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[Part 2 of Chapter 4] [Previous Chapter] [Contents]
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4. Case
Studies [Part 2 of Chapter 4] [Previous Chapter] [Contents] |
The establishment of pipelines were investigated for the academic and professional discipline areas of Nursing, Education, Law and Engineering. The Nursing pipeline was piloted. The Education, Law and Engineering pipelines were investigated but did not reach the stage of piloting.
Negotiation of an Agreement detailing the connection between the cultures of community, education and employer organisations provided a base for the development and conduct of a Nursing pipeline. However, an agreement will never enable community members to qualify and take up employment if the educational culture is unable to align the learning environment to meet the students’ learning needs. In investigating and developing ‘pipelines’ under this EIP project, it became obvious that pipelines could not be created without addressing the central issue of teaching and learning within the total University teaching and learning context.
This chapter presents a case study which details the Nursing pipeline and which includes in-depth reflection on teaching and learning and processes that were used to align learning and teaching needs in the Bachelor of Nursing. Mentoring is presented as a major tool for re-alignment. An example of these processes is provided in the context of the subject, Acute Care Nursing. This case study utilises ‘thick description’, a technique of naturalistic research described by Lincoln and Guba (1990) as needing to ‘specify everything that a reader may need to know in order to understand the findings’ (Lincoln & Guba 1990, p. 125) and which is ‘necessary for judgments of transferability’ (Lincoln & Guba 1990, p. 359).
... judgments of transferability depend upon a sufficient knowledge base for both sending and receiving contexts. It is the responsibility of the inquirer to provide a sufficient base to permit a person contemplating application in another receiving setting to make the needed comparisons of similarity (Lincoln & Guba 1990, pp. 359–60).
Details of investigations into the establishment of Education, Law and Engineering pipelines are also presented in this chapter.
The process of the Nursing pilot project highlighted the need to align the educational and learning culture of tertiary education providers with the needs of Aboriginal students and the professions they wished to enter. The need for alignment was stark. In 1992, eight Aboriginal students entered the Bachelor of Nursing and none of these students progressed to the second year of the degree.
Reflection on the process of recruitment, student support and the teaching and learning environment led to a vision that connected community, educational and health organisations for the purpose of recruiting, educating and employing Aboriginal people as nurses. The Project Director and the Coordinator of 100 level Nursing joined together to recruit and retain Aborigines in the Bachelor of Nursing degree.
Attention in the project was focussed on developing a Nursing pipeline in the Illawarra by networking:
Joint development and conduct of nursing and education events by the above groups provided a basis for bringing people and organisations into relationships that were then able to cooperatively focus on the development of a pipeline. Shared events included nursing education field days, career market days and selection panels for Enrolled Nurse education.
The bringing of people into relationship for the purpose of meeting these needs through group action, provided the foundation for establishment of social capital necessary for creating conditions that facilitated recruitment, education and employment of Aboriginal nurses. It was recognised that cooperative action would lead to mutual benefits through:
The Project Director acted as an external catalyst. It is sometimes easier for an external catalyst to seek the cooperation of organisations than for individuals within an organisation to offer ideas and gain the support of their organisation in following a course of action that is new, different or controversial. There is also the very real possibility of risk and loss of face for individuals within organisations who ‘put up’ new ideas for approval and funding as projects. When a decision maker rejects ideas, there is the possibility that this rejection may be misinterpreted as a rejection of the person proposing the idea. External catalysts are frequently able to gain access to senior positions in potential stakeholder organisations that staff from within are, because of hierarchical structures or past experience, unable or unwilling to approach. The external catalyst creates a safety net for those who have ideas but who are unable to take the risk of initiating new directions. All of these factors existed in the development of the Nursing pipeline.
The external catalyst may also undertake the role of internal catalyst within his or her own organisation. Shifting between the internal and external catalyst roles can create significant contradictions and pressures because the very situations the catalyst is able to facilitate outside his or her own organisation are unable to be facilitated within. This occurs because of hierarchies and collegiate power groups within the organisation that are, nevertheless, outside the sphere of influence of the internal catalyst. In establishing the Nursing pipeline, the Project Director was able to work very effectively as an external catalyst for the IAHS, TAFE and community organisations, but was disempowered, to various degrees, within sections of the University, particularly in the way sections of the University impacted on the relationships that were established within the pipeline. It is important to note that the social capital established within a pipeline or network is fragile and susceptible to derail by those who do not share the social capital of the group. Maintenance and continued operation of any pipeline are dependent on maturation of the relationships that underpin the operation.
The process of development experienced by the Project Director could be likened to navigating a ship through treacherous waters. Diversions had to be made to avoid territorial mines and submerged reefs. The journey was frequently halted for the development of new treaties and repairs to essential relationships so that the ship could pass through new territories and unanticipated challenges. Success depended on a shared direction rather than a fixed goal and a plan that frequently changed as the ship inched forward. A number of casualties were sustained and crew were lost overboard. The project also survived a number of coup attempts for the control of the navy.
