Voices of resilience

Alma Fleet
Ros Kitson
Bevan Cassady
Ross Hughes

Macquarie University

Co-researchers* and project participants:
Leah Anderson*, Frayne Barker, Robyn Burnett*, Susan Dawson*, Danielle de Costa, Andrea Douglas, Natalie Fazldeen, William Green, Michelle Hamilton*, Suzanne Holten, Michael Jarrett, Trish Johnson, Margaret Kliendienst, Dianne Lannigan, Sharon Leisha, Maxine Mackay*, Maureen Mossman*, Jacqueline Smith, Tracey Streeter, Monica Summers, Angela Unwin*, Mary Wapau, Marie Williams, Marlowe Williams*, Gisella Wilson

Demonstrating persistence and resilience, increasing numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early childhood teachers are gaining university qualifications. This paper explores factors that support and constrain these students on the path to their degrees. Investigated through a cycle of interviews and focus groups, otherwise perceived as taking time to chat and yarn, the data speaks through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices. Graduates from a cohort-specific three-year degree program, and several of their colleagues from an earlier program, share their reflections. The importance of family, community and infrastructure support is apparent, as well as recognition of complexities of 'both ways' learning (Hughes, Fleet & Nicholls, 2003) and cultural boundary crossing (Giroux, 2005). Highlighting salient factors is critical in efforts to create and maintain conditions in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can gain university qualifications and extend their professional contributions.

Research methodology: Framing the narrative

This article reports on research into factors that support and constrain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in gaining university degrees as early childhood teachers. The study was developed cooperatively with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were graduates from the first intake of students in a cohort-specific (three-year degree) program for Indigenous students. The program was framed to include periods of intensive study on campus as well as supported study while in home communities. At graduation, the cohort included 23 women and two men, all of whom had worked in varied positions in early childhood settings, including assistants, teachers and directors. Some had completed secondary school or TAFE qualifications prior to their university journeys, while others had a diverse range of educational experiences. The group comprised people aged between 22 and 55 (Cassady, Fleet, Hughes & Kitson-Charleston, 2005).

The study was situated within a qualitative participatory research paradigm, building on oral narratives as a culturally appropriate research methodology. An ethnographic case study was chosen, as it emphasises gaining understanding by looking closely at people's words and actions in their natural settings (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994, p. 174, cited in Kitson-Charleston, 2005, p. 19). As Cole (2004, p. 16) writes, 'Readers of research needed to be moved to feel and think and to be inspired in some way by their experience.' Burns (1995) indicates that a case study can involve an individual, a group, a community, an event or an entire culture; this study focuses on a unique group with stories to tell.

As developing research skills amongst Indigenous teaches was a priority, project design encouraged graduates to be co-researchers. These people had responsibilities alongside the university-based team (which included Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff), including interviewing peers and helping with project management. Eight graduates who chose to be co-researchers were self-selected, with encouragement from the Macquarie-based team. All other graduates from the program (14) were involved as participants, plus three people contributing from the perspective of graduates of earlier iterations of the program. The participants agreed to contribute information and assist in meetings where possible, but not to take a key role in project development.

Willis (1999, p. 2) suggested that 'the expressive research approach seeks to portray what a social phenomenon is like for those who experience it rather than for those who analyse and categorise it'. Collecting information of this nature requires the sharing of personal information with trusted people. In this case, semi-structured oral interviews were used to generate data. In Indigenous contexts, data-generating conversations are often referred to as 'yarning sessions' (Power, 2004), as they are loosely structured around conversational opportunities rather than being in linear, structured interview formats.

A trusting relationship had been established between teaching staff and graduates during the course. The eight Indigenous co-researchers were initially interviewed by the university-based team; then these co-researchers interviewed their 17 colleagues, either individually or in small groups. Research conversations were structured to generate evidence regarding factors which support and constrain the development of university-qualified Indigenous early childhood teachers. Teleconferences and telephone chats were used when distance and availability precluded face-to-face discussions.

