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This project was developed with a view to addressing the current low retention rates among Indigenous Australian students from regional and isolated areas undertaking degree courses offered through block-release study mode by the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University, Western Australia, relative to those of students undertaking other degree courses offered by the University. The current drop-out rate for these students is up to 60 per cent, compared with 20 per cent for the overall student population of Curtin University.

The project endeavoured to establish the feasibility of developing a 'bridging course'-style program for these students, in the form of a block-release study mode pre-tertiary academic pathway program. This pathway program would be designed to attract and retain regional and isolated Indigenous Australians wishing to undertake degree courses offered through block-release study mode by the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University, by ensuring that these students are equipped with the skills required for the successful completion of their degree course. The pathway program would also be intended to prepare students to undertake degree courses offered by other Australian universities.

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The He Vaka Moana research fellowship is a strengths-based project framed by Oceanic principles and methodologies - connecting us as Maori and Pasifika peoples to what sustains us - the ocean. We draw from our shared history of our tupuna who navigated the vast Pacific Ocean on purpose-built vessels using Indigenous methods of navigating to successfully reach their destinations. Based on an internationally proven model, He Vaka Moana seeks to develop a sustainable fellowship of interdisciplinary academic and professional staff in teaching, learning, assessment and research. Through using robust processes that test, evaluate and reflect on Maori and Pasifika students' success, our fellows constructed innovative pedagogical projects to advance students' success, whilst ensuring significant and positive changes occurred institutionally.

He Vaka Moana was a two-year project with three aims: 1. To examine, improve and evaluate multiple interventions that develop and advance Maori and Pasifika learners' success; 2. To develop research capacity and capability amongst fellows around projects focused on Maori and Pasifika student retention, completion and successful outcomes; 3. To develop an Oceanic methodology - an approach we named Va-ka methodology, that recognises the interrelated connections that Maori and Pasifika experience as Indigenous peoples.

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There are substantial ethnic gaps in higher education in NZ, despite more than a decade of considerable policy effort aimed at this concern. This study uses newly linked administrative data to examine the underachievement of Maori and Pasifika relative to Europeans. We follow a population cohort born between 1990 and 1994 from school through to young adulthood to assess the relative contributions of prior academic performance, socioeconomic status and parental education to these gaps. Controlling for the relevant covariates narrows the Maori-European gap and completely eliminates the Pasifika-European gap in bachelor's degree participation rates. Utilising Fairlie decompositions, we find that school performance is by far the largest contributor to the ethnic gaps. Low socioeconomic status and parental education are also pertinent, but less important. Our results suggest that ethnic-based policies aimed at encouraging participation are likely to have a limited effect if used in isolation and signal the need for policy interventions earlier in the education system.

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This study, a work in progress, describes the institutional support structures and applied strategies currently considered effective and culturally appropriate to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the Northern Territory. In attempting to investigate whether these solutions to the acknowledged problem of low retention rates and course completions in tertiary study are supported by the students themselves, the study also records the perceptions of a sample of Indigenous students enrolled in Northern Territory institutions across both the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE) undergraduate and post-graduate health sciences courses. Three case study sites are involved in the study. In order to limit the student population base from which to investigate the problem, the area of health science has been chosen. However, it is expected that the conclusions drawn from the study can be broadened and applied to Indigenous students in all avenues of tertiary study. This paper examines the progress to date on both the results and the practical issues associated with the study's methodological approach, based on the case studies model.

Published abstract.

Available papers from the 8th Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) Conference, 'Emerging futures: recent, responsive and relevant research', are indexed from TD/TNC 81.564 to TD/TNC 81.610. Show less

[This] is one of the first pieces of research to focus specifically on the factors which influence Maori students to stay on at school after the school leaving age of 16. While other research has concentrated on the negative factors which cause Maori to so often leave school earlier than their non-Maori counterparts, this study has taken the approach of focusing on those Maori students who have made an active decision to stay at school beyond the legal requirement. The other unique aspect of this survey is that it has asked students to say in their own words how they feel about school, why they have stayed on and how other Maori students could be encouraged to do the same.

What has emerged from this study is that these students, all of whom have stayed at school beyond the age of 16, tend to feel relatively positive about their schools and about education itself. They are well aware of the difficulties young schoolleavers typically experience in finding employment and that without qualifications opportunities are severely limited. However, rather than staying at school because they have nothing better to do, these students tend to focus on the positive things that school has to offer them. Many feel confident that if they stay at school and pass their exams, they will not become one of those with no hope of a job.

