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Growing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Authors: Knight, Michele Therese;

Growing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Abstract

The current study consisted of two initiatives. The first initiative was to qualitatively explore the perceptions and attitudes of Career Advisers in New South Wales secondary schools regarding health career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students. The second initiative was to explore strategies for raising awareness and stimulating interest in health career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students. Fifteen Career Advisers from fifteen secondary schools across metropolitan and regional New South Wales participated in the study. At three separate data collection sites, and at the express request of the participant, the school Aboriginal Education Assistant also contributed primary data to the study. It was the express wish of Career Advisers at these schools that an Indigenous perspective be included in the study. At one data collection site, the Deputy School Principal also expressed the wish to be included in the study. In total nineteen participants contributed toward the study. Findings from the current study suggest that Career Advisers work within a challenging world-of-work context which is constantly changing in order to meet the demands of globalisation. Furthermore, it is evident that within this world-of-work context Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students face significant barriers and socio-economic disadvantage. This disadvantage severely impacts upon and restricts these students’ access to career education within the schooling environment. Additionally, the opportunity to engage with and foster lifelong learning in conjunction with ongoing career development is also negatively impacted upon. Other than with medicine and nursing, Career Advisers were found to have limited knowledge regarding both the diversity and range of allied health careers that are currently available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Career Advisers noted they work collaboratively with Aboriginal Education Assistants, who are a core component of the learning and teaching environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. In spite of the critical role they play in holistically integrating the schooling environment and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, it was noted that of those schools that did employ Aboriginal Education Assistants, did so on a part-time or casual basis. It was also noted by some participants that despite the necessity for Aboriginal Education Assistants to be on staff in their school, and to be available to themselves and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, there was no Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person employed in that capacity. Notwithstanding these significant challenges, research outcomes from the current study will recommend that Career Advisers and Aboriginal Education Assistants be supported in their roles. This is particularly important if they are to raise awareness and stimulate interest in health career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Furthermore, it is recommended that additional research be conducted in order to determine how the Commonwealth Department of of Education Science and Training can best provide this support.

Country
Australia
Related Organizations
Keywords

Torres Strait Islander, Health, 370, Workforce, Aboriginal, Career

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
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