Longstanding relationships between co-researchers and participants enabled conversations to take place which might not have been available to those outside this personal frame. The highly emotional personal information that was shared, and the tears as well as reflective silences, indicated that not only did the content matter, but that participants were willing to overcome personal reticence for the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

The idea for developing the research study emerged in the final tutorial of the group's on-campus session in 2002. Time was taken to seek funding and evolve ethical and culturally relevant ways of working. It was made clear that, in celebrating achievements, students could choose to be named, but shared anxieties or hardships would be anonymous. Graduates were tentative about making private experiences public, but keen to assist in research that might assist their communities and the Indigenous children and families with whom they worked.

Following a meeting with most graduates, the staff interviewed the Indigenous co-researchers, discussing community ethical protocols as well as university ethics procedures. The Indigenous co-researchers then interviewed participants in various cities across three states. On-site interviews in community contexts were essential for some participants. Several yarning sessions included two or three people, while most were individual. All were taped or digitally recorded and forwarded to a transcriber. Questions discussed in the interviews included:

Transcribed interviews were returned to participants for feedback. As the cycle of conversations and member checking continued, emerging themes were defined for re-presentation in focus groups. At these sessions, graduates were given de-identified interview data to invite clarification. As agreed in the ethics forms, transcript quotations selected for inclusion in reports and presentations were submitted to individuals for permission before sharing with the group and publishing.

Summary of issues emerging from yarning sessions

Table 1 summarises the factors that supported or constrained these students in their pathways to professional qualification and recognition. Some of the voices from the data have been included to highlight key messages in the language of informal yarning. Fundamentally, these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early childhood teachers commented on the:

• importance of support systems from peers and others both within and outside the university, including family and friends, infrastructure provided by the university and through Australian government funding (backfilling, travel and accommodation, and tutor assistance)
• extremely difficult personal circumstances that unfold while individuals move in an often erratic, but ultimately determined, way through the maze of academic requirements
• essential nature of an identified program supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students during periods of block release, interspersed with periods at home, working in communities
• key role of an Indigenous academic support unit within the university, with staff contributing to teaching as well as ongoing field and campus based mentorship
• multiple transitions experienced by the majority of Indigenous students, including shifting from their homes and communities (many of which were distant from the university) to Sydney, and from work environments to studentship in a university context.

Getting started

We start this summary with graduates remembering their introduction to the idea of going to university:

He'd try to pursue a lot of staff members to sort of have interest in goin' to uni. I wasn't interested at all, and these other people were … but it came around that I was sorta coaxed into it because I was a senior person there at the time … So I was sort of pushed into it and when I got 'ere, it just blew up in me face [laughing].

It's funny 'cause … like they pushed me because I was the youngest person in the service … yeah … and the other person that came with me is still in the course actually … but that was my reason for coming ...

I heard about it from a friend; I came—she didn't [laughing]! She roped you in then took off [laughing]!

And like I said, I wanted to learn more about the development of children … I did a childcare course ... and this was more in-depth and then I was thinkin', oh my God!

Family histories and community relationships may mean that networks, employers and support systems are strong in some areas, but conflicted in others.

Isn't it incredible though, that Aboriginal people, when they see a qualified Koori … they shun us, because they're still under that mentality that the white man or woman is a better teacher, more educated than what we are.

Success in achieving a degree may mean leaving the very community which sparked the idea of professional growth. The complexities of cross-cultural contexts cannot be overestimated. It is unwise for educators outside Indigenous communities to interpret behaviour of Indigenous individuals from the perspective of middle-class members of the dominant society. Equal partnerships, ongoing discussions, and respect for multiple ways of meeting different community outcomes must be pursued.

