 1–15.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Australian social trends, March 2011. Education and Indigenous wellbeing. Canberra, Australia: Australian Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). 4102.0 Australian social trends, July 2013: Hitting the books: Characteristics of higher education students. Canberra, Australia: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20July+2013#p2.Google Scholar
Australian Government Department of Education. (2014). Selected higher education statistics - 2009 student data. Retrieved 5 January, 2014, from http://education.gov.au/selected-higher-education-statistics-2009-student-data.Google Scholar
Bodkin-Andrews, G., Dillon, A., & Craven, R. (2010). Bangawarra’gumada – Strengthening the spirit: Causal modelling of academic self-concept and patterns of disengagement for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 39, 24–39.Google Scholar
Bodkin-Andrews, G., Harwood, V., McMahon, S., & Priestly, A. (2013). AIM(E) for completing school and university: Analysing the strengths of the Australian Indigenous mentoring experience. In Craven, R. G. & Mooney, J. (Eds.), Seeding Success in Indigenous Australian Higher Education (Diversity in Higher Education, Volume 14) (pp. 113–134). Bingley, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
Bradley, D., Noonan, P., Nugent, H., & Scales, B. (2008). Review of higher education. Canberra, ACT: DEEWR. Retrieved from http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download.jsp?id=111997.Google Scholar
Byrne, M., & Munns, G. (2012). From the big picture to the individual student: The importance of the classroom relationship. In Beresford, Q. & Partington, G. (Eds.), Reform and Resistance in Aboriginal Education (pp. 304–334). Crawley, WA: UWA Press.Google Scholar
Craven, R. G., & Dillon, A. (2013). Seeding success in Indigenous Australian higher education: Indigenous Australian students’ participation in higher education and potential ways forward. In Craven, R. G. & Mooney, J. (Eds.), Seeding success in Indigenous Australian higher education (pp. 3–27). Bingley, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
Department of Education Western Australia. (2012). Tracks to two-way learning. East Perth, WA.Google Scholar
Eagleson, R. D., Kaldor, S., & Malcolm, I. G. (1982). English and the Aboriginal child. Canberra: Curriculum Development Centre.Google Scholar
Ellender, I., Drysdale, M., Faulkner, S., Kelly, H., & Turnbull, L. (2008). When a dream becomes a nightmare: why do Indigenous Australian medical students withdraw from their courses? The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 36, 40–47.Google Scholar
Flood, J. (2013). Aboriginal women and higher education: A pilot study of what drives and sustains mature-age Aboriginal women to study at university. In Craven, R. G. & Mooney, J. (Eds.), Seeding success in Indigenous Australian higher education (pp. 209–223). Bingley, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
Grote, E. (2008). Principles and practices of cultural competency: A review of the literature. Canberra, ACT: Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council.Google Scholar
Grote, E., & Rochecouste, J. (2012). Language and the classroom setting. In Beresford, Q. & Partington, G. (Eds.), Reform and resistance in Aboriginal education. Crawley, WA: UWA Press.Google Scholar
Gunstone, A. (2008). Australian university approaches to Indigenous policy. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37, 104–108.Google Scholar
Harkins, J. (1990). Shame and shyness in the Aboriginal classroom: A case for practical semantics. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 10, 293–306.Google Scholar
James, R., Anderson, A., Bexley, E., Devlin, M., Garnett, R., Marginson, S., & Maxwell, L. (2008). Participation and equity: A review of the participation in higher education of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous people. Report prepared for Universities Australia: Centre for the Study of Higher Education University of Melbourne. Retrieved from http://dro.deakin.edu.au/view/DU:30006777?print_friendly=true.Google Scholar
James, R., & Devlin, M. (2006). Improving Indigenous outcomes and enhancing Indigenous culture and knowledge in Australian higher education. Report to the Minister for Education, Science and Training. (Prepared for the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council). Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
Krippendorff, K. (1989). Content Analysis: Departmental Papers. Annenberg School for Communication. University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons.Google Scholar
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Reliability in Content Analysis: Some Common Misconceptions and Recommendations: Departmental Papers. Annenberg School for Communication. University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons.Google Scholar
Malcolm, I. G., & Rochecouste, J. (1998). Australian Aboriginal students in higher education. Framing student literacy. Report No. 2. Sydney: NCELTR Publications.Google Scholar
Malcolm, I. G., & Rochecouste, J. (2003). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literacy in higher education: A survey of the literature. Literacy and Numeracy Studies, 12 (2), 15–30.Google Scholar
Malcolm, I. G., Rochecouste, J., & Hayes, G. (2002). ‘It's just totally different world to what you’re used to’: The application of Indigenous skills to university teaching and staff development. Mount Lawley, WA: Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Research.Google Scholar
