Seeding Success in Indigenous Education: Potential New Turning Points

1. Seeding Success in Indigenous Education: Potential New Turning Points Professor Rhonda Craven Educational Excellence & Equity (E³) Research Program Centre for Educational Research, University of Western Sydney

2. Background There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children Nelson Mandela

3. Quality Early Childhood Education Seeds Success • Literacy Seeds Success • Participation in Secondary School Seeds Success • University Seeds Success from undergraduate to postdoctoral research • Quality Research Seeds Success What We Know Seeds Success

4. What Research Can Tell Us? Mandatory Aboriginal Studies Teacher Education Seeds Success Preservice teachers (n=797) from 16 universities From five Australian states, • 9 with mandatory Aboriginal Studies subjects (n=408), • 3 offering electives (n=160), • 5 offering perspectives across the teacher education curriculum (n=229).

5. Craven, R. G., Halse, C., Marsh, H. W., Mooney, J., & Wilson-Miller, J. (2005). Teaching the teachers Aboriginal Studies: Impacts on teaching. Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Science and Training, Commonwealth of Australia. Craven, R. G., Halse, C., Marsh, H. W., Mooney, J., & Wilson-Miller, J. (2005). Teaching the teachers Aboriginal studies: Recent successful strategies (Vol. 1). Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Science and Training, Commonwealth of Australia. Craven, R. G., Halse, C., Marsh, H. W., Mooney, J., & Wilson-Miller, J. (2005). Teaching the teachers Aboriginal studies: Recent successful strategies (Vol. 2). Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Science and Training, Commonwealth of Australia. Craven, R. G., Tucker, A., Munns, G., Hinkley, J., Marsh, H. W., & Simpson, K. (2005). Indigenous students' aspirations: Dreams, perceptions, and realities. Canberra, ACT: Department of Education, Science, and Training, Commonwealth of Australia.

6. Preservice: Amount Taught

7. Preservice: Impact on Self-Concept

8. Preservice: Values

9. Preservice: Other Outcomes

10. Yet Teacher Education: State of Play 1996 the Teaching the Teachers: Indigenous Australian Studies Project of National Significance completed 2002 Dunkin found 50% of primary teacher education now have introduced core courses these statistics have not been updated This also means 50% have not. No-one knows the statistics in relation to secondary courses. Many non-Indigenous student teachers and who knows how many teachers have never even met an Aboriginal person yet teacher education is fundamental to seeding success.

11. Family Support and Positive Parenting Seeds Success

12. What Some Research with Non-Indigenous Students Says Seeds Success Percentage of Achievement Variance* * Source: Hattie (2003, p. 3)

13. Proportional Class/Teacher and School Effects for Victorian Schools: Achievement Adjusted for Prior Achievement* (13,700 students in 90 government, Catholic, and independent primary and secondary schools) * Source: Rowe (2003, p. 19)

14. Whereas students’ literacy skills, general academic achievements, attitudes, behaviors and experiences of schooling are influenced by their background and intake characteristics – the magnitude of these effects pale into insignificance compared with class/teacher effects. That is, the quality of teaching and learning provision are by far the most salient influences on students’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes of schooling – regardless of their gender or backgrounds (Rowe 2003 p.1).

15. What Some Research with Indigenous Students Says Seeds Success

16. Indigenous students’ aspirations: Dreams, perceptions, and realities matter Significantly more Indigenous students in comparison to other Australian students aimed to leave school before completing Year 12, Many Indigenous students (37.1%) aimed to get a job after leaving school whereas most other Australian students aimed to go to university (78.6%), although a large proportion of Indigenous students (30.1%) shared this aspiration. Significantly more Indigenous students were unaware of their future options when compared to other Australian students. The quality and quantity of career advice was different

17. Implications More effective strategies need to be put in place to assist Indigenous students set and attain higher aspirations, including strategies to encourage more Indigenous students to aspire to a higher level of University education. There is a need for a more concerted strategic approach by a diversity of agencies to address barriers Indigenous students perceive as limiting the achievement of their aspirations.

18. Enhancing Self-concept and Other Drivers of Potential Seeds Success Significant main effects were present for appearance, general, physical, and art self-concept, whereby Indigenous students scores were highercompared to non-Indigenous students’ scores. Significant effects were also present for math, school, verbal, honesty, emotional, opposite sex and same sex relations self-concept, whereby scores for Indigenous students were lowercompared to scores for non-Indigenous students. No significant differences were present for parent self-concept. These results demonstrate that for 7 of 11 facets of self-concept measured Indigenous students had lower self-concept compared to their non-Indigenous peers.

19. Self-concept Matters Judge and Bono (2001) presented a meta-analysis showing that components of a positive self-concept construct were among the best predictors of job performance and job satisfaction. As such enhancing Indigenous students’ self-concepts offers a research-based new solution for intervention. Bodkin-Andrews et al. (2009) - Indigenous students reported higher levels of academic disengagement when compared to non-Indigenous students, differences were negated by a positive sense of academic self-concept.

20. Addressing Racism Matters

21. The NSW Aboriginal Education Review Strengthening policy, planning and implementation; Extending quality teaching and learning; Fortifying identities of Aboriginal students; Engaging Aboriginal students; Applying Aboriginal cultural knowledge; Collaborating in partnerships; Building community capacity; Challenging racism; and Advancing leadership and accountability.

22. Summary: Together We Can’t Lose We can’t afford to continue to fail generation after generation of our Indigenous Australians. We already know many strategies that research tells us can help us begin to seed success. It’s not Indigenous Australians we have to convince to get started it’s non-Indigenous Australians who represent over 98% of education stakeholders and we need to stop producing hundreds of reports and recommendations and send clear messages on what we know seeds educational success.

23. As Ray Martin has also said: Clearly, blackfella’s have to show strong, new leadership. More than ever before. And get fair dinkum about the raging problems in their communities. The new leaders have to start taking responsibility for the chronic and widespread abuse and violence. No excuses. And stop denying that it exists. That gives them no credibility at all. Parents and community leaders must get kids to school. No excuses. Men have to get off welfare and booze and gunja. No excuses. And get into jobs that are clearly available, and stick at them. Young indigenous men have to be encouraged to take up training for the countless jobs, in mining especially, that need special skills. No more excuses.

24. Positive family support and proactive parenting can seed success Together we can’t lose

25. Professor Rhonda Craven Head Educational Excellence & Equity (E³) Research Program Centre for Educational Research University of Western Sydney Email: r.craven@uws.edu.au Telephone: (02) 9772 6557