Pragmatics of the university experience were often complicated. For example, although tutorial support was always available for students during on-campus sessions (approximately two nine-day study sessions in each half-year), that support was often not available at home, despite government provision. One student was the only literate member of her isolated community; those living in remote areas often had difficulty accessing an experienced university-qualified person to provide assistance. Limited technology, either through distance or financial restrictions, also compromised learning contexts that might have been assisted by email or web technologies.

Persistence and resilience

As a category of analysis, 'Persistence and Resilience' was one of the first themes to emerge from interviews. Tenacity was reinforced through each conversation with every individual and all discussions. Extraordinary commitment was needed to survive the sequence of study, despite supportive infrastructure. For example, in one reflection, a graduate was looking back on her dogged progress through the program:

I was only lookin' at a semester at a time … I couldn't look any further than that, and I was only surviving one semester at a time …

'Cause I nearly didn't make it either, because towards the end of that fifth year, that's when Mum got really really sick and I was sittin' in hospital with her till 11 o'clock at night, and she finally passed away a couple a days before Christmas.

And I still had all those outstanding assignments and I thought … I'm never gunna do it, and I think I spoke to you, R …

[R: Yes, yes, you did].

I said 'R., I've got this many subjects, this many assignments to do. If you don't think I'm going to make it in time, tell me and I won't even bother, but if you think I can make it, I'll start now.

And she said, 'Start'. And so I did …

Being isolated

In garnering reflections on university experiences, this study helped to refine definitions of isolation. While isolation from service provision is recognised as contributing to educational disadvantage, it took on greater complexity in this context. Six versions of isolation that were identified were:

• Lack of connection: feeling isolated in a regional centre because no other student lived there.
• Lack of program identity: a quarter of students had experience in mainstream programs elsewhere, including primary teacher education, and identified that structure as a key factor in their previous lack of success.
• Geography: distance for travel and access to libraries or other infrastructure was problematic.
• Being beyond IT reach for economic reasons: 'I didn't always have the phone on'; people with telephones often had them cut off because, as communication points for extended families, phone bills became unmanageable.
• Differing professional backgrounds: 'I know I wasn't geographically isolated; [but] I still felt isolated because everybody [else] worked in the field and everybody come and brought all their stories … '
• Confronting new contexts: 'I've been in a college before when I was younger and it was very scary then, and so what happened is I stayed in the room for the whole weekend. I went to the shop, I got a bundle of food and stayed in this room.'

Isolation was a shape-shifting concept that varied throughout the course. For example, a person might feel isolated early on, and then make friends amongst the group; others had mentors who moved or had differential need for support at different times—from family to university staff and peer group; several started with work support which 'fizzled out'. Differing circumstances required varied support structures.

Being supported

The issue of support and encouragement was mentioned frequently. Voices included the following:

Family and Indigenous community support

… My partner? He was supportive, obviously, but I wasn't worried about his support, I was more concerned about my mother's support and encouragement because we lived together. My mum lived with me … but also with the committee 'cause I didn't see myself anywhere outside [that town]. But also the committee were very good, and I said to them—when that first package came out about that support—that it was going to be over five years and they'd have to factor things in like my wage—once I became qualified it would increase and whatever—and they didn't hesitate, and they supported me the whole way ...

Professional organisation support

People from the [local] early childhood field, they were really encouraging.

Immediate family support

Well, for me, the support issue was enormous, because I had work commitments. I had to do a lot of travelling, and I had ill health as well, and just being able to go to work and come home and, you know, have that support of sharing the household tasks; being understanding where, because I was exhausted, I could go and have a couple of hours sleep and then being woken up at a certain time and maybe tea's ready, or get to work together an' prepare the meals, and just being understanding that I'm gunna be away for two weeks. Two weeks is a long time, and them just, just bein' there to sort of share the workload, you know, to talk things over with.

