Vocational Education and Training (VET) in high schools has had positive effects on the retention of Indigenous students, providing important pathways into further education and the workforce. However, low-level literacy (and numeracy) skills can make successful completion difficult, especially for students who speak Standard Australian English as an additional language or dialect. This article describes research undertaken to inform the development of a second language and literacy needs analysis model designed for high school VET teachers to address the needs of Indigenous students. The study draws on second language acquisition research, which demonstrates the value of using tasks as the basis for language teaching syllabus design, with needs analysis as a fundamental aspect of this. The project centred on Aboriginal high school VET students from remote and rural communities in Western Australia, who speak English as an additional language/dialect. Data collected included: individual and focus group interviews, training materials, and observation field notes on the language and literacy practices in classrooms and workplaces. The major findings focus on the development of oral language (for both job-oriented and social interactions in the workplace) and literacy skills, as well as the need to overcome ‘shame’ and develop confidence for speaking to non-Aboriginal people.

This article reports on a large mixed methods research project that investigated the conditions of success for Aboriginal school students. The article presents the qualitative case study component of the research. It details the work of four schools identified as successful for Aboriginal students with respect to social and academic outcomes, and showed what was common and contextually different in their relationships with community and their approaches to curriculum and pedagogy. The article shows there were eight common themes that emerged in the analysis of the schools’ approaches, and these themes are considered key indicators of the ‘seeding success’.

Australian undergraduate programmes are implementing curriculum aimed at better preparing graduates to work in Indigenous health settings, but the efficacy of these programmes is largely unknown. To begin to address this, we obtained baseline data upon entry to tertiary education (Time 1) and follow-up data upon completion of an Indigenous studies health unit (Time 2) on student attitudes, preparedness to work in Indigenous health contexts and transformative experiences within the unit. The research involved 336 health science first-year students (273 females, 63 males) who completed anonymous in-class paper questionnaires at both time points. Paired sample t-tests indicated significant change in student attitudes towards Indigenous Australians, perceptions of Indigenous health as a social priority, perceptions of the adequacy of health services for Indigenous Australians and preparedness to work in Indigenous health settings. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that after controlling for Time 1 measures, the number of precursor steps to transformative learning experienced by students accounted for significant variance in measures of attitudes and preparedness to work in Indigenous health contexts at Time 2. The knowledge gained further informs our understanding of both the transformative impact of such curriculum, and the nature of this transformation in the Indigenous studies health context.

While there has been much debate (Christie et al., 1987; Eckermann, 1988; Kleinfield and Nelson, 1991; Gibson, 1993; Ulstrup, 1994; Guild, 1994; Nicholls et al., 1995) on the in-appropriateness of applying culturally descriptive ‘learning styles’ in meeting the educational needs of Indigenous students, the reality of the existence of individual life experiences of Indigenous Australians has often been overlooked. That omission diminishes the dominant role which socio-cultural considerations have taken in past colonising practices with the effects of those practices often having become transgenerational among individuals today. This paper attempts to move on from that debate, questioning the validity of a canon that could be accused of merely perpetuating colonial paradigms and failing to acknowledge the integrity of the individual. The importance of determining and establishing effective communication is the key in understanding, and catering for, differing educational approaches, in the past labelled teaching and learning ‘styles’. Consequently, cultural awareness which is inclusive of the diversity of Indigenous Australians is still necessary in opening and maintaining that communication between educational stakeholders in the school community.

Due to the high turnover of teaching staff in remote schools, the long-term sustainability of educational initiatives that enhance Indigenous student's learning is a major concern. This article presents a study of a remote Indigenous school (Ischool) situated in Queensland. Ischool has changed its approach to leadership, particularly the distribution of power and authority within the school context, to address this concern. The focus is on building the capacity of Indigenous staff. It is a holistic and communal approach that is culturally inclusive of Indigenous ways of being and operating. The approach actively ensures that power and authority, and roles and responsibilities, are shared between Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff. Data were collected in one-on-one interviews with Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants involved in the change process. A grounded methodological approach was utilised using open coding to break down data into distinct units of meaning. The results reveal that the Indigenous community of Ischool were more committed to promoting and sustaining education initiatives that improve student learning when: (a) school leadership structures were inclusive of Indigenous voices and Indigenous ways of relating; (b) power and authority within the school context was shared, and (c) Indigenous staff were included in professional development opportunities that foster collaborative classroom partnerships and legitimise their own knowledge of their culture and community.