4.2.1 Structure of the Nursing Pipeline
As described in Chapter 3 the pipeline connected pre-vocational education, Enrolled Nurse education, Registered Nurse education, Aboriginal Health Worker education and professional employment in the health services sector. The following organisations formed the pipeline:
The pipeline was structured in a manner that allowed for multiple entry and exit points to a range of professional health education and employment positions. Employment outcomes for a maximum of four individuals per year were negotiated and a critical focus of the management of the project ensured that people who completed any section of the pipeline were connected to professional employment in the health sector and/or further education.
This arrangement, known as the ‘tripartite agreement’ negotiated between the organisations participating in the Nursing pipeline ensured that:
This agreement provides a model for all discipline areas, for all students because access to employment is no longer solely on the basis of objective criteria such as qualifications. Rather, a person’s locatedness in a network is more likely to yield employment possibilities because of the establishment of social capital.
Figure 4.1 below shows the organisations and individuals that were networked to establish the nursing pipeline.
Figure 4.1: Network of Relationships that Established the Nursing Pipeline
4.2.2 Extended Outcomes of the Pipeline
Extended outcomes that arose from the pipeline included:
– Chief Executives’ contracts required Aboriginal health needs to be addressed;
– the NSW Department of Health desired Aboriginal illness to be addressed; and
– The University of Wollongong, through its Aboriginal Education Centre, had a direct interest in developing directions and opportunities to enable Aborigines to gain access to professional education, qualifications and employment;
4.3 Pre-vocational Recruitment
The Aboriginal Development Division of TAFE utilised its established community contact networks to recruit and enrol Aboriginal students in the pre-vocational education section of the pipeline. Initial response by prospective students to the opportunity resulted in insufficient people being recruited to conduct the course. Rather than abandon the pre-vocational part of the project and lose momentum, the AEC, in partnership with the Aboriginal Development Division of Illawarra TAFE and IAHS, initiated and pursued a change of direction for recruitment. Consequently, the following occurred.
The course and its direct connection to formal education and professional employment was significantly different from community members’ experience and expectation of education opportunities. The extra recruitment time and use of innovative advertising strategies were required to access community information networks. What was being offered was beyond the community’s experience. The ‘Koori Hour’ talk-back session highlighted the importance of social capital in enabling information to be provided and acted upon. For example, the program presenter and the EIP Project Director were already acquainted through prior involvement in education activities. Consequently the rapport before and during the talk-back session was conducive to presenting a positive image of the Nursing opportunity.
4.3.1 The Pre-vocational Course
The tripartite agreement (see Section 4.2.1 and qualitative outcomes of this agreement in Sections 4.3.3. and 4.3.4 below ) directly linked the NSW TAFE Commission’s ‘Certificate II in Aboriginal Community Education, Health’ with education and career opportunities. The Certificate, first developed in 1992 in response to requests from Aboriginal communities for a community based health course, provided the pre-vocational component of the pipeline. Appendix 4 provides a full description of the course.
Whilst the course does not train Aboriginal people for a paid vocational career in Community Services or Health, it is important to recognise that for many Aboriginal communities, ‘vocational’ employment is unpaid community support and service. Learners are provided with a range of skills that enable them to become advocates for health lifestyles and to use these skills in their families and communities. Learners are also provided with skills to identify vocational opportunities in Community Service and Health sector. Thus pathways are created into several vocational areas for those students who have the opportunity to pursue them.
4.3.2 Initial Outcomes of the Pre-vocational Course
A combination of the original recruiting direction, an extension of enrolment date and the new initiatives resulted in attracting 12 Aboriginal students to the first course. Nine students completed the first program and four gained employment as Enrolled Nurse Trainees. Three students completed the Advanced Certificate of Nursing [Enrolled Nurse] and took up employment with the IAHS. Following resolution of a personal health problem, a further student was accepted into the Advanced Certificate of Nursing.
At the completion of the first pre-vocational course, the Aboriginal Development Division of TAFE continued the pre-vocational end of the Nursing pipeline.
4.3.3 Longer Term Results of the Pre-vocational Course and Enrolled Nurse Course
The IAHS Senior Nurse Educator provided perceptions of the longer term outcomes of the pre-vocational course and Advanced Certificate in Nursing (Enrolled Nursing) course—a direct result of the pipeline:
More Aborigines have been educated and qualified as Enrolled Nurses than would have been possible without the pipeline. The pre-vocational course has increased the number and standard of Aboriginal community applicants for Enrolled Nurse education.
People undertaking the pre-vocational course have a realisation that they can successfully undertake Enrolled Nurse [EN] education. For example: I was interviewing applicants for Enrolled Nurse trainee positions last week. Three Aboriginal people who had completed the pre-vocational course were interviewed, all of whom did well at the interview. Discussion with one of the candidates revealed that she did not think she had the ability to do the [EN] course, but her experience in the pre-vocational course gave her the awareness that she had the ability to do it at the same level as everyone else [all Enrolled Nurse students]. She knew she could do the course as a mainstream course, not a special course [for Aborigines], and has the ability to succeed.
