Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:15:41.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Looking forward looking black: making the case for a radical rethink of strategies for success in Indigenous higher education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2020

Chelsea Bond ,
Mark Brough ,
Bryan Mukandi ,
Shannon Springer ,
Deborah Askew  and
Janet Stajic Open the ORCID record for Janet Stajic [Opens in a new window]
Chelsea Bond*
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland4072, Australia
Mark Brough
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland4059, Australia
Bryan Mukandi
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland4072, Australia
Shannon Springer
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland4229, Australia
Deborah Askew
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland4072, Australia
Janet Stajic
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland4072, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Chelsea Bond, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

This study takes a retrospective look at the educational experiences of Indigenous health professionals who graduated from The University of Queensland's Indigenous Health Program between 1994 and 2005, to understand the enablers for growing an Indigenous health workforce capable of advancing the health of Indigenous peoples. Drawing on the qualitative accounts of 31 students and 9 staff members, this paper examines the enablers to educational success at this time, juxtaposed against current Indigenising agendas in higher education, of aspiration and capacity building alongside the task of embedding Indigenous knowledges within curricula. We look back not as a call to return to Indigenous-specific cohort courses but rather reconsider both the measures of and strategies for success in Indigenous higher education, within health and beyond, interrogating the ideological assumptions that inform them.

Keywords

Health workforcehigher educationIndigenous healthIndigenous knowledgessovereignty
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 49 , Special Issue 2: Critical conversations on higher education as an enabler to building an Indigenous health workforce , December 2020 , pp. 153 - 162
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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