This paper considers the comments made Indigenous adults returning to school about their earlier experiences at school. They were written by Indigenous people who have chosen to return to education in the Northern Territory after leaving school early. They reflect the variety of factors which contributed to their motivation to stay at school when younger, or to leave school early.

Fifty-two (52) Indigenous students wrote comments on their earlier school experiences. They came from all around Australia and ranged in age from late teens to early forties. What they experienced at different places and at different times was remarkably similar. It would seem overt discrimination was more prominent in times past and has become more subtle in recent times.

Despite the end of colonialism, Zimbabwean rural school teachers still find themselves trapped in the colonial pedagogic practices that undervalue the importance of rural school children's experiential knowledge in science. This article explores the beliefs and attitudes of rural primary teachers towards incorporating Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous teaching practices in science education. A case study of 10 teachers in a rural school in Zimbabwe was conducted using the observation method which was complimented with a semi-structured interview. Twenty video recordings were carried out while the teachers were conducting science lessons. Classroom interactions and communications were vividly captured and analysed, while interviews were conducted after observations to capture explanatory details that may not have been apparent during video recordings. Inductive data analysis focusing on themes relating to teachers' views and practices yielded rich and informative details. Findings indicate that teachers are reluctant to integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching techniques as pedagogical tools. The attitudes are a result of systemic and institutional expectations on teachers.

The paper reports on embedding an Indigenous graduate attribute into courses at the University of Western Sydney (UWS), providing the background to the development and implementation of a holistic and individual Indigenous graduate attribute. It details the approach taken by the Badanami Centre for Indigenous Education in advising the UWS staff on the process for endorsement of the Indigenous graduate attribute. The UWS's recognition of its moral purpose and social responsibility to Indigenous people in Greater Western Sydney has led to the successful re-establishment of Indigenous education at UWS. The paper outlines the unique and innovative approach taken to implement the Indigenous graduate attribute, including: consultation across the Schools at UWS; developing and establishing relationships through the respect of disciplinary culture and tradition; the UWS-wide reform of the traditional discipline approach and the first step towards recognition of the domain of Indigenous knowledge in teaching and research; establishing a team of Indigenous academics; developing a learning and teaching framework for Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous studies; and integrating Indigenous content into curricula at UWS. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations funded UWS to develop the Indigenous graduate attribute and implement it by embedding cultural competency and professional capacity into UWS courses.

The notion of Indigenous epistemologies and “ways of knowing” continues to be undervalued within various academic disciplines, particularly those who continue to draw upon “scientific” approaches that colonise Indigenous peoples today. This paper will examine the politics of contested knowledge from the perspective of three Indigenous researchers who work within Yunggorendi First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research at Flinders University in South Australia. In particular, the authors outline a collective process that has emerged from conversations regarding their research projects and responding to what Ladson-Billings and Donnor (2008, p. 371) refer to as the “call”. In developing an Indigenous standpoint specific to their own disciplines and their research context, the authors demonstrate how these collective conversations between each other and their communities in which they work have informed their research practices and provided a common framework which underpins their research methodologies.

Indigenous conversation and voice are increasingly heard in the research literature but there needs to be more dialogue in order for it to be a two-way conversation. This paper contributes to research that attempts to redress this situation by reporting on conversations with Aboriginal parents and caregivers of students enrolled in a public secondary school in a large New South Wales country town. The conversations were conducted over a three-year period (2005-7) by a team non-Indigenous researchers working in collaboration with Indigenous researchers. In this paper, we describe the various approaches we developed to establish conversations with Aboriginal parents and caregivers, and the various themes that emerged over the course of the study. We also assess how this type of research is located within and contributes to, the existing research literature. Finally, we discuss the importance of ongoing conversations with Aboriginal parents and caregivers, and how schools and systems can better respond to well-established policy goals of productive parent-school relationships.