The relationships developed [at TAFE] between the pre-vocational and Enrolled Nurse education component of the pipeline has led to an enriched relationship between TAFE and the IAHS. We now have Aboriginal ENs, who are employed by the IAHS, teaching in the pre-vocational course and the Enrolled Nurse education program. They also mentor the pre-vocational students and EN students when they are in the hospital system, on the wards. The relationships developed through these links is a key factor in the success of the pipeline.
You know, the agreement between the Uni, IAHS and TAFE is one thing; but the real success is possible because of the relationships that have developed between the community, people within TAFE and the IAHS [social capital]. For example, the participation of Aboriginal ENs from the IAHS in the pre-vocational course helps students to maintain a focus on what is achievable. Pre-vocational students are encouraged to look to the possibilities and prior to the completion of the course, they work with the IAHS Aboriginal ENs to complete and lodge their applications for the EN course. Relationships that link people in and between the courses are keys. We could have all the agreements in the world but the system we have is working because of the relationships that have been developed.
The first time you [EIP Project Director] suggested the mentoring system it was rejected [because some people said it would upset the nursing on the wards]. Well times pass on and the idea has come into vogue. That’s one of the good things. We have had time to develop things, let them take their course. You know, good ideas are often rejected the first time they are put up. People fear change, but mentoring is happening.
Since the agreement was established, the Illawarra School of Nursing has trained 14 Aboriginal Enrolled Nurses. We see this agreement as a very positive event. The agreement has been beneficial to both the IAHS and TAFE. There has always been a good working relationship between both organisations, which has been enhanced by our involvement with the TAFE Aboriginal Unit for the purpose of assisting the students into the Trainee Enrolled Nurse program. [The Aboriginal Development Division coordinates the pre-vocational course.]
...the quality of the Aboriginal applicants has greatly improved over the years since the agreement commenced. The Aboriginal Health program is responsible for this improvement. By quality, I am referring to the academic ability, general and health related knowledge, plus general presentation and commitment of the students - a very positive outcome from the program.
The agreement has also involved setting up of a mentoring network for the students to access two of the early trainees for help, assistance and general support. This is now paying great dividends for the students.
The process has been slow and methodical since its inception and it is now showing signs of success for both the [TAFE] Illawarra School of Nursing and the Aboriginal students. We by no means are in a situation where we can sit back and pat ourselves on the back but we are seeing enough success to encourage continued work and involvement in the program [pipeline].
We have come a long way since we started (Head 1996).
4.3.4 Results of the Pre-vocational Course and Enrolled Nurse Course—A Student’s Perspective
The following story of a person who completed the pre-vocational course provides an indication of the qualitative outcomes that were produced as a direct result of incorporating the Certificate in a pipeline context.
I got out of jail and started a Gateway [University preparation] course at Wollongong Uni. I didn’t give it my best shot as I had a few other issues to deal with. It probably was one of the worst periods of my life and I was into the grog at the time. I hit my rock bottom during the course.
I did the Alternative Admission’s entry course [for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people] at Wollongong Uni and got accepted into Primary Education. I had to wait for six months until I could start. So I went to TAFE and did a computer course.
While I was doing the computer course I heard about the [nursing] pre-vocational course and how it could lead to a tranship in Nursing, professional qualifications and employment. When I found I could be paid while training as an EN I became really interested. The connection of training and employment was the key for me. What people want is a qualification and job. There was no guarantee that if I completed the primary education degree that I would get a job.
The motivation provided by the possibility of an EN tranship that paid me while I trained and led to qualifications was great. It gave me a goal. People coming off the dole really get motivated when traineeships pay while you train, lead to qualifications and are connected to jobs and careers in areas of community need. The possibility to get paid, learn, and do something in an area of community need; to be able to work with the health of our own people—that was a real plus.
So after the computer course, I did the Aboriginal Community Health, Education Certificate and received the NAIDOC [National Aboriginal and Islander Day Organising Committee] Education Encouragement Award. I was then accepted as an EN trainee and deferred primary education at uni.
Now I have completed the EN training and am employed in the hospital system under a two year placement covered under the ‘Tripartite Agreement.’ I am also doing a Diploma in Health Science (Mental Health) at Charles Sturt [University]. I get two weeks out of every six weeks to do the Diploma on site. So I am getting a Diploma at the same time as doing my two year placement. Once I complete my Diploma, I can do a further year’s study and get a Degree in Public Health. The health service is also getting a qualified mental health worker.
The pre-vocational course’s direct connection through the tripartite agreement to further education and employment gave me a focus. The connection with University has given me a long term direction. I have more than a job. I have a career, lifestyle and education path that I never knew was possible.
The tripartite agreement has given me the opportunity to develop a personal philosophy and career path that was not a possibility with two years of high school. I previously had work as a spray painter.
The path I am on gives me the opportunity to work with white people and my own people so that we are able to develop and deliver the services that meet the needs of Aborigines. The need to work together is clear and the direction I am going on is providing me with the qualifications and experience I need to make a contribution.
