VET voices of success: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student experiences
Authors:
Natalie Gardam
TAFE NSW
Theme: Indigenous People
Presentation:
This presentation addresses the conference topic of supporting inclusivity and disadvantaged learners. The presentation aims to provide the audience with practical ideas they can take away concerning building partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the conduct of mutually beneficial research and educational design. In particular, strategies enabling the successful collaboration with an Aboriginal Advisory Group and the educational communities they represent, to guide research about the perceptions/aspirations/needs/desires of Indigenous students. The presenter is a non-Indigenous woman, a Doctor of Education Student at Southern Cross University who works at TAFE NSW. The presenter works and is conducting research on Dharug Country.
Completing a Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualification improves young people’s life chances. However, participation, retention, and completions in VET for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are significantly lower than for non-Indigenous students. A research project currently underway is seeking to understand how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students experience success in VET and Why? This research is significant to the VET sector as more needs to be accomplished in understanding the gap in educational outcomes through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student voice, and what can be done in a practical way to address this gap. Concepts of voice and worldview are applied in a narrative inquiry to hear the voices and lived experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander VET students through listening to and working with Aboriginal community members to ensure the research is culturally relevant and respectful.
The research design aligns with the NHMRC and AIATSIS codes of ethical research principles of Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous leadership, through establishment of an Aboriginal advisory group to steer the implementation of the research. The presentation will highlight how to successfully create community partnerships to co-design and implement research with the Aboriginal Advisory Group