Ahmed, S (2012) On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Durham, N.C.: Chesham: Duke University Press, Combined Academic [distributor].Google Scholar
Andrews, D (2018) RANZCO CEO Responds, Insight News. Available at https://www.insightnews.com.au/Article3/1909/RANZCO-CEO-respondsGoogle Scholar
Australian Government (2013) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013–2023. Canberra ACT: Commonwealth of Australia. Available at https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/oatsih-healthplan-toc (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Behrendt, L, Larkin, S, Griew, R and Kelly, P (2012) Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people—final report. Available at https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/heaccessandoutcomesforaboriginalandtorresstraitislanderfinalreport.pdf (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Bodkin-Andrews, G and Carlson, B (2013) Racism, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identities, and higher education: Reviewing the burden of epistemological and other racisms. In Mooney, J and Craven, R (eds), Seeding Success in Indigenous Australian Higher Education. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Group, pp. 29–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, C, Brough, M, Willis, J, Stajic, J, Mukandi, B, Canuto, C, Springer, S, Askew, D, Angus, L and Lewis, T (2019a) Beyond the pipeline: a critique of the discourse surrounding the development of an Indigenous primary healthcare workforce in Australia. Australian Journal of Primary Health 25, 389–394.Google Scholar
Bond, C, Brough, M, Willis, J, Stajic, J, Mukandi, B, Canuto, C, Springer, S, Askew, D, Angus, L and Lewis, T (2019b) Moving beyond the front line: A 20-year retrospective cohort study of career trajectories from the Indigenous Health Program at the University of Queensland—final report. Available at https://poche.centre.uq.edu.au/files/2522/Moving%20Beyond%20the%20Frontline%20Report.pdf (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Bradley, D, Noonan, P, Nugent, H and Scales, B (2008) Review of Australian Higher Education: final report [Bradley Review]. Available at https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A32134 (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia (1991) Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody: national report. Available at http://www8.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/ (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia (1997) Bringing them home: report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Available at https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999812066502121 (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia (2019) Closing the gap report 2019. Available at https://www.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/reports/closing-the-gap-2019/sites/default/files/ctg-report-20193872.pdf?a=1 (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Craven, R and Dillon, A (2013) Seeding success in Indigenous Australian higher education: Indigenous Australian students’ participation in higher education and potential ways forward. In Mooney, J and Craven, R (eds), Seeding Success in Indigenous Australian Higher Education. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Group, pp. 3–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delanty, G (2003) Ideologies of the knowledge society and the cultural contradictions of higher education. Policy Futures in Education 1, 71–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Gregorio, KD, Farrington, S and Page, S (2000) Listening to our students: understanding the factors that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ academic success. Higher Education Research & Development 19, 297–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fryer, B (2019) Stop racism to close the gap in healthcare, pioneering Indigenous doctor says. Available at https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2019/10/04/stop-racism-close-gap-healthcare-pioneering-indigenous-doctor-says (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Hart, V, Whatman, S, McLaughlin, J and Sharma-Brymer, V (2012) Pre-service teachers’ pedagogical relationships and experiences of embedding Indigenous Australian knowledge in teaching practicum. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 42, 703–723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, D and Howard, S (1985) Support systems for Aboriginal students in higher education institutions. Available at http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/132206 (accessed 22 July 2020)Google Scholar
Keating, P (1992) Redfern speech (year for the world's Indigenous people). Delivered in Redfern Park by Prime Minister Paul Keating, 10 December 1992. Available at https://antar.org.au/sites/default/files/paul_keating_speech_transcript.pdf (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Minichiello, V, Aroni, R and Hays, T (2008) In-depth Interviewing: Principles, Techniques, Analysis, 3rd Edn. Sydney: Pearson Education Australia.Google Scholar
Mukandi, B and Bond, C (2019) ‘Good in the hood’ or ‘burn it down’? Reconciling black presence in the academy. Journal of Intercultural Studies 40, 254–268.Google Scholar
Nakata, M (2002) Indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface: underlying issues at the intersection of knowledge and information systems. IFLA Journal 28, 281–291.Google Scholar
Nakata, M (2004) Indigenous Australian studies and higher education. Paper presented at The Wentworth Lectures. Available at https://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/presentations/indigenous-australian-studies-and-higher-education (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party (1989) A National Aboriginal Health Strategy. Canberra ACT: National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party.Google Scholar
NITV Staff Writer (2018) Looking for apology after ‘whitesplaining’ response to Indigenous eye doctor. Available at https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2018/11/09/looking-apology-after-whitesplaining-response-indigenous-eye-doctor (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Ochieng, O (2018) Intellectual Imagination Knowledge and Aesthetics in North Atlantic and African Philosophy. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poche Centre for Indigenous Health (2018) National conference on Indigenous Health Workforce Leadership. Available at https://poche.centre.uq.edu.au/event/467/national-conference-indigenous-health-workforce-leadership (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Reid, C (2004) Negotiating Racialized Identities: Indigenous Teacher Education in Australia and Canada. Altona, Victoria: Common Ground Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rigney, LI (2011) Review of Indigenous higher education reform and Indigenous knowledges. Available at https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/rigney_2011.pdf (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Schmidt, HG (2012) One-Day, One-Problem: An Approach to Problem-based Learning. 2012 Edn. Singapore: Springer Singapore.Google Scholar
Sellar, S, Gale, T and Parker, S (2011) Appreciating aspirations in Australian higher education. Cambridge Journal of Education 41, 37–52. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2010.549457Google Scholar
The University of Queensland (2017) Alumni & community: Associate Professor Noel Hayman. Available from https://alumni.uq.edu.au/story/1280/associate-professor-noel-hayman (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Todd, Z (2016) An Indigenous feminist's take on the ontological turn: ‘ontology’ is just another word for colonialism. Journal of Historical Sociology 29, 4–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UQ News (2018) UQ Indigenous alumni close the gap as leaders in health. Available from https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2018/03/uq-indigenous-alumni-close-gap-leaders-health (accessed 22 July 2020).Google Scholar
Varady, D (2005) Desegregating the City: Ghettos, Enclaves, and Inequality. Albany NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Watson, I (2005) Settled and unsettled spaces: are we free to roam? Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association Journal 1, 40–52.Google Scholar
Webster, E, Johnson, C, Johnson, M, Kemp, B, Smith, V and Townsend, B (2019) Engaging Aboriginal people in research: Taking a decolonizing gaze. In Liamputtong, P (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences, Singapore: Springer, pp. 1563–1578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, K and Wilks, J (2015) Australian Indigenous higher education: politics, policy and representation. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 37, 659–672.Google Scholar