actors Affecting Performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students at Australian Universities: A Case Study

Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs

Evaluations and Investigations Program

Factors Affecting Performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students at Australian Universities: A Case Study

Professor Colin J. Bourke, MBE
Faculty of Aboriginal and Islander Studies

and

Jennifer K. Burden

with

Samantha Moore

December 1996

96/18

Evaluations and Investigations Program
Higher Education Division

ă Commonwealth of Australia 1996

ISBN 0 644 47313 4

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Australian Government Publishing Service. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the manager, Commonwealth Information Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, GPO Box 48, Canberra ACT 2601.

This report is funded under the Evaluations and Investigations Program of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Contents

List of Abbreviations

Executive Summary

Introduction

Recommendations

1. Literature Review of Indigenous Attrition

2. Field Work Techniques and Methodology

3. The Research Sample

4. Analysis of Responses to Non-subjective Items

5. Students Subjective Experiences

6. Student Perceptions

Appendix 1: Summary of Report on Performance of Students at University of SA

Appendix 2: Human Research Ethics Committee Approval

Appendix 3: Student Questionnaire: Faculty of Aboriginal and Islander Studies

Appendix 4: Statistical Analysis of Responses

Appendix 5: Questions 20-26 Responses

Appendix 6: Discriminant Analyses

Appendix 7: Question 30 Responses

Bibliography

List of Abbreviations

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AD	Associate Diploma
Adv. Cert.	Advanced Certificate
ANOVA	Analysis of Variance
ATAS	Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme
BA	Bachelor of Arts
Country SA	Country South Australia
DEC	Distance Education Centre (subsequently Flexible Learning Centre)
DEETYA	Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
FAIS	Faculty of Aboriginal and Islander Studies
FLC	Flexible Learning Centre (previously Distance Education Centre)
Local SA	Local South Australia
Hons/MA	Honours/Master of Arts
NAEC	National Aboriginal Education Committee
NAU	Northern Arizona University
ns	numbers
NT	Northern Territory
SA	South Australia
SAIA	School of Aboriginal and Islander Administration
SPSS	Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Executive Summary

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This research involved a sample of over one hundred students from the Faculty of Aboriginal and Islander Studies (FAIS) and other faculties of the University of South Australia. While the study aimed to concentrate on the factors affecting the performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, numbers of non-Indigenous participants were included as a control group.

The survey looked at a wide range of variables including gender; ethnicity; educational background; mode of study; family situation; and finances. Many of these factors were found to contribute to the inadequate level of persistence and performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. However, no single factor was found to be the sole reason for students dropping out. Wherever possible statistical analysis was used to test for significance.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were divided into four major groups depending on their mode of study, on-campus or external, and their success or failure in their university program. For some analyses further subdivisions were made. The major recommendations and/or concerns of the students concerned adequacy of support services, academic issues, attitudes of staff and better preparation of students for university study.

For Indigenous students the need for expanded and improved support services for on-campus students was the major recommendation from both on-campus incomplete respondents (82.4%) and on-campus successful respondents (69.9%). The view was highlighted when 93.8 per cent successful off-campus Indigenous students also expressed the need for improved support services.

Staff attitudes were seen as a problem by almost one third of the Indigenous students interviewed and were particularly important to those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in on-campus courses of the university in faculties other than FAIS.

Discriminant analysis showed that the prior education level of Indigenous students did not determine success. The most useful predictors were gender, enjoyment of university life, mode of study, family situation and whether students had been studying in the year before commencing their course.

The highest incidence of attrition occurred among those Indigenous students who were male, lived alone, studied on campus, did not enjoy their studies and had not studied in the twelve months prior to commencing university. Many Indigenous students came to university to meet the expectations of their communities. The desire on the part of the Indigenous students to meet such expectations was evidently insufficient to enable them to overcome their sudden exposure to the reality of university life and the discouragement many of them experienced in their studies at the university.

Accommodation and financial difficulties were two critical issues for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who also felt homesick and academically unprepared for university life. Over half of the Indigenous students who dropped out had not felt welcome at the university.

In general the successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students had more positive experiences at university. The factor of positive experience provided a significant difference between successful and incomplete students.

One of the most potent factors in the decision of Indigenous 'on-campus' students to 'withdraw' from university life was isolation. This, like the expectation of discrimination, does not have to be linked with the actual circumstances. It does, however, highlight the need for Indigenous students to receive positive feedback and support early in their courses, so as to allay the possible development of a feeling of isolation which may not be warranted by the circumstances.

Most students felt that faculty staff were generally helpful and supportive; however, it was generally recognised that the support program within the faculty should be better structured and organised and proactive to meet student needs. While a majority of Indigenous students reported that the support services had helped them a lot, support staff were seen as needing to be more involved in organising social events and in providing counselling to both students and their partners where appropriate.

