Reluctant learners: Their identities and educational experiences

One of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research’s (NCVER) objectives is to build the research capacity of the vocational education and training (VET) sector. To this end, NCVER sponsored seven new researchers to attend NCVER’s 2007 ‘No Frills’ conference. One of these awards went to Ruth Wallace. This paper is based on her presentation at the conference.

Formal education and training can have a range of benefits for regional and remote areas, such as helping communities to meet their local skill needs. However, it is not always easy for those in regional and remote areas to undertake formal learning. In addition to the logistical obstacles faced by geographically isolated learners, it can also be the case that the requirements of formal education and training conflict with individuals’ identities and compromise their community membership.

This paper explores this dilemma. The paper draws on interviews with 15 students in regional and rural areas of the Northern Territory, including participants from Indigenous backgrounds.

Key messages

• Students’ identities and community membership—including the attitudes and experiences of their families and communities—contribute to their behaviour and beliefs about undertaking formal education and training. Understanding these influences is a key element in successfully engaging rural and regional learners in education.

• Students are likely to succeed at their studies when their families and communities support their education.

• Learners who successfully reconcile their studies with their identity and their community membership make use of a range of strategies. These include: accessing a supportive and recognised group in the local community; negotiating their study off campus; negotiating practical components in a known workplace, with local experts; and rehearsing ways to explain their study to their peers and community.

Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER