ERIC Number: EJ1458764
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1326-0111
EISSN: EISSN-2049-7784
Western Australian Aboriginal Young Women and Community Representatives Identify Barriers to School Attendance and Solutions to School Non-Attendance
Rose Whitau; Latoya Bolton-Black; Helen Ockerby; Lowana Corley
Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v51 n2 2022
The barriers to school attendance that affect young Aboriginal people in Australia are diverse, immense and well documented; however, except for a handful of studies, Aboriginal students' voices receive no platform for policy makers to hear them. In this paper, we present results from yarning circles about barriers to school attendance conducted with young Aboriginal women that participate in an education engagement program called Shooting Stars at Narrogin Senior High School. Yarning circles were facilitated, analysed and discussed within a framework of relatedness, with the researchers embracing their own standpoint, and the standpoint of the Shooting Stars participants, as Indigenous women. The results from these participant yarning circles were discussed with the Shooting Stars Narrogin localised steering committee, and this discussion is presented here, alongside the outcomes, both achieved and projected, to which committee stakeholders have committed. For the most part, the participants and the steering committee discussed racism, teacher-student relationships, and peer connectedness, and how these were related to participant attendance and engagement at school. This paper showcases the power of the yarning circle as a tool for collaboration in that it provides a space to create cohesion through conversation, through contention and through sharing.
Descriptors: Indigenous Populations, Females, Foreign Countries, Community Attitudes, Community Leaders, Barriers, Attendance, Student Attitudes, High School Students, Student Empowerment, Learner Engagement, Group Discussion, Program Evaluation, Teacher Student Relationship, Peer Relationship, Racism, Grade 6, Grade 11, Grade 7, Grade 10, Grade 9, Grade 8, Gender Differences, Advisory Committees
University of Queensland. Level 2, Building 4, The University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia. e-mail: ajie@uq.edu.au; Web site: https://ajie.atsis.uq.edu.au/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education; Elementary Education; Grade 6; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools; Grade 11; Grade 7; Junior High Schools; Grade 10; Grade 9; Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A