industry & reform
James Ballangarry as a teaching student in 2015 . Picture : The University of Newcastle
Closing the higher education gap
Indigenous participation is up , but education equality is a work in progress .
By Eleanor Campbell
National Reconciliation Week 2022 gave universities the opportunity to reflect on the place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories , cultures and experiences within higher education .
The final day of the week-long event , June 3rd , coincided with the 30th anniversary of the landmark 1992 Mabo decision .
The historic Native Title case saw recognition for the legal land rights of First Nations people in Australia as traditional owners of the land .
Three decades on , education has been placed at the heart of efforts to close the inequality gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-indigenous Australians .
According to the latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare , the number of Indigenous Australians attending university has doubled from 11,024 to 21,033 between 2010 and 2019 .
However , around 1.9 per cent of university students identify as Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander , despite making up around 3.3 per cent of the population .
‘ IF YOU CAN ’ T SEE IT , YOU CAN ’ T BE IT .’ Indigenous higher education attainment is growing , with Indigenous Bachelor award course completions rising by 106.4 per cent between 2008 and 2019 .
Postgraduate research course completions have also risen by 121.2 per cent .
As of 2022 , Newcastle University has the highest cohort of full-time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at any university in the country .
Newcastle ’ s Indigenous research centre , the Wollotuka Institute , was established in 1983 and has since attracted some of the nation ’ s top Indigenous academics .
James Ballangarry is an Associate Lecturer of Education at Wollotuka , and first came to Newcastle in 2015 as a student .
“ Truthfully , Wollotuka really changed my direction , changed my life , as far as a university is concerned ,” he told Education Review .
“ I still maintain that it was shocking . It still is , that a place where you ’ ve got Aboriginal educators teaching Aboriginal content using Aboriginal pedagogies , and I didn ’ t think something like that existed .”
James first became interested in studying education after his high school English teacher offered him the opportunity to become a teacher ’ s aide .
He had no intentions of going to university at first , he says , but was encouraged to apply for Newcastle ’ s feefree , pre-bachelor study program Yapug .
It was there he discovered Wollotuka and connected with the institution ’ s Elders and academics .
“ When you see somebody who ’ s from a similar background , who you connect with , and they ’ ve done it , it makes it possible ,” he says .
“ To come to a place here and then to have opportunities to link and to interact and work with so many Aboriginal and
Even though the truth is hard to hear , we can ’ t discredit it .
Torres Strait Islander people who are leaders and grassroots .
“ They ’ re essentially learning how to use the system that ’ s been created by Western European structures , and they learn to navigate that system in order to benefit the community .”
After graduating , James became a fulltime teacher and is now currently working towards confirmation for a PhD .
One of his main goals as an educator , he says , is to help facilitate his students ’ understanding of Indigenous perspectives and world views .
“ I ’ ve noticed that a lot of my students coming into the numerous Aboriginal studies courses that I ’ ve taught in , they ’ re coming in with this level of guilt because their family history or their ancestors or their race or their culture has played a role in the oppression of Aboriginal people ,” he says .
“ And then when that quote from Paul Keating says , ‘ Guilt is not a constructive emotion ,’ I realised that for me to do my job effectively , I have to open up to these students to overcome their guilt .
“ Because what happens when they hold onto that guilt is they get closed off , they get defensive , and they start kind of pushing back at the ideas and it creates a real kind of psychological division in the classroom .
“ Even though the truth is hard to hear , we can ’ t discredit it . Even though it ’ s difficult , we still must face it .” ■
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