To make a difference is now part of my way of thinking. It has changed from self destruction to getting educated and getting on with my life. Three years ago you would not have been asking to talk with me. You would have told me to go away.
I spend time talking with new students in the health course. They know where I come from and what I’ve done. I also talk about the possibilities in mental health, community health and welfare areas that are possible once you do the course. Koori people from the mission know me and they now say ‘If you did it, so can we’. They don’t try the ‘I can’t do that’ because they know I’ll challenge them.
Working in the hospital system as a trainee was hard going. I found it difficult to settle in. The traineeship helped me to pick the most effective way to speak in the work place.
The two years professional work provided a goal—something to go for beyond the traineeship. It is giving me a better idea of how hospital systems work. It’s hands on. I’m becoming more effective.
The professional work is giving me the opportunity to experience and learn about Aboriginal people’s health related issues. I am more aware of how badly we need qualified Aboriginal health professionals to work with our people. It’s really motivating me to do the university study in mental health.
I am getting integrity as an Aboriginal person, nurse and mental health professional as a result of the path the tripartite agreement has started me on.
4.4 The University Component of the Nursing Pipeline
As stated earlier, in 1992 eight Aboriginal students were enrolled in the first year of the Bachelor of Nursing. One student successfully completed first year and chose not to continue. The remainder of the students abandoned their studies. In December 1992, prior to the establishment of the EIP project, the Coordinator of 100 level Nursing studies and the Project Director visited in their home towns the seven students who had discontinued first year studies. The purpose of the visit was to seek input for the development of a more successful recruitment, support and academic development strategy.
Interviews with these ex-students of Nursing revealed two focuses of difficulty: one related to issues that were of a personal nature and the other related directly to teaching and learning processes. Students identified that they experienced difficulty with:
All of these factors contributed to a feeling of dislocation and enhanced sense of shame in not knowing how or when to ask for help. The majority were unable to make a contract to receive help and the one who did successfully completed first year but failed to return in the following year.
It was decided that if the University was to contribute meaningfully to the development of the Nursing pipeline, significant changes were needed to the way in which students were recruited, inducted into the University and supported academically, socially and culturally. Importantly, the processes of testing candidates, selecting and offering them study opportunities and the strategies of teaching and learning had to be investigated and addressed in a way that was beneficial to teachers and learners. The Project Director and the Coordinator of 100 level Nursing Studies worked together to investigate and address these issues.
4.4.1 Alternative Admissions Entry to Bachelor Degrees for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Candidates
This section details processes that were available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates, for entry to Bachelor degrees at the University of Wollongong.
The University of Wollongong conducts a general alternative entry program that makes available two tests for non-matriculated candidates over the age of 21 years, both of which are titled Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) (The Australian Council for Educational Research 1994). One provides entry to ‘humanities’ disciplines in the Faculties of Arts, Creative Arts, Commerce, Education, Health and Behavioural Sciences and the other provides entry to the Faculties of Science, Informatics and Engineering. Candidates wishing to enrol in the Faculty of Law must have attained 25 years of age and are required to first achieve a notional TER of at least 90 in the ‘humanities’ STAT test and then successfully undertake the Australian Law Schools Entrance Test (ALSET). For Creative Arts there are additional entry requirements.
The University of Wollongong also provides a special admissions program for people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Access to all faculties is through an achievement test and faculty interview. The test examines literacy, numeracy and thinking skills. An advanced mathematics test is available for candidates wishing to enrol in courses such as Accountancy, Economics, Engineering, Science and others that have mathematics prerequisites. Those wishing to enrol in Creative Arts are also required to undertake an interview or audition, depending on whether the candidate wishes to undertake a major study involving visual arts or performing arts. Aboriginal students are eligible for candidature for either mode of entry.
4.4.2 Process of Testing Aboriginal Candidates for Entry to Nursing
Following investigation, the Department of Nursing and the AEC developed and conducted a modified version of Alternative Admission to facilitate processes to enhance Aborigines’ success in the Bachelor of Nursing. This process took place over three days, initiating relationships between potential students, the Department of Nursing (the Coordinator of 100 level Nursing Studies) and the AEC (mentor). This process provided a basis for:
On arrival to undertake the Aboriginal Alternative Admissions Test, potential students of Nursing were greeted by the AEC mentor for Aboriginal students enrolled in Nursing and the coordinator of 100 level Nursing studies. Candidates for admission to Nursing were then separated from the remainder of students taking the Alternative Admissions tests. The mentor and coordinator spent the first part of the day talking with them before they took the literacy, numeracy and thinking skills tests.
The purpose was to begin a relationship with Nursing candidates and to introduce them to the idea that it was acceptable for them to ask for help during the tests. A good deal of time was spent talking about how it was okay to ask for help if candidates did not know how to go about answering a question, if there was anything they did not understand in the questions or if they wanted to check their understanding of a question or the method they were using or might use.
