| Australian Maritime College
Objectives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education The Australian Maritime College (AMC) has set the following objectives for the three-year period 1999–2001. It seeks to:
The broad objectives outlined above are underpinned by the following elements in the AMC’s Corporate and Operational Plans:
Strategies and Performance Strategies proposed for the 1999–2001 triennium include the following: 1. Initiatives to Encourage Students into Higher Education Sector Courses Goals The College recognises that historically, it has had difficulty in attracting Indigenous students into its higher education courses. The goal of this strategy is to increase numbers of Indigenous students in this sector. Activities AMC has implemented the following strategies in 1998. A part-time Aboriginal Coordinator has been engaged to act as a recruitment officer for ‘mainstream’ award courses. This person will liaise with schools and Aboriginal communities in Tasmania, on the Australian mainland and on the Bass Strait Islands. The Coordinator will be specifically charged with promoting higher education courses to Indigenous students, and will develop strategies to facilitate the transition from school and vocational training to higher education study. The AMC Student Support Unit continues to expand its activities. An Indigenous trainee has been appointed at the Newnham arm of the Unit. She assists with general duties, providing support to students and to the professional counsellors and welfare officers of the Unit. The Coordinator continues to work with the adjoining University of Tasmania support facility, Riawunna, sharing facilities and expertise as appropriate. Specific requests from Indigenous students for tutoring are met through the Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ATAS) and coordinated by the AMC Student Support Unit. The College continues to enhance its delivery in the study of Fisheries by offering flexible pathways to students. It is hoped that this approach will enable students entering at vocational education and training (VET) sector level to articulate into the higher education Bachelor of Applied Science (Fisheries) program. It is envisaged that the combination of on-the-job and off-the-job delivery in the initial Certificate in Fishing Operations will encourage Indigenous students ultimately into the degree program. Evaluation Increased numbers in higher education programs in Semester II, 1998, and Semester I, 1999, will be indicative of success. These strategies will also be evaluated as for previous programs, by monitoring progress and completions through internal management information systems, such as the Student Administration Information Logging System (SAILS). In addition, mechanisms are in place to gather community input and to access student feedback. Where the College is in receipt of separate funding, such as that received under the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP) and the Vocational and Educational Guidance for Aboriginals Scheme, audit, reporting and evaluation requirements are mandatory. These structures will continue to apply during the 1999–2001 Triennium. 2. Transitional Programs for Year 10–12 Indigenous Students In October 1998 the College will provide a two-week ‘Transition to Fisheries Study Program’. AMC aims to provide at least one such course annually over the 1999–2001 Triennium. It has identified such bridging or transitional courses as a productive means of marketing College offerings to Indigenous students, of providing a smooth transition from the school and/or community to tertiary study, and of ensuring satisfactory success rates for students who enrol in AMC courses. Goal and Expected Outcomes The project aims to introduce Indigenous students from predominantly rural and isolated areas to further study in the fisheries and coastal zone management areas. It is hoped that participants in the proposed two-week program will acquire some of the skills and confidence necessary to undertake one of two available pathways available to students with Year 10 or equivalent qualifications. These are the Certificate 1 in Fishing Operations and the Certificate in Small Craft Operations. Students with good Year 11 or Year 12 completions may choose to pursue the Certificate in Pre-Sea Training (Deck) or Pre-Sea Training (Engine) or enter into the Maritime Management degree program. Activities The course will provide access to relevant AMC facilities, including a fisheries research vessel, a prawn trawler, and the firefighting and survival centres. The College will also make available staff who are experienced in providing short and award courses. As well as providing an introduction to the marine and coastal sectors from an educational perspective, participants will gain important skills in presenting themselves for employment, first aid and survival techniques, fire awareness and extinguishment expertise, and the handling and preservation of perishable foodstuffs. On completion of the proposed two-week course, which includes a number of Tasmanian Accreditation and Recognition Committee (TAREC) accredited modules, students should be able to demonstrate a number of specific skills. Evaluation of the Success (or otherwise) of the Strategy In 1995 the AMC provided an ‘Aboriginal Introductory Certificate in Fisheries (Deckhand)’. As a consequence of undertaking the 1995 program, five Indigenous Australians were enrolled in the award course, the Certificate in Fisheries Operations. These students were tracked through 1996 and 1997, their careers and educational outcomes being documented, as shown in 1997 data. The Deckhand program has provided the basis for the planning of similar bridging or transitional programs for the 1999–2001 Triennium. This has been enhanced by extensive consultation with community and Departmental groups, such as the DEETYA Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Program (IESIP) Monitoring Group.