McInerney, D. M., & King, R. B. (2013). Harnessing the power of motivational factors for optimizing the educational success of remote Indigenous students: A cross-cultural study. In Craven, R. G. & Mooney, J. (Eds.), Seeding success in Indigenous Australian higher education (pp. 81–111). Bingley, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (2013). The rights and blights of the politics in Indigenous higher education. Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology, 23 (3), 289–303.Google Scholar
Nakata, M., Nakata, V., & Chin, M. (2008). Approaches to the academic preparation and support of Australian Indigenous students for tertiary studies. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37 (Supplement), 137–145.Google Scholar
Nguyen, B., Oliver, R., & Rochecouste, J. (2015). Embracing plurality through oral language. Language and Education, 29 (2), 97–111. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2014.977294.Google Scholar
Oliver, R., Grote, E., Rochecouste, J., & Exell, M. (2012). Addressing the language and literacy needs of Aboriginal high school VET students who speak Standard Australian English as an additional language. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 41 (2), 229–239.Google Scholar
Oliver, R., Grote, E., Rochecouste, J., & Exell, M. (2013a). Needs analysis for task-based teaching: A case study of Indigenous vocational education and training students who speak EAL/EAD. TESOL in Context, 22 (2), 36–50.Google Scholar
Oliver, R., Grote, E., Rochecouste, J., & Exell, M. (2013b). A task-based needs analysis for Australian Aboriginal students: Going beyond the target situation to address cultural issues. International Journal of Training Research, 11 (3), 246–259.Google Scholar
Oliver, R., Rochecouste, J., Dann, T., & Grote, E. (2014). Indigenous retention in higher education: An investigation into barriers to success and strategies to overcome them. Bentley, WA: Curtin University.Google Scholar
Oliver, R., Rochecouste, J., & Grote, E. (2013). The transition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into higher education. Sydney, NSW: Office of Learning and Teaching. Department of Education. Australian Government. Retrieved from http://www.olt.gov.au/project-transition-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-students-higher-education-2011.Google Scholar
Oliver, R., Rochecouste, J., Vanderford, S., & Grote, E. (2011). Teacher awareness and understandings about Aboriginal English. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 34 (1), 60–74.Google Scholar
Page, S., & Asmar, C. (2008). Beneath the teaching iceberg: Exposing the hidden support dimensions of Indigenous academic work. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37 (Supplement), 109–117.Google Scholar
Pechenkina, E., & Anderson, I. (2011). Background paper on Indigenous Australian higher education: Trends, initiatives and policy implications. Canberra: DEEWR. Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Pechenkina, E., Kowal, E., & Paradies, Y. (2011). Indigenous Australian students’ participation rates in higher education: Exploring the role of universities. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 40, 59–68.Google Scholar
Radloff, A., & Coates, H. (2010). Doing more for learning: Enhancing engagement and outcomes: Australasian survey of student engagement: Australasian student engagement report. Camberwell, VIC: Australian Council for Educational Research.Google Scholar
Rigney, L.-I. (2012). Indigenous higher education reform and Indigenous knowledges. In Behrendt, L., Larkin, S., Griew, R. & Kelly, P. (Eds.), Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Final Report. Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Rochecouste, J., Oliver, R., Mulligan, D., & Davies, M. (2010). Addressing the ongoing English language growth of international students. Final Report 2010. Strawberry Hills, New South Wales: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.Google Scholar
Sharifian, F. (2006). A cultural-conceptual approach and world Englishes: The case of Aboriginal English. World Englishes, 25 (1), 11–22.Google Scholar
Sharifian, F., Rochecouste, J., & Malcolm, I. G. (2004). ‘But it was all a bit confusing. . .’: Comprehending Aboriginal English texts. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 17 (3), 203–238.Google Scholar
Siegel, J. (2010). Second dialect acquisition. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.Google Scholar
Sonn, C., Bishop, B., & Ross, H. (2000). Encounters with the dominant culture: Voices of Indigenous students in mainstream higher education. Australian Psychologist, 35 (2), 128–135.Google Scholar
Universities Australia. (2011). National best practice framework for Indigenous cultural competency in Australian universities. Canberra: Universities Australia.Google Scholar
Walter, M. (2012). Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander presence: Opening knowledge pathways. In Behrendt, L., Larkin, S., Griew, R. & Kelly, P. (Eds.), Review of higher education access and outcomes for aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people final report. Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Willems, J. (2012). Educational resilience as a quadripartite responsibility: Indigenous peoples participating in higher education via distance education. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, 16 (1), 14–27.Google Scholar