Peer support

I think I got to that stage where I made myself so emotional because that was the first time I ever had a try of a computer … And I was so upset, I ended up crying. I sat down and I was just crying my eyes out! And I couldn't handle it; I think—who was it? One of the girls—she ended up coming over, sitting down talking to me, and I said, 'I can't handle this thing! It's not doing anything I'm telling it to do! I'm going to punch it in a minute.' And she goes, 'settle down, settle down …'

The student group was very supportive within itself, providing an extended family. This support helped with the 'boundary crossing' required in a largely Anglo academic environment. The experience of 'boundary crossing' is discussed within the frame of cultural border crossing (Giroux, 2005; Smolicz, Hudson & Secombe, 1998) and more specifically in education (Britt & Sumsion, 2003). This concept is useful for recognising complexities in moving across and between contexts with differing ways of communicating and accomplishing goals.

Reasons for going to university

The graduates identified three major factors in the decision to go to university. They identified personal goals, including furthering their own careers, as well as issues regarding Indigenous professionalism, such as helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. They also noted encouragement from others in their communities and workplaces, including licensing requirements for centres to have a qualified person.

Well, it's a good profession to be in and they're always in need of qualified people.

It's good to see Koori directors … run their own preschools … that was my goal, to be an Aboriginal director at the preschool.

Three people made particular mention of inspiration from their families, while one noted the importance of simply being able to take advantage of study when circumstances permitted.

It's like your lifeline; it's your rope up, even if the service is no longer operating; it'll let you put food on the table … there aren't many other opportunities to get a qualification.

People chose an early childhood degree because they were already working in 'the field' and wanted to gain or upgrade qualifications, had 'always wanted to work with young children', or for reasons relating to being an Indigenous role model or teaching Indigenous cultures.

… and I was hungry for an education 'cause I'd missed out on so much, even though I had some—I didn't really fully understand it— just blankness in my life … yeah, I'm on the train, I was on that journey for education to learn, you know, I still am; I still want to learn.

We started off going to university to get a degree for our children—children we teach. This is the one thing we need for our children: a better education and outcomes for our children. I can give them a better start.

These graduates were unanimously proud at having achieved the goal of a university qualification and were enjoying being role models for Indigenous peoples. The notion of 'the piece of paper', obtaining the degree, became shorthand for the importance of having qualifications:

… so education was to my mother, was so important. She said 'because that's where you can create change, and to help create change you have to have the tools to do it'; and to her education was a tool that people could use and she always maintained that … 'Your education is yours, and no-one can take it away, and once you're educated you do what you like with it, but you have ownership of it' … To me for a long time that piece of paper wasn't important, and then over the years watching people come and go, and I thought, if I'm gunna do something and create change … and to some people that piece of paper will be seen as important even though I know that I was doing a good job, some people would say without a piece of paper, I really wasn't a proper teacher.

This idea was emphasised by one graduate with a different qualification from other participants. She originally had the goal of 'getting the piece of paper', but then commented:

If I didn't have a piece of paper of some kind then I wouldn't be successful, and because I left with a Diploma and not a Bachelor, it's coming back to me now that I don't feel successful. At the time I did, and now I don't.

Reflecting on things that were hard: 'I found it all hard'

All graduates identified things that were difficult; this was not a straightforward exercise. 'There were always problems and they all seemed major at the time.' Leaving family was mentioned by almost everyone as a difficulty, closely followed by challenges of travel and problems of learning study routines, academic writing and time management.

Sober realities

One sombre note was the prevalence of illness and death for close family members. A third of graduates lost someone close to them during their enrolment and two-thirds were affected by crises of health or family circumstances. In addition to personal stress, these situations had inevitable flow-on cultural responsibilities such as attendance at funerals and participation in mourning rites.

Importance of boundary crossings

The concept of 'boundary crossing' is receiving increased attention (Britt & Sumsion, 2003; Giroux, 1992; Smolicz, Hudson & Secombe, 1998). In this case, the greater the distance between the urban university culture and the home environment, the greater the personal stretch and professional reach for the student, although this involved more than geographical distance. There were often multiple transitions – such as to the city (from interstate, rural, remote locations) and to university culture.

