chapter1

The literature search was conducted prior to the construction of the project questionnaire and before the ethnographically based interviews were undertaken, in order to lay a foundation of past opinions and theories of Indigenous attrition. The items on the project questionnaire were to take cognisance of the findings of past researchers and the project goals. The search revealed that there is not a large body of Australian literature covering current and past theories and findings pertaining to Indigenous attrition and possible strategies for improving persistence. Issues of culture and education, and other factors advanced as reasons for withdrawal, have been used as headings to group the literature findings together.

Issues of Culture and Education

An analysis of…traditional cultural influences shows the obvious disparity between the values of our schools and the values an Aboriginal child may possess'.

(Guider 1991:46).

The subject of high attrition rates among minority students has received increasing attention in the literature (Benjamin et al. 1993; Coladarci 1983; Hester 1994; Wright 1985). Data in reports from the Planning Unit at the University of South Australia, and other universities, suggest attrition rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are significantly higher than for the general student body. The National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people also recognises the fact that the completion rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is low compared to other Australians (1993:193).

In addition to the low completion rate, the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are a minority in the university system is highlighted by Hester when he claims Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are 'under represented in higher education, although the situation is slowly improving (from 0.3 per cent of the students in 1982 to 0.9 per cent in 1991)' (1994:96). DEETYA 1995 national figures show the proportion has increased to 1.2 per cent. This participation rate is below the national average of 4.8 per cent, and the discrepancy becomes clearer when level of course is considered. Some 42 per cent of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are enrolled in sub-degree courses compared to 11 per cent of general students (Hester 1994:96).

The low participation rate of Indigenous Australian students in the university system is also highlighted by Hogg when he claims, 'Only four per cent of the Aboriginal working age population have some form of tertiary education compared with 24 per cent of the total Australian population' (1995:214). These figures may be a consequence of the approaches to education currently followed in Australian universities. The various courses offered by Australian universities at under-graduate and post-graduate levels invariably tend to ignore any cultural differences in both content and learning styles. As Hampton points out, 'Western education is hostile in its structure, its curriculum, its context, and its personnel' (1993:301). In the past, the methods of Western education may have been effective in teaching students of the majority culture at the universities, but the approach appears prima facie to be less effective and perhaps inappropriate in situations involving Indigenous Australians.

The National Aboriginal Education Committee observed that the current education system ignored differences in student learning styles. It claimed that 'Educational services for Aborigines have been based on the same approaches which underlay education for non-Aborigines. These have proved inappropriate and ineffective' (1986:193).

To such bodies the current education system appears to be unable to provide programs which will enable Indigenous Australian students to study or learn in a culturally appropriate manner. This includes acknowledging curriculum needs and different methods of learning requiring appropriate teaching. Although many factors may contribute to the high attrition rate among Indigenous students, a formidable first barrier may be adjusting to the structure and assumptions of the general education system including universities.

Such a barrier can be perpetuated through testing and measurements used to determine tertiary qualifications. Guider (1991:44) points out that Aboriginal students in some cases are measured with tests based on white-middle class references such as Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. These tests usually include abstract ideas and symbols which require a high degree of English competence. He also claims that the questions often lack relevance to the life experiences of minority group students. Guider urges researchers to examine the social and psychological factors in explaining the failure of education for Aborigines. He claims

Many of the reasons [for failure] relate to anthropological theories which highlight differences between traditional Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal values and practices. Aboriginal students' classroom behaviour, motivation to learn, styles of learning, and pattern of school attendance can be linked to traditional cultural influences (1991:45).

Tinto's model (1987:438) maintains that students are influenced by life experiences before and during university studies. These experiences may pull the student toward or away from the academic and social communities of university. Many studies that have been focussed on Native American students suggest that difficulty in the adjustment to the university environment may be rooted in the differences in perception of the world and cognition or learning styles (Benjamin et al. 1993; Tinto 1987; Hampton 1993; Kawagley 1990). This theory may be extrapolated to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who occupy a similar position in Australian universities to their Native American counterparts in the United States.

If it is assumed that the difference in learning styles has a cultural basis, then Aboriginal students who have a different cultural world view to mainstream students are required to adjust to the structured learning demands of university education. As Williams et al. claim, 'Adjustment to the different learning environment and format is crucial [for Aboriginal student success]' (1982:8). Benjamin et al. make a similar suggestion based on research with Native American students:

Perhaps the abysmal attrition rate of American Indians from college is somehow tied to higher education's often unconscious insistence that they be pushed in the direction of an inappropriate notion of conforming to dominant culture persistence enhancing behaviours. More accurately, it may be that higher education is not sufficiently informed and sensitive enough to recognise or to value this culture's multifaceted manifestation of persistence behaviours (1993:38).

In other words, perhaps Indigenous Australian students are failing to remain in universities because the pressure to conform to the dominant culture on which the education system is based is rejected. The Indigenous student's culture is overlooked and the expectations of persistence focus on those of the dominant culture and not the persistence behaviours based on the individual student's culture.

