Robert Schwab

Trends in Indigenous Educational Participation and Attainment, 1986-96.

This paper provides a summary and overview of indigenous people within the Australian education system. A cohort analysis of changes in educational participation and the level and type of educational qualification over the last three censuses for the indigenous and non-indigenous populations is presented. The main finding is that although there have been some absolute improvements in indigenous educational outcomes over the period 1986 to 1996, relative to the non-indigenous there have been little if any real gains. The lack of improvement relative to the non-indigenous population occurs not only in the proportion of the population with post-secondary qualifications, but also in the proportion of indigenous teenagers staying at school. By any measure, the indigenous population remains severely disadvantaged. Another finding is that, for younger age groups, the non-indigenous population has a higher participation rate in post-secondary education than the indigenous population. This situation is reversed for older age groups.

Learning spaces : youth, literacy and new media in remote Indigenous Australia

This book showcases a range of ‘out-of-school’ youth learning contexts in remote Australia, to analyse the factors that enable positive learning and to provide some working principles for facilitating and supporting effective youth learning in the remote Indigenous context. The Lifespan Learning and Literacy for Young Adults in Remote Indigenous Communities (2007–2010), later known as the ‘Youth Learning Project’, was jointly funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), The Australian National University (ANU) and The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF). This participatory research project explored, documented and showcased the many ways in which Indigenous youth—aged between 16 and 25—are extending their learning, expanding their oral and written language skills, and embracing digital culture in community-based domains outside of institutional learning environments. Jerry Schwab was the project’s Chief Investigator and Inge Kral was an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow. Professor Emerita Shirley Brice Heath from Stanford University in the United States was an important collaborator and advisor to the project. Though focused broadly across a range of communities and organisations, an important feature of the project was the close collaboration that evolved between the researchers and around fifteen young people and organisation facilitators from key research sites in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. This book presents outcomes of the project, which asked three key questions: how can early school leavers and disaffected young adults in remote communities be reengaged with learning; how can literacy be acquired, maintained and transmitted outside school settings; and how can learning and literacy be fostered across the lifespan?

Indigenous people and vocational education and training

The vast majority of Indigenous peoples in the world today remain committed to their languages, their cultures, and their futures as distinct peoples. Many struggle for recognition and for equity in law, health, education, economic participation, and social justice. They often face challenges of racism, discrimination, and socioeconomic marginalisation. For Indigenous people, vocational education and training (VET) is often a vital path to the future, promising not just access to employment and income, but also a means to new insights, knowledge, and ultimately greater participation in the wider society.