3. Provision of Award and Bridging Courses in Remote Area Locations. The College is presently (1998) providing award level courses in the Northern Territory. Under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Northern Territory University (NTU), an AMC lecturer was seconded to the NTU Maritime Studies Unit, where he delivers Coxswain (Master 6), Master 4/5 and Bridging Courses to Indigenous Australians. In 1997 a Coxswain course was provided for Indigenous students (5 EFTSU) in Darwin. A Bridging Course was also delivered to eight people of the MAWA community in Borroloola, at the Port of Bing Bong. Certificate in Fishing Operations courses and Coxswain courses have been provided in 1998. It is the College’s intention to build on this delivery in the Northern Territory and other remote areas, such as northern Queensland, in the 1999–2001 Triennium. Links with James Cook University (JCU), through the AMC/JCU Northern Queensland Maritime Training Centre, and with Queensland TAFE, are already well established. Goals, Outcomes and Activity The objective of courses of this type is to provide Indigenous people with the skills necessary to obtain and maintain employment in their local community. For example, the Bing Bong course was aimed at the preparation of students for traineeships on board the MV Aburri, a 3000 tonne bulk cargo vessel in which the community has an interest. The program was initiated by the Commercial Development Corporation (an affiliate of ATSIC), Carpentaria Management Services (operators of the vessel) and McArthur River Mines. An interesting feature of the course was the provision, at the request of the students, of additional literacy and numeracy training. This academic support was funded by AMC through a grant provided under IESIP and delivered using the resources of the Remote Area Training Unit of NTU. As mentioned above, in 1998 AMC has already delivered a Master Class V course to seventeen Indigenous Australians at Port Keats. The College will also provide Semester II Certificate in Fishing Operations I courses to Northern Territory students, of whom a number may be Aboriginal. The aim of these programs is to increase the self-sufficiency of Indigenous Australians in remote areas by encouraging safe, environmentally sound, and efficient fishing and boat-handling practices. Evaluation The Darwin and Bing Bong projects involved thirteen and eight students respectively, all of whom completed the program. The Port Keats course attracted seventeen participants, all of whom successfully attained the Master Class 6 certificate. The College has evaluated the success of past programs, including those set out above, by monitoring progress and completions through internal management information systems, such as SAILS. In addition, mechanisms are in place to gather community input and to access student feedback. Where the College is in receipt of separate funding, such as that received under IESIP and Vocational and Educational Guidance for Aboriginals Scheme (VEGAS), audit, reporting and evaluation requirements are mandatory. These structures will continue to apply during the 1999–2001 Triennium. Performance The College notes DEETYA’s requirement that it provide historical data and, where appropriate, external benchmarks, together with the results of recent reviews and evaluation, as evidence of performance. The material given above underpins AMC’s plans for the 1999–2001 Triennium, and provides relevant information about past and ongoing strategies. This information, or ‘historical data’, forms the basis of the College’s planning for the future. An examination of data on all four of the performance indicators—access, participation, retention and success—reveals a number of interesting and/or problematic issues. 1. On all measures and comparisons, the participation rates of Indigenous Australian students at AMC appear low:
2. Although six Indigenous students were enrolled at AMC in February 1998, all are commencing students. This provides satisfactory access rates (1.63%), but gives rise to a retention rate of zero, given that no continuing students were enrolled in 1998. 3. Indigenous student success rates are particularly encouraging, (1.01 for Fisheries, 1.03 for Marine Operations, and 1.03 for all courses taken together), but relate only to the 4 EFTSU captured in 1997 DEETYAPAC statistics.
1998 DEETYAPAC material should be evaluated in the light of these factors: (i) No commencements after 31 March 1998 are included in this data, so excluding: seventeen Northern Territory students who completed the Master Class 6 program (EFTSU value 3); June or subsequent commencements in the Certificate in Fishing Operations I delivered in the Northern Territory; the expected thirty enrolments in the Transition to Fisheries Study program (4 EFTSU); July commencements in Tasmania in such courses as the Certificate in Fishing Operations, Certificate in Pre-Sea Training (Deck), Certificate in Pre-Sea Training (Engine), and the Certificate and Advanced Certificate in Small Craft Operations. (In 1997, these intakes doubled the numbers of Indigenous students enrolled at the College.) (ii) The 1997-based success rates do not appear to capture the twenty-one (13+8) Northern Territory students who successfully completed Coxswain courses in 1997. (iii) All DEETYAPAC statistics for AMC are calculated and compared across ten broad fields of study, of which AMC offers undergraduate ‘face-to-face’ delivery in two only—Science and Engineering. It should be noted that in the broad field of Science, Indigenous students reached a participation level of 1.91.
Conclusion Based on the four indicators, 1998 has been a year of significant growth in the provision of vocational and higher education courses to Indigenous Australians. Of particular interest is the enrolment of two students in the Bachelor of Engineering program and the relatively high Indigenous student success rates in a range of programs. Undoubtedly, the area of greatest interest to Aboriginal people is the study of fisheries and coastal zone management. In the 1999–2001 Triennium, the College will continue to develop access and participation in these areas, whilst enhancing academic support structures to ensure that, in both sectors and at all locations, retention rates are improved and success rates maintained. Contact Officers
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