This paper demonstrates how Indigenous studies is controlled in some Australian universities in ways that continue the marginalisation, denigration and exploitation of Indigenous peoples. Moreover, it shows how the engagement of white notions of “inclusion” can result in the maintenance of racism, systemic marginalisation, white race privilege and radicalised subjectivity. A case study will be utilised which draws from the experience of two Indigenous scholars who were invited to be part of a panel to review one Australian university's plan and courses in Indigenous studies. The case study offers the opportunity to destabilise the relationships between oppression and privilege and the epistemology that maintains them. The paper argues for the need to examine exactly what is being offered when universities provide opportunities for “inclusion”.

This narrative article is based on an analysis of 61 documents, mostly articles, of which 37 were peer-reviewed, including research studies, reviews, conceptual research and narratives of practice. Review findings are reported with specific reference to the Australian and New Zealand contexts in relation to the following topic categories: the presence of indigenous music in the curriculums of selected ‘new world’ countries, teacher education in indigenous performing arts, questions of curriculum design and programming, resource selection, activity design, and school and community relationships. Certain key themes emerged across these topics: the need for a greater emphasis on more culturally nuanced music teacher education in relation to indigenous musics; the critical importance of teaching indigenous music/arts contexts; song ownership; and the need for music educators and researchers to develop a critical stance towards their subject and discipline.

Low retention of Indigenous peoples in all Australian universities has been identified as a problematic issue by the Australian Federal government. Griffith University (GU), Queensland, Australia, provided funding to examine the factors affecting Indigenous retention in higher education, with the aim of developing innovative participation and retention strategies specifically for Indigenous students. This paper focuses on research conducted within the Griffith School of Environment that questioned the possible links between the provision of information to commencing Indigenous students and their retention. It essentially examines to what extent current university structures support Indigenous enrolments and retention, via the information they receive upon enrolling. From interviews conducted in an informal discussion format with currently enrolled Indigenous students in the Griffith School of Environment, critical deficiencies were identified in the information Indigenous students receive during the early transition phase of university entrance. A key finding of this study, and which is the subject of current research, was the support amongst the students for the development of an Indigenised curriculum in science as a strategy for improving the attraction and retention of Indigenous students. This paper details the research project and its findings.

It is well documented, that Indigenous students, compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts, attend school less frequently, and are more likely to develop anti-schooling attitudes leading to their early exit from school (Hayes et al., 2009; Gray & Partington, 2003; Hunter & Schwad, 2003). Although research does suggest that there has been some gradual improvements in some areas of education over the years, serious gaps still remain between Indigenous and non-Indigenous student learning outcomes. There is a great need, to build on the more significant research on Indigenous education that is focused on exploring the achievement potentials of Indigenous students to address the foundations for improved Indigenous student outcomes. This paper reports on a South Australian qualitative study based on interviews with 36 Indigenous senior secondary students, on factors which facilitate improved learning and achievement, leading to higher levels of secondary school completion among Indigenous youth.

Photovoice, the most prevalent participatory visual research methodology utilised within social science research, has begun making its way into Indigenous contexts in light of its critical and pedagogical potential. However, this potential is not always actualised as the assumptions that undergird photovoice are often the same ones that (re)produce inequalities. Working from the notion that methodologies are the space in between theory, methods, and ethics, this manuscript works with/in the cultural interface between the Western theories that shape photovoice (i.e., standpoint theory, praxis) and Indigenous analogues (i.e., Nakata's [2007a, 2007b] Indigenous standpoint theory, Grande's [2004, 2008] Red pedagogy) in order to differentially (re)braid photovoice. Following a thumbnail description of these four bodies of scholarship, a concept key to photovoice (i.e., voice) is differentially configured with, in, and for the cultural interface to provide research considerations for various stages of participatory visual research projects (i.e., fieldwork, analysis, dissemination).