Students were also introduced to the idea that staff were not sitting in on the exam to stop cheating; rather they were there to offer help. In offering help, the mentor and coordinator were looking to see:
A key issue in this process was the capacity of staff to connect with students and formulate help in a way that would be useful for the students, that is, would the assistance enable candidates to demonstrate their potential as well as current abilities. At this point students were operating at Stage I of the ZPD (see Section 2.4), where their performance needed to be assisted by more capable others.
This testing process, which incorporated help, enabled students to be assessed on their performance with and without assistance. The assessment was not based on whether answers were correct, but whether candidates had the capacity to successfully undertake the course, within the resource constraints of help available from the Department and the AEC.
Initially, when students displayed signs of discomfort or of ‘being stuck’ on a question and they did not ask for help, they were left to grapple with the question. If they continued to remain stuck, the mentor and coordinator offered assistance. This reinforced the idea that their role was to help rather than check. It also provided a demonstration of whether candidates were able to seek help that was being offered, and if received, were they able to utilise that help. If their answers to questions were not correct, the basis of their approach to the question was explored.
In this context the testing process aligns with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development that was used as a theoretical base for establishment of learning environments in the University’s component of the Nursing pipeline. Details are set out in Section 2.4 of this report. The process was also is in accord with the practice of scaffolding (Argyris, Putnam and McLain Smith 1985) which provides a mechanism for engaging students in and taking them through learning situations within their zone of proximal development when they become stuck.
If the interventionist expects participants to adhere to norms outside ‘the boundary of their ability,’ he [sic] may create a sense of failure that will lead participants to withdraw from the learning process. Yet if he does not ask them to adhere to them, they will conduct business as usual and enact norms of protectionism.
One way to manage this dilemma is to ‘scaffold’ participants as they try to reach norms that they cannot yet reach on their own. In doing this, the interventionist helps participants to act in ways that can keep the inquiry moving despite their becoming stuck (Argyris et al. 1985, p. 326).
By explicitly stating the norms of the test and offering assistance when applicants became stuck, potential students began to experience their ‘stuckness’ and move forward. Applicants also experienced a different testing and learning framework which allowed them to be assessed for potential success rather than a set of correct answers.
This provided a basis for the beginning of a fruitful teaching and learning relationship for students admitted to the course. In many ways the process was a test of the mentor’s and coordinator’s ability to join with the candidates and to provide help in a form that was acceptable to and able to be used by candidates while enabling their potential for success to be assessed.
Following the tests, candidates were interviewed by the AEC mentor and the coordinator. During the interview, candidates were asked to make a fist. A look of amazement or disbelief often followed this request. The AEC mentor would then proceed to make a fist and then ask the candidate to copy the action. They were then asked could they use their fist to knock on the table or a door. They were then invited to knock. This humorous situation was used as a mechanism to introduce the idea that a key to them being offered a position and being successful in the University, would be their preparedness to knock on doors, ask for help and use it.
This also introduced strategies for dealing with the culture of ‘shame’, frequently expressed by Aboriginal students when talking about the issue of asking for help. The culture of shame and the practice of becoming invisible, silent or absenting when stuck is equivalent to an act of self protection. It is important for students to develop confidence to be able to ‘knock on doors’ rather than become ‘invisible’ and think that they have to do it all on their own. This approach to gaining help, the ‘search for assistance’, focuses on holistic academic development, a blend of personal development with academic support. The search for assistance enabled the students to be engaged in processes of building academic resource networks which included their peers, faculty members and other support staff.
Towards the end of the alternative admissions interview positions in the Bachelor of Nursing were also offered with a clear understanding on the part of staff of the AEC and Department of Nursing that:
Candidates were offered a place in the Bachelor of Nursing, conditional upon them agreeing to take part in a specialised orientation course for Aboriginal students in Nursing, which commenced a week prior to the University’s Orientation Week. They were also required to participate in on-going specialised literacy tutorials for Nursing, Chemistry and Physics. The Nursing literacy tutorial commenced during the orientation program and ran for the entire first year. It was later offered in the second and third years of study.
The tutorial initially concentrated on providing an environment in which students were introduced to the language and university culture of nurse education. It provided a safe environment to ask for, be offered and receive help and a platform from which students could begin to be assisted, become independent and undertake collaborative learning. Students were engaged in a process that would give them control and responsibility for their learning.
The tutorials provided a range of subjects and environments in which students were engaged in processes of assisted, independent and collaborative learning. While each tutorial covered different subject matter, combined they took students through assisted, independent and collaborative learning (Australian Committee for Training Curriculum 1994) that resulted in academic achievement. This provided them with a basis for trusting in and applying the processes to untried areas of study. They began to cope with the tension of not knowing specific answers to questions. Students also started relationships through tutorial support with each other and with teaching staff involved in the process of their academic development. They were beginning to build networks, to establish social capital and beginning to ‘learn to fish’.
The process of establishing an agreement with students provided a means of entering relationships that enabled them to contract for a package of educational services that would give them a good chance of success. The immediate orientation to success was based on the AEC Mentor and Coordinator of 100 level Nursing Studies’ perceptions of the potential to match students’ educational needs with staff members’ ability to facilitate students learning. This was viewed as being a primary factor in students’ attainment of nursing qualifications. Success was also believed to be contingent upon the provision of learning environments where students would learn to learn and be equipped with the tools and experience to take charge of their own learning, in and beyond the course of study. In this way it was expected that they would be able to recursively and successfully enter their zones of proximal development in a range of fields.
