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RISE-ing up
Major study will see Indigenous students mark success on their own terms .
By Eleanor Campbell
Indigenous high school students will be placed at the forefront of a major research collaboration aimed at redefining success in Indigenous education .
Funded by Australia ’ s largest philanthropic organisation , The Paul Ramsay Foundation , RISE will track the progress of 1,000 Indigenous students to determine what types of support will help them achieve their own version of academic and cultural success .
The five-year project has been developed by leading Indigenous nonprofit Aurora Education Foundation .
“ For so long indigenous students have been put in a box around what success is ,” Aurora ’ s CEO , Leila Smith , told Education Review .
“ They ’ ve been told that success is them being sporty , or success is them not wagging at school , or success is them just finishing year 10 or year 12 , or success is them not making trouble .
“ We know that the way that Aboriginal families call success in education is completely different to this , it is so much broader than the boxes that indigenous students have been put in for generations .”
The historic national Closing the Gap agreement saw the government commit $ 126 million dollars towards delivering school-based programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to address educational disadvantage .
The latest report found the 26 per cent gap in Year 12 attainment between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students was one of the few targets that was on track .
Measuring success beyond high school completion rates and school attendance is pivotal to understanding how to best support each individual student ’ s diverse and specific needs , Smith said .
“ If we are going to see how all of these different programs can complement each other and work together , we need to be again putting Indigenous students and families at the centre and marking success on their terms .
“ It ’ s so much more than just attendance and engagement , it ’ s about all the richness that makes students want to engage with the system and make students want to thrive in that system as well .”
Aurora ’ s largest high school-based program , which has run since 2014 , currently supports nearly 300 Indigenous students across NSW and WA .
We need to lift our expectations of what is possible for indigenous students .
The program has shown to double Year 12 completion rates , triple ATAR attainment and double the proportion of Indigenous students who go to university compared with the national average .
Students are mentored by community elders and one of 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mentors who have either graduated or are currently studying at university .
Smith said student and community feedback will be central to the RISE initiative which will help to fill a critical knowledge gap in education reform .
“ The biggest thing that I would like to see more of is that we need to lift our expectations of what is possible for indigenous students ,” she said .
“ There are students out there who already have set their aim high , and we need to be validating that too in our programs , in our schools .
“ So for each of these journeys , students need to have a structured programme to make these dreams a reality .” ■
6 | educationreview . com . au