policy & reform
Stock image: Thinkstock
Grassroots changes boost
indigenous enrolments
I
was moved to respond to the article by Stuart Middleton(“ False hope of bold targets”, CR January 2013), particularly in light of Australia’ s Behrendt report, released mid-2012.
The report confirmed that indigenous education issues have long been relegated to small and isolated indigenous education units, which have largely been ignored by the wider university system. It smells of tokenism when grand policy statements and aspirations are not easily recognised in the daily operational life of an institution, and it’ s disturbing how underlying prejudice can linger in the unsaid.
But I would like to share the story of a growing group of indigenous students who have worked with the wider university to change organisational culture through their
One university’ s Indigenous education unit realised that raising student numbers would take more groundwork. By Kemeri Liévano
Indigenous education unit. Nearly three years ago, a quiet unit saw no more than two or three students during the week, but a change of model in mid-2010 saw student numbers in the University of South Australia’ s Division of Health Sciences jump from 55 to 81 in 2011.
Working closely with the community, the unit held one-on-one preparationfor-studies sessions for months before applications opened. It met family members and held community discussions about how study in health offered a future of change and of hope.
It sent staff and students to community health fairs and expos and took home lists of people to follow up. The staff took on each conversation about possibilities with enthusiasm and shared in the sense of hope it created. Sometimes students needed VET pathways or foundation programs before applying for uni, but the unit kept contact with them through the year and encouraged them.
By the time they arrived at university, they had already met continuing students to share journeys and at social get-togethers, and they said they felt part of the unit and of the university.
At the end of 2011, completions doubled, affirming the ongoing efforts to make the compliance-heavy ITAS-TT( Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme for Tertiary Tuition) work for students of the unit. Access to the scheme has increased dramatically, so while not all students are eligible, the majority of those who are receive tuition. The dean of health and clinical education invested heavily from her budget to fund the growth of ITAS and to support events and initiatives of the students’ growing social group.
The new model emphasises community development as well as student-centred support. Students identify their own goals and we tailor an individual plan to help students meet them and deal with whatever else life brings.
But the strength of the unit is community; individuals who are empowered find their place as leaders, peer mentors, friends and“ family” for the unit community. Some are the first in their family to study; others have families who do not support their decision to study; many have family responsibilities of their own.
They value the moral support they can offer each other. Unit staff help students navigate the university’ s systems, but the group disseminates information and meaning among themselves, as they meet each other in their needs.
The active cohort regularly attends events in the wider community. They participate strongly in university activities with other cohorts and they initiate and lead their own. They are committed to helping the university educate other students about Indigenous issues and take on additional responsibilities outside their programs to build community and share their stories.
Last year was a strong year and 2013 looks like being another year of growth and success in our cohort of future professionals: occupational therapists, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, medical scientists, sonographers and nutritionists who came from the community, changed us as a university and are being sent back into the wider community to do their part to“ Close the Gap.” ■
Kemeri Liévano is a lecturer in the Division of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia.
24 | Issue 2 2013