Overall, this research indicates a variety of factors may be at work in influencing decisions to stay on at school. Some of these are to do with a student's family background, some are to do with the school itself, some derive from the personal characteristics of the student, and others, such as financial barriers to education, are outside the control of any of these groups. It is clear from this study that it is possible to make school a place that Maori students value and want to be at. Increasing the numbers of Maori students who stay on at school, and improving their level of achievement, will require combined efforts from schools, families and Government. It is hoped that the words of the students who participated in this research will provide ideas and incentives to make these much-needed efforts into a reality.

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Increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in higher education can play a critical role in transforming lives and is the trajectory to closing the gap and reducing disadvantage. Despite recent progress, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain significantly under-represented in higher education. Poor retention and high attrition rates of these students come at significant financial cost for the individual, community, university and government. Wirltu Yarlu, the Indigenous Education Unit at the University of Adelaide has reviewed the role student support services play in improving retention and completion rates, with an aim to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student retention and completion.

The newly developed Student Success Strategy is an innovative approach to student support that aims to identify and respond to individual student needs in a more effective and efficient manner. The model encompasses a self-assessment tool designed to measure progress across several domains. Self-assessments are used to inform student specific support needs which in turn enable support staff to personalise future interventions for each student and respond accordingly in an attempt to reduce and prevent student attrition.

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Tertiary enabling programs have become an increasingly important part of the post-secondary schooling landscape. In recognition of the need for increased access for certain under-represented groups within the university population, enabling, bridging or foundational programs are offered by a large number of universities in Australia as alternative entry pathways. This paper explores the outcomes of an enabling program being offered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults who are arguably one of the most under-represented groups within the university system in Australia. It explores, in two parts, the combination of factors that are resulting in these positive outcomes.

Part one explores the 'data story' of the course and the factors that support retention and completion. Part two explores the 'stories of transformation' as told by the students themselves, providing insider accounts of richness and depth about the things that truly enable success in a tertiary learning environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. While not ignoring the limitations of evaluating a course that is still in its infancy, the students undertaking this course are completing and moving on into higher education courses at an impressive rate, empowered by the skills, strategies and confidence they have developed through the course.

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Commissioned by the Queen's Trust Australia and the Dusseldorp Skills Forum, this report and 'Programs for at-risk youth' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 47.25] are resources for all those working in education, youth, health, and social service agencies. These publications provide a perspective on school and community programs which attempt to prevent and treat the more harmful experiences which children and adolescents may suffer during the high growth years. They comment on the attributes of groups of children-at-risk and offer an overview of the leading themes and issues faced by educational and other agencies. In addition, they map the successful provision of measures or strategies by which such agencies improve the lot of at-risk-youth in regard to: reversing health problems; helping youth cope with sexuality; and reducing the attractions of substance abuse. Both publications focus on programs which maintain and enhance educational progress during adolescence. Show less

The 2011-12 Budget introduced a number of measures aimed at giving young Australians greater incentives, support and opportunity to engage in education, training and employment. For young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians this includes the introduction of a new program to assist in the transition from school to work, or further study through the provision of support to complete a school based traineeship. The Indigenous Youth Careers Pathways Program (IYCP) aims to support up to 6,400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Years 11 and 12 (and in limited cases Year 10 students) over four years, to start and successfully complete a school based traineeship. Assistance is also available for other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, including younger secondary school students (from Year 7) to stay in school, undertake a school based traineeship, find a job or move into further study. With this discussion paper, the Australian Government is seeking stakeholder views to assist with informing the Request for Tender documentation for the Indigenous Youth Careers Pathways Program 2013-2015.

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In 2002 the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Technology Sydney began a major initiative to improve the participation of Indigenous Australians in the information technology (IT) sector. This followed an initial study which showed that very few Indigenous students undertook studies in IT at university and therefore few found employment as IT professionals. As a result of the new programme, the Faculty’s first Indigenous staff were hired, an Indigenous resource centre was established and the first postgraduate students recruited. In addition, an IT tertiary preparation short course, the Indigenous Pre-IT Program, was launched successfully, the Faculty’s first Indigenous-specific course. With the project, Indigenous student enrolments have increased, mainly as part of the Pre-IT Program and as a result of recruitment of undergraduates from amongst successful Pre-IT Program students. However, retention of undergraduates recruited via special admission provisions has proved difficult despite attempts to secure scholarships and to provide academic support. This paper traces the development of the project and analyses the achievements and challenges in the first three years.

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