Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T15:21:59.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indigenous higher education sector: the evolution of recognised Indigenous Leaders within Australian Universities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2020

Stacey Kim Coates Open the ORCID record for Stacey Kim Coates [Opens in a new window] ,
Michelle Trudgett  and
Susan Page
Stacey Kim Coates*
Affiliation:
Western Sydney University, Bankstown Campus, Bullecourt Avenue, Milperra, Bankstown, New South Wales2214, Australia
Michelle Trudgett
Affiliation:
Western Sydney University, Building EZ.2.02, Parramatta South Campus, Victoria Rd, Rydalmere, New South Wales2116, Australia
Susan Page
Affiliation:
Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales2007, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Stacey Coates, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

There is clear evidence that Indigenous education has changed considerably over time. Indigenous Australians' early experiences of ‘colonialised education’ included missionary schools, segregated and mixed public schooling, total exclusion and ‘modified curriculum’ specifically for Indigenous students which focused on teaching manual labour skills (as opposed to literacy and numeracy skills). The historical inequalities left a legacy of educational disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Following activist movements in the 1960s, the Commonwealth Government initiated a number of reviews and forged new policy directions with the aim of achieving parity of participation and outcomes in higher education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Further reviews in the 1980s through to the new millennium produced recommendations specifically calling for Indigenous Australians to be given equality of access to higher education; for Indigenous Australians to be employed in higher education settings; and to be included in decisions regarding higher education. This paper aims to examine the evolution of Indigenous leaders in higher education from the period when we entered the space through to now. In doing so, it will examine the key documents to explore how the landscape has changed over time, eventually leading to a number of formal reviews, culminating in the Universities Australia 2017–2020 Indigenous Strategy (Universities Australia, 2017).

Keywords

Indigenous leadershiphigher education
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , December 2021 , pp. 215 - 221
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