… and like comin' to uni, I had … I didn't know no-one at all here, no-one, like I didn't even know Sydney. Like I knew where Sydney was, but I didn't know where Central railway station was … the first time I come to uni, I get out at Central Station with my baby … and go to get the bus and you walk out there and you see this nose piercin' and all these hair like orange and red. I just went straight around to the bus stop and I asked … 'How much to get a taxi to [university]?' and he said, 'Around about 40 bucks.' I had 40 dollars in my key card, 30 dollars to get back home on the train that night. So I did the best thing I could and I went back home … So I'm not at class the next day, because I was so, so intimidated by Sydney.

If you wasn't used to comin' down to a big city, you know, you come from out bush and whatnot and far north, and you wasn't used to comin' to a big city, that was quite an experience in itself, let alone … even though we all met together in the common room and stuff like that, then you had to venture, you know, to your own room, down this corridor and you don't know a soul on the floor … you didn't have another person there, not even a black person there, you know, so that was frightening in itself, 'cause a lot of the girls … didn't have the experience of leaving home and leaving their family.

The accommodation was hard because food was not what you normally ate at home, and it was really a big adjustment [e.g. dragging beds to the common room, and anxiety about mixed toilets because of home cultural expectations regarding privacy between men and women].

With so much unfamiliarity, students found it difficult to ask for help from people not related through family or community networks; this was more important than staff realised. Nevertheless, being in an identified program was mentioned repeatedly as the factor that helped students survive.

Unplanned curriculum: Reconnection to cultural knowledge

An unexpected benefit of this program was the opportunity to affirm home cultures and learn other aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. The Indigenous lecturer on the team noted that 'The knowledge of culture and histories has just been interrupted, not lost. Cross-cultural learning and relationships across the nations has helped reconnect interrupted understandings of culture and spirit.'

Various comments highlighted this aspect. For example, one person talked about the importance of local knowledge: 'The old people would say “we can tell when it's going to flood in the country because the cows sit on the road".' And another said, 'It was good for me to learn about Torres Strait Island culture; I didn't know much about that as an Aboriginal person.'

These influences extended beyond on-campus experiences. For example, one graduate reflected on her perspective as a Torres Strait islander woman:

You know, I learnt more about Aboriginal cultures, because I know my culture, but I don't know anything about other Indigenous cultures. I learn a lot from other people in the course. Then I shared that with my grand-daughter. She write it down [for a school assignment]. She get top mark for that!

One of the others followed on:

And I think what she's saying, too, while we were learning about, you know education and teaching young children, we were also learning valuable cultural information from other areas. Like if we didn't do that course we wouldn't know about the Wiradjuri people from down there and they wouldn't get to know about Torres Strait Island culture, like first-hand and from person to person.

I guess the other thing that I, like, we kind of noticed too … like I didn't know a great deal about my culture because my grandmother married a non-Indigenous Australian and left that lifestyle, so, you know, for people like me who had little snippets, like meeting these two Aunties here and finding out more about my culture, and I'm sure there were other students too who didn't sort of know so much, so that whole sharing, you know, builds up confidence in one's self as well.

These excerpts highlight the importance of sharing knowledge amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Going beyond the local enabled sharing with other groups of children and their families in a range of contexts to strengthen cultural understandings.

Advice to new students

Other insights were gained when talking about advice to new student teachers. One focus group commented

I said to my friend, 'make sure that you got your family support before you enrol' … Because that's huge.

Yeah, otherwise it'll break up a lot of things.

