Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

A success story is unfolding all across Australia

By Joe Lane - posted Wednesday, 12 August 2009


Interstate, experiences were roughly similar, with many support programs being inaugurated in the late 80s. Some took the enclave path, writing up specific awards for Indigenous students, usually at sub-degree-level. These awards were offered to students externally, so that Indigenous students only came onto campuses for block-release programs, usually during normal student breaks. This way Indigenous students were not only doing different courses but were not even studying them on-campus alongside other students. These segregated programs continued well into the present decade.

Other universities, such as QUT, Newcastle and Charles Sturt, set up support programs to prepare and enrol Indigenous students in standard courses - Charles Sturt at a number of widely separated campuses. Again, some sandstone universities set up both small support programs for Indigenous students (usually standard-entry) in mainstream awards, and enclaves for Indigenous-specific (often external) students in sub-degree courses. Large numbers of students in enclave courses helped to boost student numbers and satisfy the queries of the federal education authorities about low enrolments.

Between 1990 and 2000, all remaining universities set up support services for Indigenous students along the lines of the two models, support programs and/or enclave programs, with some additions and variations. Some universities, such as Edith Cowan, New England, James Cook, Southern Queensland and Deakin, focused on recruiting and enrolling students externally in specially-written courses, sometimes at study centres, sometimes as isolated students. A couple of universities enrolled huge numbers of students in external bridging courses, until the federal department forced a reduction in this lucrative strategy in 2000.

Advertisement

Programs at some universities were totally enclave-oriented, with minimal support for Indigenous students in what the program staff regarded as “white” courses. And of course, some universities, particularly multi-campus institutions, at various times used complex mixtures of support programs, enclaves and a non-support (even an anti-support) focus on teaching Indigenous-focused awards to both Indigenous students (often in lower levels, such as Diplomas and Certificates) and non-Indigenous students (in full-degree courses).

By its nature, the support program model is open-ended - there is no limit to how many students can be recruited or in the range of disciplines in which they can enrol, if they can meet the entry requirements. By contrast, the enclave model can develop only a handful of courses, in Aboriginal Studies, Health, Education, Welfare Work, Cultural Studies and Administration, and usually at sub-degree level, one- and two-year certificates and diplomas. In this sense, the enclave model is very limited, and very dependent for its numbers on the likelihood of future employment in the Indigenous Industry and government enclaves.

Meanwhile, on many university campuses, Indigenous studies programs had been set up for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, from as far back as the late 70s. Indigenous Studies staff have tended to favour the enclave model in which they had major teaching roles. But there has always been a struggle between support programs and Indigenous Studies departments for control of direction, funding and staffing. One could say that many Indigenous Studies staff (Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous) did not see any value in the support program model and that, to many of them, the natural place for most Indigenous students was not at universities at all but rather at TAFE or in remote communities, hunting and gathering - while, in the long run, the natural market for Indigenous Studies was to be amply provided by non-Indigenous students: particularly if all non-Indigenous students at a university were required to enrol in at least one Indigenous Studies subject.

At many universities, this struggle led to the subordination of support program staff under Indigenous Studies departments, where their support role was diminished in favour of the teaching of non-Indigenous students. This was exacerbated from 2000, when a massive decline in sub-degree and non-award enrolments - and a spurious assumption of the “decline” in Indigenous student numbers - provided the rationale to wind down support for Indigenous students.

2002 - the present

One can infer from enrolment and graduation data that a major strategic change took place early this decade: at some universities, sub-degree Indigenous-focused courses were wound down and discontinued, while support staff were dragged more and more into the teaching (or more precisely, tutoring and marking) of non-Indigenous students. As it happened, this was occurring at the same time (perhaps since the mid-90s) as a rapid decline in Indigenous interest in Indigenous-focused study and segregated education.

This decline also coincided with a rise in the number of Indigenous students completing secondary education: in South Australia, the number of Indigenous students enrolling at Year 12 rose five-fold between 1999 and 2007 and the number of students completing Year 12 rose seven-fold. From around 2002, the number of Indigenous students completing their secondary schooling and coming more or less straight in to tertiary education rose rapidly, countering the decline in sub-degree and Indigenous-focused enrolments. The great majority of Indigenous students who gain their Year 12 and who come on to tertiary study enrol in mainstream courses - a bare handful of such students have ever enrolled in Indigenous studies in South Australia since 1990.

Advertisement

One may ask why there was a sudden rise in the number of Year 12 students. A possible answer relates to the earlier phase of the urbanisation - really the metropolitinisation - of the southern Indigenous population in the 50s and 60s: the growth in the numbers of Indigenous children in standard, city secondary schools and the development of an urban working population.

In time, this population intermarried with other working people, overwhelmingly non-Indigenous, leading to a massive upsurge in the Indigenous birth-rate from the late 80s onwards: birth-group numbers rose from about 7,000 to 11,000. Perhaps a work ethic has been driving these children through their schooling and on to mainstream tertiary education, as a relatively sure means of acquiring more secure and satisfying careers, across a very wide range of fields.

Correspondingly, the proportion of Indigenous students enrolling and graduating in some helper-role courses - teaching and social work - has declined by some 20 per cent, offset only partly by an increase in the proportion of students graduating from nursing courses.

The fact is that Indigenous university commencement, continuation, enrolment and graduation numbers are at record levels. The proportion of Indigenous students at degree-level and above and the number of study areas in which they enrol is also at record levels. Thanks to support programs, Indigenous graduate numbers in South Australia have risen from 20 or 30 to more than 1,600 in barely 30 years. This number will easily double by 2020. This success story is unfolding all across Australia.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

21 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Joe Lane is an independent researcher with a long-standing passion for Indigenous involvement at universities and its potential for liberation. Originally from Sydney, he worked in Indigenous tertiary support systems from 1981 until the mid-90s and gained lifelong inspiration from his late wife Maria, a noted leader in SA Indigenous education.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Joe Lane

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 21 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy