The rates of higher education access, participation and completion for Indigenous students are much lower than those for non-Indigenous students in Australia. This paper argues for a research-led focus on what works in terms of Indigenous student equity in higher education. Undertaking independent evaluation of existing initiatives and leveraging the experience of hundreds of successful Indigenous graduates, it may be possible to articulate some of the ways in which success has been, and can be, achieved, despite the challenges that face Indigenous students. In other words, it may be possible to articulate some aspects of what works for some Indigenous people in relation to higher education. A focus on articulating strategies that Indigenous individuals and communities might adopt in relation to higher education should be developed alongside the management of systemic problems through a range of means. The “success-focused” approach would provide one of a suite of approaches that may be helpful in addressing Indigenous student equity.

Indigenous participation rates in higher education are significantly lower than the rates reported for non-Indigenous people in Australia – with the greatest disparity evident in the area of postgraduate studies. This problem needs to be addressed by providing culturally appropriate support mechanisms to Indigenous postgraduate students. This article draws on the findings of a doctoral thesis in which the support provided to Indigenous postgraduate students in Australia was investigated (Trudgett, 2008). Several issues and problems emerged from the data surrounding the support, or lack thereof, provided to this cohort by the Indigenous Units or centres in universities today. Nine recommendations for consideration and implementation by the Indigenous Units within Australian universities are provided. These recommendations have the potential to reduce this disparity by helping to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participation and, most importantly, completion rates in postgraduate studies.

The numbers of Indigenous students studying in health career courses at the tertiary level is low. This paper describes a forum conducted as part of a project of national significance which examines the solutions and barriers for Indigenous student entry to medical and other health science education. Small group discussions and observations were used to determine how a group of Indigenous students, school age and mature, became interested in a health career, what influenced them, their expectations and where they sourced information. The initial design of the forum, based on other successful non-Indigenous health career events, was deemed inappropriate. When an Indigenous educator intervened, and used a more culturally appropriate approach, the engagement of the Indigenous students increased. The importance of culturally relevant health career promotion is a vital part of a complex series of actions needed to increase the recruitment and retention of Indigenous students into health science careers.

Teaching Aboriginal studies to a diverse student cohort presents challenges in the pursuit of developing a critical pedagogy. In this paper, we present Children of the Sun (2006), a local film made by Indigenous youth in the Illawarra region south of Sydney, New South Wales. We outline the film's genesis and its utilisation in our praxis. The film is a useful resource in the teaching of urban Aboriginal identity to primarily non-Indigenous students in the discipline of Aboriginal studies. It contributes to the development of critical thinking, and our own critical practice as educators and offers a starting point to address pre-conceived and stereotypical notions about race and colour. We situate this paper within a theoretical framework of identity and whiteness studies to explore the issue of light skin in relation to the constraints of identity surrounding urban Aboriginal youth, as represented in Children of the Sun. We discuss the usefulness of this film as a self-representational text that subverts and challenges pre-conceived notions of Aboriginal identity.

This is a reflective paper that explores Martin Nakata's work as a basis for understanding the possibilities and restrictions of non-Indigenous academics working in Indigenous studies. The paper engages with Nakata's work at the level of praxis. It contends that Nakata's work provides non-Indigenous teachers of Indigenous studies a framework for understanding their role, their potential, and limitations within the power relations that comprise the “cultural interface”. The paper also engages with Nakata's approach to Indigenous research through his “Indigenous standpoint theory”. This work emerges from the experiential and conceptual, and from a commitment to teaching and learning in Indigenous studies. It is a reflection of how non-Indigenous academics working in Indigenous studies can contribute to the development and application of the discipline.

In this paper we report the findings of research that has examined, from first-hand accounts, the career pathways of Indigenous Australians who have studied to become teachers. We focus on one key aspect of the larger study: the nature and experience of initial teacher education for Indigenous student teachers. Elsewhere we have reported on aspects of their subsequent working lives in teaching or related fields. We focus here on participants' talk about teacher education, particularly with reference to the factors that have impacted positively and negatively on their identity formation as “Indigenous” students and teachers. As a research collective that comprises Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teacher educators, and in the context of increased emphasis on university access following the Federal Review of Higher Education, we argue that it is time for government, universities and schools to listen and learn from this talk. In particular, we highlight in our participants' accounts the persistence of three longstanding and interrelated factors that continue to impact on the success or inadequacy of teacher education for Aboriginal people i.e., the presence and nature of financial, emotional and academic support in university and school settings.

