issue 1 09 - APS Member Groups - Australian Psychological Society

Education support programme92cultural isolation experienced by some studentswhile studying away from home. This strategywas initially instigated in response to studentswanting to spend some down time duringweekends away from the boarding houseenvironment and in a more relaxed family orhome orientated context away from some ofthe daily peer social pressures of living in aboarding house. (e.g., such as feeling like theyhad to act or behave in a certain manner).An initiative that became a core aspect ofthe programme’s overall structure was theestablishment of an Indigenous BoardingStudent Council across the 16 residentialschools. The student council involved theIndigenous students at each school nominatinga representative to attend four council meetingseach year (e.g., one meeting per term) andrequired students to attend meetings in theirown time, during an evening after school. Toencourage as many students as possible toparticipate and contribute to the councilprocess, the representative role was rotatedbetween students within each individualschool. If a nominated representative initiallyfelt intimidated, self-conscious or shame aboutparticipating in the student council on theirown, they were encouraged to bring a peerfrom their school to share this experience with.The council meetings were hosted on arotational basis between the residential schoolsand also alternated between male and femaleschools, with all students at the host schoolinvited to the meeting.The council encouraged students fromacross the 16 residential schools to meet,network and share experiences with otherstudents at other schools undertaking the sameexperience of studying away from home.Importantly, the council was charged with theresponsibility of raising awareness anddeveloping ideas to address issues such ashomesickness and cultural isolationexperienced by their peers. From ourperspective, the council was also anopportunity for students to have contact with adiverse range of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander role models. Accordingly, each councilmeeting involved a role model being organisedand integrated into the council’s agenda as aguest speaker. Guest speakers were selectedfrom a diversity of backgrounds, such asuniversity, private business, sporting icons,industry and government. Interestingly, during asurvey on the topic of role models the studentcouncil made it very clear that they also viewedeach other as role models, as they were sharingthe same experience of living away from homeand family while completing their secondaryeducation.As a representative body the councilnaturally became the initial consultation pointon all aspects of the programme includingoverall direction as well as annual activities andevents. The nominated council members alwaystook ideas from the other students at theirschool to each meeting and on their returnwould share back with their peers whathappened at each meeting. The council’sparticipation in decision making processes andits contribution to the overall programmedirection was an important step towardsstudents developing a sense of identity andconnection with the programme. Equally, thecouncil’s establishment validated theprogramme with new students and also helpedus to swiftly identify issues or areas thatrequired better targeted support. As the councilmembers rapidly grew in confidence, studentswould urge their council representative toorganise for their school to host the nextmeeting as students were proud of their schoolsand wanted to share this experience with theirpeers.To date, council has developed ideas forregular social, cultural, educational and sportingactivities, promoted reconciliation events, andassisted in the hosting of planned programmeevents. It has also acted in a consultancycapacity within the programme’s own steeringcommittee on topics such as role models andalso with external programmes at a nationallevel. It is worth restating here, that studentparticipation in the council was voluntary.The Australian Community Psychologist Volume 21 No 1 June 2009