This study shows that the lack of persistence among Indigenous students in the sample could mainly be attributed to on-campus students. There were almost identical success rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students studying externally. While the external Indigenous students, however, had a success rate of over 70 per cent their on campus counterparts had a success rate in the low 50 per cent range. This finding, together with the continuing shift to external enrolments within the faculty, has important implications to the future directions of the teaching and support program. However, as it is highly desirable that the faculty have on-campus Indigenous students, the problems associated with on-campus study must be understood so that measures can be taken to increase persistence and lessen attrition among on-campus students.

Participants identified inadequate career counselling and lack of relevance of courses as a reason for attrition. The lack of prior education attainment while an obvious barrier to success was seen as being able to be overcome by highly motivated and well supported students. Problems to which support and academic staff need to give specific attention include the lack of study skills and problems associated with external study as 83.1 per cent of incomplete Indigenous external students listed Distance Education Centre (DEC) problems as a reason for withdrawal from university.

The study failed to identify particular subjects causing attrition. However, one third of respondents thought insufficient Aboriginal and Islander content and participation in subjects dealing with Indigenous culture and history was a concern.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (NAEP), which was endorsed by all State governments, came into effect from 1 January 1990. The policy established twenty one long term goals which have been consolidated under four broad themes of involvement, access, participation and outcomes.

The University of South Australia, which came into existence in 1991 by a merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology and parts of the South Australian College of Advanced Education, has accepted the National Policy which fits well with the university's overall emphasis on equity, accessibility and community service. The enabling Act of the university clearly establishes its responsibility to provide educational programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This was the foundation upon which the Faculty of Aboriginal and Islander Studies was established.

The two antecedent institutions of the university had many years of experience in offering specific educational programs for, and about, Indigenous Australians. At various times in the past concern had been expressed over outcomes of the programs, but it was the merger and the establishment of the faculty which caused a stronger evaluative focus to be applied to the programs offered to Indigenous students particularly now, when comparisons are being made against the total student population.

Initial statistics from the University Planning Office suggested that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander attrition rate was some three times higher than the university average. In 1993 Mr Glenn Cupit, of the De Lissa Institute University of South Australia, was contracted to undertake a study of the reasons for the apparent high attrition rates of Indigenous Australian students. Mr Cupit's report focussed upon an assessment of the existing statistical records of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to establish an accurate picture of their performance at the University of South Australia (see Appendix 1).

This focus developed from a much wider request to examine, in specific terms, a range of educational and socio-economic variables. Mr Cupit found that the available statistical data distorted the actual performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the university, regardless of whether attrition rates or pass rates were examined. Much of Mr Cupit's difficulty could be attributed to the definition of the term attrition. The Planning Unit used a simple ratio that did not take into account students who took leave or changed schools or courses. The ratio also seemed to be biased against shorter courses, and provided exaggerated results when numbers in courses were small. Mr Cupit's investigation was not completed because it would, at that time, have paralleled the National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples which had commenced and was to review the effectiveness of the strategies developed under the NAEP. However, when the review report was released it was obvious that it had not examined attrition at universities and that the university would have to consider further action.

Many of the statistical problems identified in the Cupit report have been satisfactorily overcome by the Planning Unit, which now provides apparent attrition rates as per the model proposed by Lin Martin (1994). Martin also questioned the appropriate measures of success for students such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. She 'noted that some students can meet their educational objectives by completing certain units in a course and may not ever intend to undertake the whole course' (1994:14).

Even though the statistical accuracy of the retention and attrition rates and perceptions of what constitutes successful outcomes are debatable, the University of South Australia still considered the educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a matter of great concern. Consequently, it decided to mount the present project to determine the 'Factors Affecting the Performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students'.

As the project involved human subjects, the approval of the University of South Australia Human Research Ethics Committee was sought and gained prior to the commencement of the student interviews (see Appendix 2).

Support

The researchers were supported by a Project Steering Committee consisting of Sister Deirdre Jordan (Flinders University), Associate Professor Eleanor Ramsay, Mr Frank Lampard (Chair, Aboriginal Policy Development Committee), Adjunct Professor Ken Rigby, Ms Carolyn Ho (Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs), Mr Lachlan Murdoch (Planning Unit) and Dr Paul Hughes (DECS). The Steering Committee provided valuable advice on research methodology and instruments and the scope of the study. Upon completion of the fieldwork, committee members were able to offer valuable advice as to the construction, content and format of the report.

Adjunct Associate Professor Ken Rigby also provided valuable professional input into the statistical analysis of the data and his analysis involving point biserial correlation was of great assistance to the research. Ms Robyn Cunningham assisted with statistical analysis and Mr Peter Hutchinson with computer programming.

Christine Mells, who was highly professional and extremely helpful to the project, was responsible for keying the report. The assistance of John Old, Rosemary Burden and Associate Professor Eleanor Bourke, Director Aboriginal Research Institute, in proof reading and editing is acknowledged.