And she did, you know, she went back and spoke to her family about it and they all encouraged her …

Yeah, the family support, if you don't have that, you're really lost, because even though we have problems within our life, sometimes that family support there, if there's somethin' else goin' there you're able to shift it a bit, and they'll take more responsibility, you know, and if you don't … well, you're lost without it, 'cause it all falls back on you. So me, a mature person with grown-up children, and I mean they're a problem all the time [laughing], but it … coulda been sorta worse, you know like, I ended up bein' sick where they supported me and I was stressed out, so they ended up supporting me, you know, so usually they would've been in trouble like me. Sorta works both ways but you need that support of the family.

'Cause you're the rock in your family and you go and leave your family for two weeks, what's gunna happen?

I think that's the biggest advice now is knowing your coping levels.

Don't go down there thinking it's gunna be a breeze. It's gunna be very hard; be prepared for the hard yards or don't even consider it. 'Cause it is hard. And it was hard, and I just think it's amazing that we all survived. You know, to finish … But it isn't easy, and as long as people know that it's not gunna be an easy journey and there'll be very very great highs and very very great lows … but it's alright if you don't finish. It's alright if you pull out and start again, because it's still here. And that's not a failure, you're not gunna be seen as a failure. It's taking how much you can cope with, and being realistic if it's not working.

Graduates advised the team to share personal stories with new students to help extend links across cohorts.

I think one of the valuable things too was hearing from, I won't say past students because they weren't students from this course, but hearing the stories of other students: like about a lady who lived in, like in central Australia or something, and just the journey that she had to take each time she comes to university. I just felt, my God, if she can do that, from where she lives and, you know, she's the first person in her community to ever go past Grade Four or something, I thought, 'oh, I've got it easy compared to what other people are going through'. And I think, you know, people, to hear our stories would give them that encouragement as well.

The sustenance of humour: Pause for a little laughter

In reflecting on curriculum that was useful, one student commented wryly, 'They still haven't gotten up there to show us how to use a shotgun to kill the snakes up there yet!', and another laughed about learning IT skills:

I was really worried with the computers, that scared the livin' daylights outta me … I still remember, we were doing Excel and we had to print it off and I don't know what I did, but it was printing off like a hundred pages, and I was the only one who had actually pressed the print button. And all of a sudden, it just kept printin', and I had to put my hand up and say, 'Excuse me, but I think there's a problem with the printer'. She came over and here it was printin' off 500 pages; I was so embarrassed! And then we had to do our PowerPoint presentation, and we had to put those little things that came in and out, the object, and I'd actually put a kangaroo in and it came in and out. That was ok, but we had to do a sound, and I didn't know what a ricochet was, but it actually shot the kangaroo every time it came in and out!

Glancing through the transcripts showed that, along with the invisible head shaking and moments of sadness, there was a great deal of laughter in re-living experiences; this sense of shared community was a rich component of time together.

Contributions in a range of cultural contexts:

Unexpected benefits of the degree included growth in confidence and professional understanding: 'I could break down the big words and university language and understand what it all meant', as well as the knowledge that they gained: 'knowing about your interactions with children, children's development and how you can support them, and how you can work in the community'.

… You know, it was for all those goals you wanna have that piece of paper, you want the more money, and whatever, but you don't realise at that time what you do get out at the end of it, aside from the money or the piece of paper. You know, you don't realise how many doors it opens or how much confidence it puts in you and how you're perceived back in your community or your families and, you know, those were the big sort of things for me.

For me it was really understanding children's development. You know the actual academic side of that learning pathway. And, I know I don't speak well [laughing], but other people started to study and because I kept sayin' things to them and they went to TAFE and they had white teachers, and they came back to me and said, 'Can you help me?'. And I said, 'Look, just look at your papers and this is what you do' and I was able to explain it in a way that the Aboriginal person could understand. She said, 'Gee, you've made it so much easier to understand than that white teacher!'

[General group agreement]

Getting that academic knowledge, I was able to pass my knowledge then onto Aboriginal people, so that's what was so important having Aboriginal lecturers and teachers … and having our support from our other students because if we had a problem, even though we had lecturers and tutors here that weren't Aboriginal, being able to talk about that same question with another student, you was able to grasp it a bit clearer.

