A new report Place-based and culturally responsive VET for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners examines how VET can better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners by bringing together two different but related approaches: place-based delivery and culturally responsive teaching.
Drawing on three Indigenous-led case studies: Nunkuwarrin Yunti in Adelaide, Tauondi Aboriginal College in Port Adelaide, and the Tiwi Islands Training and Employment Board, the report authored by researchers from Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and Adelaide University also argues that successful VET outcomes need to be understood broadly. Course completion and securing future employment are important, but equally so are building the learner’s confidence, identity, and offering cultural affirmation, healing, connection to community, and pathways into further learning.
A central message for VET educators is that “place-based” training is not simply training delivered in a local area. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners, place is also about being on Country, feelings of belonging and cultural safety. In the same way:
“Culturally responsive training acknowledges culture, kinship, language and protocols. It is relational and respectful and creates spaces where there is no shame or judgment, where there is trust between trainers and learners, and where lived experiences of trauma, racism and grief are open for discussion. It recognises that colonial systems have had an impact on learners and actively works to decolonise these.”
The three case studies demonstrate good practice:
- Nunkuwarrin Yunti is a community-controlled health organisation, which also operates an RTO that offers a small selection of accredited courses aligned to narrative therapy and Stolen Generations’ family research. Students come from across Australia to study with Nunkuwarrin Yunti and the training they receive is developed and delivered by an Aboriginal training workforce which matches “delivery and content to local communities” and which responds to “the complexity and diversity of culture, and to learner aspiration.”
- Tauondi Aboriginal College was established in the 1970s and despite experiencing funding challenges which have significantly reduced staffing “the college teaches Aboriginal languages… with pathways (for learners to become) community educators, language teachers, vocational trainers or other careers, including tour guides, cooks or interpreters.”
- The Tiwi Islands Training and Employment Board, operating in the remote Tiwi Islands, delivers accredited and non-accredited work-readiness training through its RTO, as well as employing trainees itself through its Group Training Organisation. It has a strong emphasis on Tiwi language and culture including a ‘Tiwi in charge’ philosophy which includes the use of shadow trainers who help non-local trainers understand language and cultural protocols, where required.
For VET providers, the report identifies several features of good practice. These include prioritising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainers and staff; building Aboriginal workforce capacity; tailoring training to learner, community and industry needs; using flexible delivery and assessment; providing wraparound support; and developing strong partnerships with community organisations, employers and local industries. The report is clear that while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainers are often best placed to deliver this training, cultural responsiveness is an ethical responsibility for all educators, including non-Indigenous trainers and support staff.
The researchers have also produced a supporting document to help readers dig further into the concepts of cultural safety and place based – and to offer more insights from the three case studies. This supporting document is also available on the NCVER website.
