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The educational participation and completion rates for the Goulburn Valley Indigenous community
are very poor. This research reveals some of the problems of participation in schooling and
vocational education and training (VET).
- The VET in Schools and Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning programs begin in Year 11,
well after most Indigenous students have left school, indicating that the ‘one size fits all’
- Year 7–10 curriculum may itself be a problem in attracting and retaining Indigenous students
in schools.
- Many Indigenous early school leavers re-engage in post-school education and training (for
example, in technical and further education [TAFE]), but completion rates are low, as are the
progression rates to skilled employment.
- The Indigenous regional community lacks sufficient social capital (skills, mainstream knowledge
and networks) to provide a supportive context for school and VET students. Developing and
maintaining confidence and motivation in an education, training and working environment
perceived as racist is difficult for many Kooris.
- The costs of not completing schooling and taking up post-school training are substantial for the Koori community and for government, in terms of:
- forgone education subsidies resulting from high attrition and low retention rates in schools
- high welfare subsidies
- indirect ‘macro’ costs, including forgone output and tax revenue.
- These problems are complex but not insurmountable. Strategies that might boost successful VET participation include:
- the establishment of an ‘entitlement fund to 12 years of education’, to offer alternatives to
young Kooris who leave school early
- intensive investment in early literacy and numeracy programs and highly coordinated
individual case management
- the greater involvement of the community in the planning and leadership of educational
programs
- greater recognition of Koori culture and language in the mainstream education and training
system, the absence of which is currently inhibiting Indigenous students’ engagement.
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