March 2010 - Swinburne University of Technology

March 2010 swinburne
illustration: Justin Garnsworthy
BWAYS, who picked up many of the young
people from their homes and also fed them
lunch.
The Mumgu-dhal tyama-tiyt program
offers Indigenous students training in
Certificates I, II and III, which equip
them with the basic skills needed to find
employment. But unlike regular secondary
schools and TAFEs it does this with as
much focus on Indigenous culture as on
literacy, numeracy and other employability
skills, Ms Eason says. “It’s about cultural
competencies and about seeing positive role
models within the Indigenous community
and about producing work that expresses
their identity.”
Part of the success of the course has
been its partnership with other Aboriginal
programs. These included ‘Koories in
the Kitchen’ – a program developed by
the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service,
which teaches nutrition and hospitality
skills and which culminated in the students
preparing lunch during the ‘raising of the
flag’ in NAIDOC week † – and MAYSAR
(Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and
Recreation), which delivered a program
to teach the students about responsible
drinking, first aid and occupational
health and safety. The students were
also involved in a youth forum at the
Aboriginal Advancement League,
designed to hear the needs and
wants of Indigenous youth during
NAIDOC week. Other cultural
projects carried out as part of
the course helped the students
connect more closely to their
local Indigenous communities.
For many it was the first
time they had been able to learn
about their own culture in depth,
says Shane Charles, Indigenous
education support facilitator.
“It’s been found that a strong
grounding in their own culture
gives Indigenous kids the security
and self-esteem to move more
comfortably into the mainstream.
Conversely, Indigenous children who
do not have a connection with their
culture often show worse outcomes in the
mainstream,” he says.
Seventy-five per cent of students who
started the course completed it, a result that is
an achievement in itself, Ms Eason says. “Just
the fact that these kids attended long enough
to be able to graduate is a big deal, given their
other responsibilities and life situations.”
One graduate who has already gone on to
bigger and better things is Leigh Pridham.
He joined the program at age 19 after finding
himself “going downhill”. “I’d been pretty
unmotivated and I thought it might be a
good way of getting myself back on track
in a place where you feel comfortable with
people you know,” he says.
Leigh says he liked the way the program
got him out doing things in the community,
and working with other students to build
their cultural understanding and skills. “It got
my confidence back up – and got me back
into the habit of getting somewhere on time.”
The year paid off for Leigh. He was taken
on by Crown Entertainment Complex as
part of its hospitality training program and is
learning “everything to do with hospitality
… I’m really in my element now,” he says.
For others the achievements have been
more modest, but no less significant. For
Joe it’s simply the fact that he’s enthusiastic
about returning to education in 2010. For
another student who arrived at BWAYS at
the beginning of the year so traumatised he
could barely look anyone in the eye, it has
been a journey just to be able to communicate
with others. “His big achievement was to
escort elders to the stage during an Indigenous
Award to cross-culture
business program
Swinburne TAFE’s partnership with several
other organisations to develop Indigenous
business governance skills has been
recognised with a Business/Higher Education
Round Table (B-HERT) Award in the category
of Best Community Engagement.
The Indigenous Business Governance
Program – ‘Managing in Two Worlds’ – aims
to develop the skills of directors of Indigenous
corporations and senior staff working in the
Indigenous community sector to help the
organisations run effectively and with the
usual accountability processes.
The program acknowledges that directors
and managers of Indigenous corporations
need to be able to ‘work in two worlds’ – their
community’s culture as well as within Western
systems.
Swinburne University of Technology
partnered with several organisations to
deliver the program including the Office of
the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations,
the Department of Planning and Community
Development – Aboriginal Affairs Victoria,
Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Department
of the Premier and Cabinet, South Australia,
and Horizons Education and Development,
Queensland.
Through the partnership, more than 600
people from over 300 organisations across
most states and territories have taken part in
this training since late 2005. About one-third
have gone on to undertake accredited training
at Certificate IV or Diploma level.
Sharon Rice, Swinburne’s director of
learning in the School for Sustainable
Futures, says the program will play a key
role in building the capacity of Indigenous
organisations and, through that, facilitate
progress across a range of economic, social
and cultural programs and objectives.
B-HERT is a not-for-profit organisation
that was established in 1990 to strengthen
the relationship between business and higher
education. It is the only organisation with
members who are leaders in higher education,
business, industry bodies and research
institutions.
– Karin Derkley
organisation’s celebration evening at the end
of the year. There’s no way he would have
been able to do that the beginning of the
course,” Ms Eason says. ••
Contact. .
Swinburne University of Technology
1300 275 788
magazine@swinburne.edu.au
www.swinburne.edu.au/magazine
Key points
In 2009, its first year, 75 per
cent of students completed
Swinburne TAFE’s specialist
Indigenous training program
Most were from highly
disadvantaged backgrounds
and many were the first
in their family to gain a
secondary education
Run in partnership with
the Victorian Aboriginal
Community Services
Association Ltd, through
the Bert Williams Aboriginal
Youth Services, the program
was granted the Wurreker
Award for achievements in
training for Koorie students.
Miranda Madgwick, an
Indigenous education
officer with the program,
also received a Wurreker
Award in 2009 for
Indigenous Teacher/Trainer
of the Year
For information on how you
can support social inclusion
initiatives at Swinburne, see
page 23
* Not his real name
† NAIDOC (the National Aboriginal
and Islander Day Observance
Committee) fosters the contributions
of Indigenous Australians in various
fields. Celebrations and activities
take place across the country during
NAIDOC week, the first full week
of July.
social inclusion
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