Indigenous conversation and voice are increasingly heard in the research literature but there needs to be more dialogue in order for it to be a two-way conversation. This paper contributes to research that attempts to redress this situation by reporting on conversations with Aboriginal parents and caregivers of students enrolled in a public secondary school in a large New South Wales country town. The conversations were conducted over a three-year period (2005-7) by a team non-Indigenous researchers working in collaboration with Indigenous researchers. In this paper, we describe the various approaches we developed to establish conversations with Aboriginal parents and caregivers, and the various themes that emerged over the course of the study. We also assess how this type of research is located within and contributes to, the existing research literature. Finally, we discuss the importance of ongoing conversations with Aboriginal parents and caregivers, and how schools and systems can better respond to well-established policy goals of productive parent-school relationships.

This project involved the collection of stories about the aspirations, goals and strategies from a sample of mothers of Indigenous children living in Perth, Western Australia. Analysis of the semi-structured interviews indicated that the education of their children was important for many of the mothers. Whilst some of the mothers preferred their children to learn about their Indigenous history, culture and identity, others valued the type of education that emanates from a mainstream-style school system. A major theme was a need for schools to partner with Indigenous parents in the decision-making process to engage the families in a positive education experience.

The paper will present findings from a Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHRC) funded participatory evaluation conducted over the past four years in the Cree nation of Wemindji in Quebec, Canada. COOL (Challenging Our Own Limits) or “Nigawchiisuun” in Cree, was launched in 2003 as part of a broader program of governance initiatives within Wemindji. As a key component of this new governance program, COOL was to address the need for after-school care within the community for parents, as well as to engage with the recurring problem of low retention rates in school. In consultation with the Band Council of the Cree Nation of Wemindji (James Bay), the Deputy Chief at the time (Rodney Mark) – who was elected Chief in 2006 – established a COOL committee to oversee the design, organisation, implementation and running of the program. Unlike the other eight Cree communities of the James Bay, Wemindji decided to fund and run its own program based on values, customs, and traditions that have been established through consultations with elders, parents, and other interested groups within the community. This has made COOL a distinctly homegrown, autonomous, self-determined Cree program. The paper will not only report on principal themes and issues connected with the establishment and administration of COOL, but will also discuss why a participatory evaluation has been used to assess its effectiveness as a social/educational program.

This paper attempts to develop an intelligence-fair assessment tool to explore the intelligence profiles of 15 second grade Amis pupils. This study was conducted in an elementary school in Taiwan with a largely Amis population of lower socioeconomic status. The results illustrate that the most developed intelligence for eight pupils was musical intelligence and that most pupils in this class are also skilled at bodily-kinesthetic and linguistic intelligence. However, these second grade pupils did not have very highly developed interpersonal intelligences which traditionally stereotyped the capabilities of indigenous pupils. Furthermore, each student had his/her own unique intelligence profile. Do Amis pupils have a particular intelligence profile as a group? Or are their individual differences greater than their group similarities? It is recommended that future studies observe both the whole ethnic group and individual pupil's intelligence profile to help each pupil develop to their full potential.

Learnscapes are places where learning has been designed in ways that enhance the interaction with an environment (Tyas-Tunggal, 1997). A small rural primary school has creatively adopted a Learnscape as a significant focus to engage with its community. Within the school the Learnscapes Program works from the classroom to the playground and from there to the broader community to create a new place for learning. The Learnscapes Program allows cross curriculum boundaries to emerge and in the case of this school facilitates active participation with the school community, in ways that reengage culture, the community and curriculum. The experiences of this rural school as it promotes learning across the whole community through the exploration of Indigenous culture using Learnscapes are documented.

The focus of this paper is adult literacy, and the impact this has on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individual and community health. It directs attention to those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and adults who have not benefited from the formal school education system, and who, as a consequence, have very low levels of basic English language literacy. Analysing data from a range of sources, I suggest that these people comprise as much as 35% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population nationally, and a much bigger proportion in some communities and regions. Moreover, they are key to improving overall health outcomes in the population as a whole, because they are among the people most at risk. Drawing on research in countries of the global South over recent decades, the paper then suggests that one of the most effective ways to improve health outcomes and foster health development is through a popular mass adult literacy campaign. Popular education is not formal education, of the kind provided by schools, TAFEs and universities. It is “non-formal” education, provided on a mass scale, to people in marginalised and disadvantaged communities, as part of wider social and political movements for equality. The paper concludes that this is the most appropriate form of education to deal with the massive social and economic inequality at the heart of the social determinants of Indigenous health.