Some examples of the different factors that may attribute to persistence is addressed by Guider when he provides some general cultural factors of Aboriginal students. He suggests the following factors should be considered when examining the success or failure of Indigenous Australian education programs:

Aboriginals are not future oriented and devote little time to the future...Work and activities are not bound up in small divisions of time...Saving is also traditionally not undertaken...Individuals are disposed to group goals and co-operate rather than compete...Aboriginals learn through imitation and observation and through trial and error...and through story telling and performance (1991:46).

Peacock makes similar observations and adds that the family is more important than school attendance (1993:5). Hampton makes a parallel observation in referring to Native American students, '...a tendency for American Indian students to frequently return home during the school week is at least partially influenced by family and ceremonial responsibilities' (1993:269).

With the above factors in mind, it would seem that educational institutions such as universities appear to have been unwilling, unable, or unaware of the need to meet Indigenous cultural differences in respect to learning. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students may tend to leave educational institutions earlier than other Australians because of such cultural factors.

Although the National Aboriginal Education Committee (1986) suggested that to ensure effective learning of cultural heritage and technological skills, learning must be in harmony with Aboriginal cultural values, identity and choice of lifestyle, the question remains, what is the most effective method of education, and what is currently causing Indigenous students to leave? The literature suggests several reasons why Indigenous students are leaving the education system.

Common Factors of Withdrawal

'Students can find that their study motivation is subject to attack from intense social and survival commitments, usually relating to family, finances, work, or health' (Wheeler 1989:6).

Most university students appear to experience some difficulties in adjusting to the demands of university life. For Indigenous Australian students the stress of the initial adjustment to the university environment may well be compounded by additional academic and non-academic issues. The underlying reasons ascribed to Indigenous tertiary attrition in the literature appear to be varied and complex.

Past studies in the US and Australia report similar reasons as to why Indigenous students leave the education system.

Williams et al. (1982) found that negative factors among Aboriginal students included less educational experience and qualifications compared to most other students undertaking tertiary study. The National Aboriginal Education Committee (NAEC) pointed out that, 'Only 11 percent of Aborigines who commence school complete their final year, compared with the national average retention rate of 35 percent' (1986:8). The NAEC may even be indicating a more favourable situation than was really the situation. The 11 percent were enrolled at year 12, but most did not complete the year satisfactorily. The lack of pre-requisite knowledge needed for success in university has been cited by a number of researchers (Hester 1994; Wheeler 1989; Williams et al. 1982; Wood 1994; Wright 1985).

The 1994 Australian Council for Educational Research study of literacy and numeracy achievement in primary schools in Australia, as reported in the National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, shows that 45 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander year 6 primary school students are in the bottom 16 per cent of Australian students who have significantly lower literacy and numeracy achievements. Difficulties which appear in earlier schooling do not appear to be overcome at secondary school. The National Review indicated that the 1992 National Schools Statistics Collection shows less than one third of Indigenous Australians reach year 12 compared to 76 per cent of other Australians. Unfortunately statistics still do not indicate the proportion of Indigenous Australians who successfully complete year 12. Additional tutoring or preparatory courses or specially designed subjects which help prepare Indigenous students academically for the demands of university, have been offered by some universities to negate inadequate preparation.

Coladarci's (1983) research with Native American secondary school leavers in Montana reported the following main reasons for leaving school:

students perceived the school rules as being applied unevenly;
teachers were perceived as not caring and not helpful;
school was viewed as unimportant to Native American culture;
students reported trouble at school;
unsupportive parents and home problems;
drug use; and
a desire to be with friends who had dropped out.

Dehyle (1992) found similar reasons given by Navajo and Ute secondary school leavers. The reasons given were:

the teachers didn't care or provide help;
the studies were not perceived as important for life goals or as important to being an Indian;
classes were reported as too hard;
reading was difficult;
students reported a lack of parental support;
home problems; and
students felt unwanted at school.

At university level, in Australia, Wheeler (1989) found that Aboriginal students who failed were:

less prepared for their courses;
rated the quality of teaching low;
reported difficulty in achieving the required standard of work;
had pressure from family and job commitments;
used support services less often; and
reported loneliness and social isolation.

Those most at risk were male, younger, and English as a second language (ESL) students.

Wood (1994) found that faculty, staff, administrators and minority students in Arizona universities perceived the following barriers to persistence:

lack of high school preparation for college;
lack of study skills;
difficulty in organising time;
inadequate counselling services; and
a lack of skills for organising social activities.

Jordan (1985) found similar factors in assessing the use of support services by Aboriginal students in higher education. The problems reported by students were:

finance;
lack of motivation;
illness;
family problems;
accommodation;
lack of family support;
loneliness; and
change of goals.

Another factor that is common in the literature is the pressure of assimilation into the dominant culture. Many researchers in both Aboriginal and Native American education cite the conflict and stress of either assimilating into the dominant culture through school, or rejecting assimilation and therefore rejecting school, as being potent negative factors (Dehyle 1992; Hampton 1993; Peacock 1993).

Peacock (1993:9) claims that:

because of the frustrations caused by cultural mismatch, the alternative for the Aboriginal student is either resist school to maintain identity or assimilate, whereby Aboriginal children sacrifice their identity to succeed in mainstream society.

