Indigenous students with a strong cultural identity are more likely to participate and achieve in education and training and the labour market, says a new report released today.
The report, Cultural dimensions of Indigenous participation in vocational education and training: new perspectives by Alfred Michael Dockery, was published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
Using data from the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, the findings provide new evidence on the inter-relationship between traditional culture and the nature of engagement in vocational education and training.
“Compared with earlier work, this study presents stronger evidence of a positive association between cultural identity and engagement in education and training,” said Dr Dockery.
“Based on the findings, cultural engagement appears to promote a strong sense of self-identity in the student, which in turn promotes a greater sense of resilience.
“The study also develops new measures of cultural engagement that look at the aspects of culture in richer detail, such as cultural identity, language, and participation in cultural events and traditional economic activities.”
Lower education, training and employment outcomes were found for students who speak an Indigenous language, even after accounting for English language difficulties. This contrasts to international studies of Indigenous culture in Canada and New Zealand.
This is partly the result of limitations to the classifications of remoteness in the data.
The study builds on previous work by the author contained in Cultural dimensions of Indigenous participation in education and training, published in 2009.
Copies of Cultural dimensions of Indigenous participation in vocational education and training: new perspectives are available from www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2573.html.
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