Students took up their offer of a place by verbally agreeing to the conditions of entry and then by taking the action to participate in the special focus orientation program. The program provided an immediate means of engaging students in actions which directly reflected the elements of the agreement. For example, students were engaged in processes which engaged them with their fellow students, the AEC mentor, Coordinator of 100 level Nursing and specialist tutor for Nursing subjects. Students were immediately engaged in processes that reinforced the nature of the agreement and the tone of relationships. By the end of the orientation process, students were grounded in the culture of cooperation that was established between the AEC and the Department of Nursing.
The agreement provided a basis for mentoring processes which were cooperatively developed and operated by three members of staff:
These staff members acted as a mentoring team.
The mentor context is captured by (Argyris et al. 1985, p. 269):
[Mentors were required to] be willing to make themselves vulnerable and to put their own reasoning on the line, subjecting them to the same scrutiny to which they subject the reasoning and actions of [the students and their teaching and support colleagues in the AEC and the faculty]. They [were] to contend with their own defensive reactions and remain open when their views and actions are called into question, often without much compassion or skill. And they [needed to] do all this while simultaneously negotiating a dilemma faced by [student] and [mentor] alike. On the one hand, the mentoring process [was] intended to be jointly controlled, with participants taking responsibility for their own learning; while on the other hand, the process necessarily [started] out under conditions of inequity. At the outset [students were] largely unaware of their theories-in-use and only vaguely aware or able to envision the alternatives posed by the [mentor].
[Students entered] the process in a position of dependence on the [mentors]. They discovered in an explicit sense that they [knew] their own theories-in-use less well than the [mentors]..., and they [had] scarcely any idea about how to remedy the gaps they [uncovered] in them. Understandably this discovery [triggered] experiences of distress and anxiety that themselves evoke reactions that ... [got] in the way of working through the dilemma that [triggered] them. [Students at times ... concealed], even from themselves, the inconsistencies of their actions. They [sometimes resisted] the help of the [mentor] in discovering these inconsistencies or the alternatives that might [ have reduced] them. [Some grew] hostile toward the [mentors] for what they [construed] as unnecessary exertion of power. The [mentors had] to contend with such reactions, not by becoming defensive, but by enquiring into what leads to these reactions in order to move beyond them. (tenses altered.)
The mentoring activity, in the context of the project’s community development base, was one factor in enacting a community of enquiry in a community of teaching and learning practice. The purpose of this enquiry was to develop an action research process that would directly facilitate the establishment of learning environments that would retain Aboriginal students in the Bachelor of Nursing.
The AEC mentor actively engaged with students to direct their attention to their actions in the learning process and to make decisions regarding whether these actions were working for or against them. The following question was a key orientation for students.
The following are the key questions to focus mentors’ reflective practice.
Joint reflection by the students and the AEC mentor provided material to join with teaching staff in a range of subjects and begin processes that led to changes in teaching processes that benefited Aboriginal and mainstream students.
Situations for productive reflection frequently arose during informal discussion between students, teaching staff and mentors. Discussions with students usually began on topics that related to the student as an individual.
Discussions with teaching staff usually began with topics related to the Aboriginal students’ learning performance:
These discussions often resulted in requests for help with learning issues by students and teaching staff. They also frequently yielded a means of engaging students, and in obtaining their insight into their learning. They provided information to approach teaching or support staff about the student’s perception of the learning environment.
Teaching staff were only approached after permission had been obtained by the student to use material obtained during reflective discussion. Students were critically aware of the politics of teacher/student relationships and a good deal of time was spent discussing the potential impact of information on these relationships. Considerations of what was delivered, how it was delivered, who it was delivered to, with whom it was delivered and potential ‘pay back’ or ‘benefit’ to learners needed to be gauged at all times.
Reflective practices are a normal part of people’s every day life. The focus was on enhancing reflective practice rather than setting up activities that formalised and assessed reflection and ‘squeezed the living daylights out of’ students, teaching staff and the mentors. Situations which would promote learning were sought and utilised. Reflections were not formalised, diaries were avoided and all parties honed their reflective practice individually and jointly.
Students and the AEC mentor frequently entered into group discussion. The process of reflecting with others, rather than engaging in individual journal writing, assisted students to recognise that what often comes to us alone may be garbled by our own rationalisations and wishful thinking. Talking with others provided the potential for feedback and further productive reflection, a fact emphatically endorsed by a recent graduate who had been engaged in the mentoring process (student S3 1996).
4.5.1 Mentoring: a Rich Source of Information to Network and Align Student and Teacher Needs
Alignment of teachers’ and learners’ needs is a complex process. Development of mutually beneficial relationships between these groups was critical to the process and interfacing the range of needs could not have been undertaken without developing a network of learning relationships.