This suggests that the education system is failing Aboriginal students by forcing them to make a choice between cultures and by so doing denying their identity.

Hampton (1993:269) suggests that 'An ability to adopt new traits while maintaining a traditional perspective may be a characteristic of persisters [in higher education]'. He suggests that the 'use of Native language, positive attitudes toward Native cultures, good school-community relations, and an emphasis on self determination rather than assimilation' may improve Indigenous student persistence. If Hampton is right, then the goal of the education system, including universities, should be to determine what institutional changes need to be instituted in order to improve tertiary educational persistence among Indigenous students.

Improving Persistence

To assist Aboriginal children to remain at school and be successful, it is imperative teachers adopt classroom strategies which incorporate the Western formal learning style together with the informal learning of Aboriginal children.

(Peacock 1993:3)

The question remains, what changes will improve the persistence of Indigenous students in higher education? The suggestions given by researchers focus on five main areas:

improving secondary education;
learning from the Indigenous perspective;
learning skills perceived as valuable in the dominant culture;
employing Indigenous staff members; and
using different assessment systems for Indigenous students.

Wright's (1985) research among successful Native American students suggests that the following would improve retention rates:

more preparation in high school, especially verbal and language skills;
Native American counsellors;
ethnic studies offered with the goal of promoting pride and harmony;
student centres and organisations to reduce loneliness; and
minority faculty staff to provide role models for students and professional staff.

Kawagley (1990:14), a Native American educator, suggests that:

The Native student and adult use the same method and thinking process as the non-Native to seek answers to the same questions. However, different value concepts, perspectives, and philosophy determine how they interpret the empirical data, and how they each relate to the natural world.

He suggests teaching mathematics and sciences through oral literature which focuses on conservation and Indigenous values, then to use the same concept, and introduce it from the Western perspective (Kawagley 1990). Such an approach requires the teacher to know how to teach using oral literature and to recognise and know Indigenous values.

Hampton suggests the use of different standards of measurement for Indigenous students. He suggests:

The challenge is not higher standards on the yardstick that has given us a world in chaos but the negotiation of multicultural yardsticks. We live in a world of many cultures, all of which have different standards.

(Hampton 1993:301)

As an illustration, Hampton (1993:303) gives the example of multiple choice tests which are designed for cultures (specifically Western) that teach '...there is one right answer and that the authority figure knows it'.

Currently universities in Australia are looking at these and similar issues among Aboriginal students. A study proposed by Dr Ian Lilley at The University of Queensland is looking at a need for a different assessment system designed for Aboriginal students. The proposal focuses on an evaluation of alternative assessment strategies in improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander success in higher education. Further research and perhaps implementation of alternative standards and methods of assessment in the form of case studies may be appropriate.

Summary

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have only undertaken university courses in significant numbers during the last twenty years. They are distributed across all Australian universities and nearly all fields of study, and are generally in insignificant numbers in most institutions and their classrooms. The high rate of attrition is a difficult issue to assess due to the lack of data (Hester 1994). The majority of Indigenous attrition research has focused on reasons why students leave educational institutions and potential solutions to these reasons are addressed. The wide distribution and small numbers have precluded substantial research.

The high rate of attrition experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students has many parallels to the high attrition rates experienced by Native American students in the United States. Researchers have suggested some barriers experienced by Indigenous students may be rooted in cultural differences between the educational system, and the world view and learning styles of minority students. Therefore an evaluation of the success of educational programs and their implementation should include consideration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student cultures.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and Native American students report similar reasons for leaving school. Students believe that:

lack of pre-requisite knowledge;
finance;
loneliness and social isolation;
illness;
home problems;
cultural issues;
difficulty maintaining the standards of work;
rules applied unevenly;
change of life goals; and
unsupportive institutions and staff

are debilitating factors precluding success.

Some of the literature suggests that if improvements are to be made in reducing the high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander attrition rate, the first step may be changing the negative attitudes of students. Researchers suggest this may be accomplished by changing the curriculum of the institutions to include information and skills useful and desired by Indigenous people. It is also suggested that students need to feel comfortable in the educational environment for persistence rates to increase. The changes must be initiated in primary and secondary schooling as well as in tertiary education. Changes must include innovative curriculum to include Indigenous studies and culturally appropriate subjects. The literature further suggests that Aboriginal studies need to target all students-Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal-in order to combat racism and increase understanding, but such studies must hold a place of respect and be meaningful in the education curriculum.

Changes in educational methodology, especially teaching methods, are also advanced as being pre-requisite for Indigenous educational attainment. Some literature disputes that pedagogy is the problem and instead suggests that values, beliefs and different experiences need to be understood and catered for within the curriculum of educational institutions.

Some researchers suggest using different educational standards of measurement for minority students. These alternative standards would incorporate the culture of the student and evaluate performance accordingly. This idea is currently being reviewed in the United States and Australia.

The literature suggests that the first step in improving attrition rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students may be to create an educational environment in which the students want to remain. This includes placing value on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and recognising their inherent validity and usefulness in multicultural Australia. As we move toward a global community our education system needs to include the different cultures that comprise the local and the wider world.