This article directly responds to issues impacting on the social and academic outcomes of Indigenous students that were identified in the recent review of Aboriginal Education conducted by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSW DET) in partnership with New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (NSW AECG). Not surprisingly, a common theme emerging from the review was the importance of student motivation and engagement for Indigenous students of all ages. The article reports on current research into the motivation, engagement and classroom pedagogies for a sample of senior primary Indigenous students. What is of particular interest is the cultural interplay of the lived experiences of these Indigenous students with schools, teachers and classroom pedagogies. Important questions arise from an analysis of this interplay about what might “free the spirit” for these and other Indigenous students.

This paper presents evidence collected from an evaluatory study of the Kickstart program conducted by Australian Football League (AFL) Cape York in far North Queensland. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Kickstart program in meeting its overall objective of enhancing lifeskills of Indigenous Australians through participation in AFL. Evidence collected via interviews with Indigenous youth, parents, teachers and Kickstart stakeholders (including community representatives) suggest mixed meanings surrounding the interpretation of “lifeskills”, and yet improvement in the education, attitudes and lifestyle choices of Indigenous youth in the selected Cape York communities.

In Australia, the ‘remote education system’ presents itself as a simple system where the right inputs, such as quality teachers and leaders will engender the outputs that have been set by the system, such as certain levels of English literacy and numeracy. The system has measures in place, including national testing, to report on its success. For the most part, this system seems to be working quite well. However, this modelling breaks down when the education system of remote Australia is presented. This remote system is presented in much of the literature and in the press, as disadvantaged, under-resourced and underperforming. Reported results indicate that current activities are not bringing the desired outcomes. The so-called mainstream system makes adjustments using its model of input to output, but without success. There is a clear need for change. Just what this change might look like is the focus of this article. Theorising in this space is considered from two positions; the first being the published work of a number of Indigenous Australian educators and leaders writing in this space; the second, a consideration of western theorising using complex adaptive systems. Throughout the article, a metaphor of ‘red dirt thinking’ is applied as a mechanism to ground the thinking in the lives and lands of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of remote Australia.

This study explored the experience of having a child educated away from home at boarding school for Aboriginal parents living in regional and remote communities in Western Australia (WA). In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 participants and thematic analysis found the following major themes emerged from the data: (1) Access, Standards and Quality, and the subthemes of Declining Local Schools, Opportunity, and Worldliness; (2) Parental Agency and the subthemes of Parent-School Connection, Parenting Style, Communication, and Milestones and Siblings and; (3) Cultural Heritage and the subtheme of Maintenance and Transmission. The findings are described and then discussed in terms of practice implications relevant to boarding schools in WA. Limitations of the current study are acknowledged and directions for future research are proposed.

MindMatters, implemented by Principals Australia Institute, is a resource and professional development initiative supporting Australian secondary schools in promoting and protecting the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of members of school communities, preferring a proactive paradigm (Covey, 1989) to the position of ‘disaster response’. While the MindMatters national focus has continued, grown and become embedded in schools since its beginning in 2000, MindMatters staff have also specifically sought to establish localised mental health and wellbeing (MHWB) promotion in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that empowers local school and community groups to build on community values and intergenerational capacities for supporting the MHWB of young people. This article outlines the processes for successful practice that have been developed in a very remote Aboriginal school context, and highlights the strengths and benefits of this approach from the perspectives of Anangu (Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara people of Central Australia) educators. Using a community development approach, Anangu educators, skilled linguists, community members and MindMatters trained staff formed learning communities that recontextualised MHWB curriculum to be taught in Anangu schools. While critically reflecting on the process MindMatters has adopted, this article draws on the voices of Anangu to privilege the cultural philosophical positions in the discourse. In so doing, important principles for translating what is fundamentally a western knowledge system's construct into corresponding Anangu knowledge systems is highlighted. Through building on the knowledge base that exists in the community context, Anangu educators, school staff and community members develop confidence, shared language and capacity to become the expert educators, taking their knowledge and resources to other Anangu school communities to begin their MindMatters journey ‘Anangu way’. This process supports students as they engage in the school-based activities and build a language for reflecting on MHWB concerns, leading them to learn and practice ‘better ways of thinking and acting’ (Kulintja Palyantja Palya —the Pitjantjatjara language title for the MindMatters, ‘Anangu Way’ program).