Giving Voice to First Nations Young People Disengaged from Education in the Northern Territory with a Specific Focus on Barriers to Education and their Aspirations for the Future

Authors

  • Lyndal Jane Walker Tabor College Adelaide

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v29i1.179

Keywords:

First Nations youth, disengaged, barriers, aspirations, engagement, Northern Territory

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the findings of a phenomenological study completed in 2015, which focused on finding out the perceptions about secondary school from disengaged Indigenous youth from a community less than 20km from Darwin in the Northern Territory. The study was informed by aspects of the transformative paradigm and CRT as social transformation for this cohort was a driving motivation for the researcher and there was also a desire to challenge the 'norms' in the mainstream education system for these Indigenous young people.

Ten young people (five male and five female), aged between 15 and 25 who had varying lengths of time at secondary schools but were not engaged in the education system at the time, were interviewed. This paper focuses primarily on what they perceived as barriers that prevented them from engaging in education and their aspirations for the future.

Family and community life, relational issues at school, their own feelings, drugs and alcohol and exclusion were barriers to engagement. Their future aspirations included employment within their home community and wanting to re-engage with education but not knowing how to was an issue.

There are implications both at a school and policy level. Schools need to take heed of the cultural and family issues of Indigenous young people ensuring adequate training of staff and where possible, increasing Indigenous staff. Cross-cultural training and training to strengthen staffs' relationships with students is necessary, with specific efforts to engage communities and families. In addition, place-based alternatives for educational pathways need to be explored.

Downloads

Published

19-02-2019 — Updated on 19-02-2019

Versions

How to Cite

Walker, L. J. (2019). Giving Voice to First Nations Young People Disengaged from Education in the Northern Territory with a Specific Focus on Barriers to Education and their Aspirations for the Future. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 29(1), 58–71. https://doi.org/10.47381/aijre.v29i1.179

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 1 (2019): Rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education

Section

JOURNAL PAPERS

License

Copyright (c) 2019 Australian and International Journal of Rural Education

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors contributing to The Australian and Internation Journal of Rural Education agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license, allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, for any purpose, even commercially, under the condition that appropriate credit is given, that a link to the license is provided, and that you indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to The Australian and Internation Journal of Rural Education.

Manuscripts submitted for publication should not have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. It is the responsibility of authors to secure release of any copyright materials included in their manuscripts, and to provide written evidence of this to the editors. 

Papers are accepted on the understanding that they are subject to editorial revision. The Editorial Committee cannot guarantee that all contributions will be published nor give definite dates of publication. However, contributors will be advised if their papers are not accepted or if there will be a long publication delay.