Results were assisted by aligning students’ needs with teaching possibilities, underpinned by a theoretical framework grounded on Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and Argyris et al’s (1985) practice of scaffolding. Scaffolding was extensively used to interface mentoring and tutorial processes. It provided a mechanism to review and reorient learning environments, including teaching practices, in which students were not successful. It also provided a method for students to re-engage in the learning process and move through their zones of proximal development. A recent graduate (Student 3) described the scaffolding process in the following way:
Find the individual’s base line, thereby reinforcing the student’s comfort. Then, build a framework which will allow the student to climb at their pace. That is, let them find their own way up their own mountain [ZPD].
Mismatches between specialist tutorials, student needs and teaching processes became apparent early in the project. For example, the second round of first year students were having difficulty with physics. The following depicts a typical conversation between a number of students and the AEC mentor.
Students: We can’t understand what the lecturer is talking about!
Mentor: Are the specialist tutorials helping?
Students: Not really. The tutor just really repeats what the lecturer has been doing. We reckon we’re going to fail.
Further discussion with students and an understanding of their development and potential for physics ruled out the ‘lack of background’ or deficit argument frequently used when discounting students’ ability to succeed. Students had already demonstrated competence in the kinds of numeric operations required for successfully undertaking the Physics subjects for the Nursing degree.
The mentor met with the Physics lecturer and tutor at the AEC and put the position that students were worried about physics and were anticipating a fail because they could not understand what the lecturer was talking about. (These students had already passed Chemistry with the support of the Physics tutor). The lecturer replied they would fail Physics because they didn’t have the basic maths. The students’ position continued to be put by the mentor, who wished to dispel any notion of deficits on the part of students.
Mentor: Its not a question of basic maths. A primary issue is the language of physics.
Further discussion between the tutor, lecturer and the mentor aided by an understanding of the students’ past performance and potential, revealed they had not come to grips with the process and language that was being used to teach and pass Physics tests. For example, the process of questioning in open ended or objective tests was largely unfamiliar to the students. They had no familiarity with questioning techniques that required them to identify a correct answer from a range of possibilities, where the question was phrased in the negative, such as ‘Which one of the following is not appropriate in this context?’
A role play in which a Physics problem was posed for solution provided a means of unpacking the teaching and learning situation and developing a strategy to work toward meeting the students’ needs. The mentor took the part of the student while the lecturer and tutor proceeded to instruct the mentor on how to perform a Physics test. As the process took place, the mentor recorded the language and the steps involved in performing the test. The lecturer was required to make explicit his tacit knowledge (see Lincoln & Guba 1990) or ‘theory-in-use’; something to which he had not needed to put words to before.
As a result of this process it was possible to create a flow chart of the language and steps that a student would have to understand and operate to successfully perform the test and complete subsequent Physics tasks. The students were working with a Physics problem but they didn’t know which formula to choose or how to use it to gain the correct answer. The following steps are the result of the role play.
The role play was not a simple exercise because the mentor had no experience or understanding of Physics (other than how to avoid doing it at school 30 years earlier). Physics was an alien language. The role play yielded a strategy which facilitated students obtaining control of the language and steps involved in solving a variety of Physics tests. The tutorial process was then amended and students successfully met the requirements of Physics. Control of the language enabled students to go from the concrete to the abstract and from the known to the unknown rather than from the abstract to the more abstract and the unknown to the greater unknown. This process was identical to the direction previously taken in Chemistry (Draisma et al. 1994).
The tutorials also provided fora for engaging students in support activities that focused on their academic development where they learned about the relationships, concepts and knowledge necessary to operate successfully within the University’s Nursing education culture. The tutorials were culturally and socially supportive because of the manner in which they addressed teaching and learning but they were for students’ academic development and very different from the support offered by normal ATAS and AEC student liaison activities. Difficulties with social and cultural issues frequently presented in tandem with academic difficulties. Academic issues provided a catalyst for students to voice personal/family difficulties that were affecting their learning. When this occurred, difficulties were acknowledged and strategies were developed to refer and deal with non-academic issues outside of tutorials.