Samantha Moore, a Northern Arizona University post-graduate student undertaking an internship at the University of South Australia, assisted in the early stage of the research by undertaking the literature search, developing a questionnaire, establishing the fieldwork techniques and determining the initial selection of the sample. She prepared the documentation for ethics clearance within the university. She also undertook some of the off-campus interviews.

Recommendations

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Recommendation 1

That additional support be provided to on-campus Indigenous students with closer monitoring of achievement, increased provision of tutorial assistance and adoption of a proactive approach to increase student persistence.

Recommendation 2

That a further in-depth study be undertaken among 'on-campus' students to ascertain their perception of the impediments to study and the steps that might be taken to overcome these.

Recommendation 3

That the support offered to Indigenous students be reorganised into one discrete support unit offering academic, social, cultural and political support to all Indigenous students of the university irrespective of the courses in which they are enrolled or their mode of study.

Recommendation 4

That in-depth analysis of learning at off-campus study centres be undertaken to ascertain the study centres, adaptation to cultural needs and the implications for on-campus pedagogy.

Recommendation 5

That more study centres - adequately staffed and resourced - be provided in areas where there is a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents in the population. The Torres Strait Islands and Katherine are two areas where respondents identified a need for study centres.

Recommendation 6

That particular attention be given to the selection and testing of Indigenous students wishing to gain entry into Faculty of Aboriginal and Islander Studies courses to ensure that their ability and motivation to undertake university studies is appropriately assessed.

Recommendation 7

That students be fully informed of the nature of the courses offered by the faculty and of the amount of time and study commitment needed to successfully complete the course. Ideally, later year faculty students and graduates as well as staff members should be involved in this career counselling task. Orientation programs need to involve a focus on study skills, essay writing and general tertiary preparation for both on-campus and external students.

Recommendation 8

That Aboriginal and Islander support programs be refocussed to concentrate on giving first year Indigenous students greater motivation to remain and a thorough understanding of the university and its requirements with adequate support to help students meet these demands.

Recommendation 9

To encourage student persistence in secondary schools, FAIS support staff establish a mentoring program to provide career advice and motivation to secondary school students.

Recommendation 10

That the Aboriginal and Islander Support Unit provide particular support with respect to the academic, social, accommodation and child care needs of those students who come to university on their own, those sole supporting parents who come with their children, and those families where there are children to be cared for and both partners are studying, particularly those out of town students who have no readily available family network.

Recommendation 11

That the orientation program for new students should include activities in which senior members of the faculty and university make it clear that Indigenous students are an important part of the university's mission, and all faculty staff should go out of their way to make students feel welcome.

Recommendation 12

That activities to enhance study skills of Indigenous students be undertaken during the orientation program and that FAIS lecturing staff provide appropriate developmental activities during the first semester for first year students.

Recommendation 13

The faculty through the Aboriginal Research Institute and the Aboriginal and Islander Support Unit maintain a register of the destination of those Indigenous students who withdraw from the university.

Recommendation 14

That the Aboriginal and Islander Support Unit encourage academic and non-academic staff members to involve students in informal, casual social events to give them a sense of belonging. This should include asking staff members with special links to community groups to notify students of local events in which they could become involved and to introduce students to representatives of the local community who could act as mentors.

Recommendation 15

That Aboriginal and Islander Support Unit staff collaborate with the FLC staff to alleviate the problems being experienced with the external delivery of courses.

Recommendation 16

That staff of the Aboriginal and Islander Support Unit take cognisance of the problems reported by external students and take steps to ensure that university policies and procedures recognise problems such as frequency of teleconferences, assignment turn around time, relevance of readings and lack of feedback on progress.

Recommendation 17

That teaching staff preparing materials for delivery through FLC set realistic reading and work loads and investigate the development of alternative teaching methodologies to lessen the volume of print material.

Recommendation 18

That all FLC and faculty staff dealing with external students have voicemail facilities for their telephones.

Recommendation 19

That Indigenous support staff take individual responsibility for identified external students to ensure they receive adequate support through teleconferencing, telephone calls and fax.

Recommendation 20

That the Head of School discuss the issues regarding curriculum materials with academic teaching staff so that they better meet the needs of Indigenous students.

Recommendation 21

That non-Indigenous teaching staff workshop cross-cultural understanding issues with staff of the Support Unit.

Recommendation 22

That a rental subsidy scheme using State Housing and Aboriginal Hostels Limited funding be established for those students who fit the criteria.

Recommendation 23

That the university through the Aboriginal and Islander Support Unit consult with Aboriginal Hostels Limited, and State Housing authorities and make greater efforts to obtain suitable housing for Indigenous students.

Recommendation 24

That particular attention be paid to better preparing commencing students, especially those gaining special entry, eg more thorough orientation and the provision of preparatory or foundation courses and support in study skills and essay writing.

Recommendation 25

That the existing first year materials for distance delivery be revisited by faculty staff in recognition that many students are 'special entry' and thus require materials and assessment procedures which recognise their situation.