As well as gaining deeper appreciation of their own identities, group members found increasing confidence in their contributions elsewhere. For example, several people commented about the increased likelihood of engaging Indigenous families in a service if an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is the teacher or director.

The effect is a flow-on effect. So it's not just with those kids; it's their families, their cousins, their whatever, and the schools, you know? And they know that you'll put in the time, and the hard yards in with those kids, so the expectations are gunna grow.

The feedback I got from the school saying that this was the first year that kids from my centre had come to my school, in about seven years, that they've been able to sit and listen and know what they were doing. That made me feel very good. I think that's probably why I'm still there.

A key aspect of these contributions is the role of graduates as advocates within local and extended communities. For example, one person noted:

I think you become an advocate whether you want to or not as soon as you get any kind of degree, especially being black, like you can advocate for whatever kind of degree, you can be an advocate for that—services for children, health or whatever … and they need it out there.

Another related to her work place:

I ask our girls that all the time, 'Why are you here?' You know, some of them initially start because they need a job, they need a bit of extra cash, and then we start filling in the gaps about what their role is and what our role is. It opens their eyes a bit more and … but it's sad that … and that would be a common thought among people out in the community because they don't value early childhood education and they don't have an awareness of it.

Finally, the question was asked whether anyone had anything to add about their sense of professionalism in terms of what graduates felt they were contributing now as early childhood professionals. One person said:

You know in yourself that you're making a difference in those kids' lives.

I think by highlighting the numbers of Indigenous teachers, or lack of, and the lack of kids that access preschool education, like, those statistics are really really bad, really low, and, you know, I mean how is anyone gunna get ahead, or get on the same playing field without those same opportunities?

There was also a sense of responsibility and a strong commitment to sharing knowledge:

I just keep forging ahead and sayin', 'righto, the stuff that I've learned at university, I'm gunna put this to good use in everything I do. I'm not going to forget about my Aboriginality and my Aboriginal culture. I will use the stuff that I've learned at university to better teach about my culture and my language and heritage.

Conclusion

When he was Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson wrote:

The challenge confronting us now is to bring about innovative ways of bringing together cultural knowledge and learning with relevant and more appropriate teaching practices. Without improving the educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians, we will be a diminished people (in Fleer & Williams-Kennedy, 2002, p. v).

An obvious outcome of the factors identified here (Table 1) is a recommendation to government that elements which support success for Indigenous early childhood student teachers be strengthened and that constraints be minimised through discussion between higher education providers, Indigenous community organisations and funding bodies, to enact action plans for policy implementation. Therefore, for example, in recognition of the importance of family and peer support, program delivery must be structured to enable groups of students to study together at higher education institutions as well as having supported study periods in their communities and an Indigenous university-based support unit. In addition, as part of 'both-ways learning principles' (Hughes, Fleet & Nicholls; 2003), scaffolding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural values and customs within 'Western educational infrastructures' gives credence to those cultural frameworks. These exchanges have the potential to create greater collaboration and cohesion from these chrysalides of cultural understanding, thus building towards a more connected Australia.

Nurture the future.

Acknowledegments

The research team acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which these investigations have taken place. We also thank all participants and co-researchers for their time and openness to the processes described here, for the benefit of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. We also thank Linda Keulemans, Marie Lewis and Rutva Patel, without whom the project would not have been concluded.

Use of the terms 'Indigenous', 'Indigenous Australians', 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' will always be controversial. Each term may be appropriate in a given context. The use of any individual term is not intended to be divisive or to ignore the diversity of peoples who lived in Australia prior to European arrival and whose descendants continue to live on these lands.

Please note that, while all graduates acknowledged here can write standard academic English, their voices are recorded in the relaxed speech of yarning.

We have made every effort to accurately represent the material available to us. Any errors are unintentional, but ours.

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