Anderson, I (2015) Indigenous pathways into the professions. UNESCO Observatory Multi-Disciplinary Journal in the Arts 4, 1–27. Available at http://education.unimelb.edu.au/Google Scholar
Behrendt, L, Larkin, S, Griew, R and Kelly, P (2012) Review of Higher Education Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Bin-Sallik, M (1990) Aboriginal Tertiary Education in Australia: How Well is it Serving the Needs of Aborigines?, 2nd Edn., Adelaide: University of South Australia.Google Scholar
Bin-Sallik, M (2003) Cultural safety: let's name it! [online]. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 32, 21–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, D, Noonan, P, Nugent, H and Scales, B (2008) Review of Australian Higher Education. Final Report. Available at https://www.mq.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/135310/bradley_review_of_australian_higher_education.pdfGoogle Scholar
Day, A, Nakata, V, Nakata, M and Martin, G (2015) Indigenous students’ persistence in higher education in Australia: contextualising models of change from psychology to understand and aid students’ practices at a cultural interface. Higher Education Research & Development 34, 501–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Employment, Education and Training (1989) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy: Joint Policy Statement. Canberra: Department of Employment, Education and Training.Google Scholar
Department of Employment, Education and Training (1994) National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Summary and Recommendations; Final Report. Canberra: Department of Employment, Education and Training.Google Scholar
Dudgeon, P, Kelly, K and Walker, R (2010) Closing the gaps in and through Indigenous health research: guidelines, processes and practices. Australian Aboriginal Studies 2, 81–91.Google Scholar
Fletcher, J (1989) Clean, Clad and Courteous: A History of Aboriginal Education in New South Wales. Sydney, Australia: Fletcher Publishing.Google Scholar
Ford, LP, Guthadjaka, KG, Daymangu, JW, Baker, C, Ford, C, Ford, E, Thompson, N, Ford, M, Wallace, R, St Clair, M and Murtagh, D (2018) Re-imaging Aboriginal leadership in higher education—a new Indigenous research paradigm. Australian Journal of Education 62(3), 276–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunstone, A (2013) Indigenous leadership and governance in Australian Universities. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies 6, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogarth, M (2016) One step forward, two steps back: the historical and social context of Indigenous education policy. Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues 19, 147–160.Google Scholar
Holt, L (2016) The Development of Aboriginal Education Policy in Australia—Voices of the National Aboriginal Education Committee (NAEC) (Doctoral thesis). The University of Newcastle, Australia.Google Scholar
Holt, L and Morgan, B (2016) Empowering Aboriginal aspirations in Australian University structures and systems. Research and Development in Higher Education: The Shape of Higher Education 39, 96–105.Google Scholar
Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council (2006) Partnerships, Pathways and Policies, Improving Indigenous Education Outcomes, Conference Report of the Second Annual Indigenous Higher Education Conference. Canberra: Australian Capital Territory: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council (2011) National Indigenous Higher Education Workforce Strategy. Canberra: Australian Capital Territory: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Ivory, B (2005) Indigenous Governance and Leadership: A Case Study From the Thamarrurr (Port Keats) Region in the Northern Territory. Canberra: CAEPR, The Australian National University.Google Scholar
Johnston, E (1991) Final Report of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Madden, R, Trewin, D and Australian Bureau of Statistics & Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2005) The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Belconnen, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Capital Territory.Google Scholar
Ma Rhea, Z and Russell, L (2012) The invisible hand of pedagogy in Australian Indigenous studies and Indigenous education. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 41, 18–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreton-Robinson, A, Walter, M, Singh, D and Kimber, M (2011). On stony ground: governance and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in Australian Universities, Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Available at https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/moreton-robinson_et_al_2011.pdfGoogle Scholar
Page, S, Trudgett, M and Sullivan, C (2017) Past, present and future: acknowledging Indigenous achievement and aspiration in higher education. HERDSA Review of Higher Education 4, 29–51.Google Scholar
Perry, L and Holt, L (2018) Searching for the songlines of Aboriginal education and culture within Australian higher education. Australian Educational Researcher 45, 343–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, N (1990). Studying Man and Man's Nature: the history of institutionalisation of Aboriginal Anthropology. Available at http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/lbry/dig_prgm/wentworth/m0006639_a.rtfGoogle Scholar
Rigney, LI (2001) A first perspective of Indigenous Australian participation in science: framing Indigenous research towards Indigenous Australian intellectual sovereignty. Kaurna Higher Education 7, 1–13.Google Scholar
Rigney, LI (2002) Indigenous education and treaty: building Indigenous management capacity [online]. Balayi Culture, Law and Colonialism 4, 73–82.Google Scholar
Rigney, LI (2010) Indigenous education: the challenge of change [online]. Every Child 16, 10–11.Google Scholar
Rigney, LI (2011) Indigenous Higher Education Reform and Indigenous Knowledges Review. Canberra: Department of Education.Google Scholar
Russell, L (2001) Savage Imaginings: Historical and Contemporary Representations of Australian Aborginialities. Melbourne, Australia: Australian Scholarly Publications.Google Scholar
Sanders, W (2004) ATSIC's Achievements and Strengths: Implications for Institutional Reform. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.Google Scholar
Schwab, R (1995) Twenty Years of Policy Recommendations for Indigenous Education: Overview and Research Implications. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.Google Scholar
Sheils, H (Ed.) (1963) Australian Aboriginal Studies. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, D and Hunt, J (2008) Understanding Indigenous Australian governance—research, theory and representations. In Hunt, J, Smith, DE, Garling, S and Sanders, W (Eds.), Contested Governance: Culture, Power and Institutions in Indigenous Australia. Canberra, Australia: ANU ePress, pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
Street, C, Guenther, J, Smith, JA, Robertson, K, Motlap, S, Ludwig, W, Gillan, K, Woodroffe, T and Ober, R (2017) The evolution of Indigenous higher education in Northern Territory, Australia: a chronological review of policy. International Studies in Widening Participation 4, 32–51Google Scholar
Trudgett, M (2009) Build it and they will come: building the capacity of Indigenous units in universities to provide better support for Indigenous postgraduate students. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 38, 9–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgett, M (2013) Stop, collaborate and listen: a guide to seeding success for Indigenous higher degree research students. In Craven, RG and Mooney, J (ed.), Seeding Success in Indigenous Australian Higher Education (Diversity in Higher Education) Vol. 14, Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited (ebook), pp. 137–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgett, M, Page, S and Harrison, N (2016) Brilliant minds: a snapshot of successful Indigenous Australian doctoral students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 45, 70–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Universities Australia (2011) National Best Practice Framework for Indigenous Cultural Competency in Australian Universities. Canberra: Australian Capital Territory.Google Scholar
Universities Australia (2017) Indigenous Strategy 2017–2020. Canberra: Australian Capital Territory.Google Scholar
Universities Australia (2019) Indigenous Strategy First Annual Report. Canberra: Australian Capital Territory.Google Scholar
White, N (2010) Indigenous Australian women's leadership: stayin’ strong against the postcolonial tide. International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice 13, 7–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, L (2013) People, Places and Pathways in NSW Aboriginal Education: The Impact of Aboriginal Community on Education Provision in NSW (Doctoral thesis). The University of Newcastle, Australia.Google Scholar