Table 4.1: Conditions of Learning (adapted from Cambourne & Turbill 1987, p. 7)
| Conditions of Learning | How Manifested in Practice |
| Immersion in the medium | Students were immersed in
the medium of the University culture, at the macro level,
and in the disciplines of Nursing, Physics, Chemistry
etc, at the individual subject level. This immersion
occurred naturally in lectures, tutorials and laboratory
experiences. It also occurred through the range of
reading materials to which students were exposed. Immersion was facilitated through ‘pre-wetting’ experiences of the interview and testing procedures and specialised pre-orientation program. It was continued in the special tutorial experiences that were provided. |
| Demonstration of discipline specific requirements | Demonstrations were freely available of a range of requirements for all the discipline areas in which the students were enrolled. The AEC mentor, the Nursing coordinator and the Science tutor provided on-going tutorials in which demonstrations of ‘doing Nursing’, ‘doing Physics’, ‘doing Chemistry’ etc took place. Demonstrations of essay writing, oral presentations and how to ask questions were also made. |
| Expectations ‘given off’ by teacher to student | The expectations of all staff involved in the project were that the students would succeed. |
| Responsibility for own learning | All students were expected to take responsibility for their own learning and when they experienced difficulty, were expected to ask for help. ‘Invisibility’ was not an option |
| Approximation: the franchise to ‘have a go’ | The ‘safe’ environment that was created gave students the freedom to ‘have a go’ at solving an academic problem, to try out drafts of academic writing, or to rehearse oral presentations. |
| Practise employing anddeveloping skill | Constant contact with the mentor and nursing coordinator provided continuous opportunities to develop academic skills. |
| Engagement with the demonstrations made available | Students were engaged in the process of doing academic tasks from the time they began the pre-orientation program. Engagement was facilitated through peer, group and individual work in the tutorial setting. |
| Response: mutual exchanges between experts and novices | Mutual exchanges took place in the process of doing academic tasks. Experts and novices interacted through peer, group and individual work in the tutorial setting (with the coordinator) and outside the tutorial setting with the AEC mentor and the discipline specific staff. |
Table 4.1 adapts Cambourne’s ‘Conditions for Learning’ (Cambourne & Turbill 1987), which related to early childhood and literacy development, as a basis for the development of learning processes that met the needs of Aboriginal students undertaking Nursing education. Students were immersed in the medium of the learning culture and received demonstrations of discipline specific requirements. Teachers held expectations that their students would succeed in their studies and they were given the freedom to ‘have a go’ at solving academic problems. The practise they were given in developing skills facilitated their engagement with the milieu of nurse education and responses between experts and novices contributed to relationships that were conducive to their academic development. A student-centred focus was crucial to the project.
The following is a student reflection and commentary on ‘Expectations’ that were implied by teacher to students and ‘Approximation, the franchise to "have a go"’. It provides insight into the importance of linking conditions of learning and success:
[Expectations] is an important point. [Teachers] having the faith [that we would succeed] gave students support. So we were able to have a go [Approximation] (Student 3 1996).
Teachers were generally receptive to approaches by the AEC mentor to discuss teaching practice and Aboriginal students’ learning needs but students were not necessarily enamoured when first approached about self-defeating learning strategies and actions, particularly those who continually ‘threw every ounce and fibre of themselves’ at tasks in the belief that what was required was massive solo efforts. The theories-in-use for some students were characterised by pre-established notions that collaborative learning is cheating and leads to being shamed; reflection with others on learning tasks is big noting and sets up conditions for being shamed by teachers and ostracism from student groups. When they set themselves up for failure, students’ theories-in-use and their espoused theory on learning needed to be challenged.
Student 3 provided comment after graduating (1996) on previously self-defeating learning strategies, actions and on reflective mentoring:
This was a very painful period - aching! Self defeating learning strategies was a major hurdle ... It was a big step facing [my] own inadequacies ... accepting them ... and then the challenge to find strategies that worked and fitted; strategies I was comfortable with.
The mentoring team recognised, firstly, that students wanted to learn and this required students to look at what underpinned their learning practices (theories -in-use). Secondly, students wanted to protect themselves from the pain and vulnerability that learning involves. Willingness to learn and the need for self protection are ‘generic to all growth and learning that is central to one’s sense of self’ (Argyris et al. 1985; Diamond 1983; Sullivan 1953) and are not unique to Aboriginal students. The issue for learners and mentors was how individuals manage the tension between ‘having a go’ and ‘self-protection’. Argyris describes alternative approaches which characterise the response of students and which in turn provided a clear direction for the conduct of mentoring team:
Some participants take a protective stance. They approach the learning process afraid to make mistakes for fear of appearing foolish or stupid; they shy away from experimentation and withdraw in the face of reflection; and they resent those who appear to be learning and blame them for their experience of failure. Others take a different stance. They approach learning with some of the same fears but also with the confidence that the way through these fears is to jump in, to make mistakes, and to reflect on them; they embrace experimentation and grow excited over the possibilities for reflection; and they appreciate their peer’ contributions and mistakes; seeking to learn from them (Argyris 1985, p. 277).
Student 3 (1996) commented on the need for peer contributions and mistakes in the learning process.
Perhaps this is what the LDC was about. ... [LDC lecturer] continually emphasised that he was a learner and we were learners together. Therefore we were both teachers so safe/mutual respect developed.
The tensions identified by Argyris are reflected in Cambourne’s ‘Conditions of Learning’, particularly those conditions titled ‘approximation’ and ‘responsibility’. The scaffolding method supports the reflective process by providing a practical means of working with these tensions in the learning ‘space’. It provides a practical means of enabling students to redefine their theory-in-use related to learning.
The relationship between the mentors and students was initially protective. As students, mentor and specialist tutors joined with each other and developed trust relationships, the learning environment was able to reorient toward reflective learning. A critical part in the process began with all parties experiencing a large degree of frustration when past approaches to learning did not work. For example, all participants became quickly aware that when students were experiencing difficulty: