We are very pleased to bring you Volume 48.2 of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. The importance of focusing on understanding why students succeed rather than why they might fail continues to be emphasised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This volume has a focus on ways to support the success and empowerment of Indigenous students and staff at universities and schools across Australia. The opening article by Lydster and Murray investigates factors which contribute to Indigenous university students' academic success. They argue that a whole of university approach is required to effectively support Indigenous university students. Also focusing on academic success in higher education, the second article by Nakata et al. draws on the analysis of statements from Indigenous university students to describe how they use supplementary tutors to develop capabilities that assist their progress from dependence on assistance to independence in learning. In the higher education health sciences contexts, the paper by Bullen and Roberts focuses on the ways health science students are prepared to work in Indigenous health settings. Drawing on questionnaires completed by health science first-year students, they explore student attitudes, preparedness to work in Indigenous health contexts and transformative experiences within the unit and highlight the transformative impact of such curriculum.
The second suite of papers has a secondary school focus. Drawing on Indigenous Engagement Officers' (IEOs) perceptions in schools, Mason and Southcott explore the workplace experiences and perceptions of IEOs and the significant cross-cultural issues associated with the role. Their findings reveal the importance of a range of workplace supports for IEOs in the future capacity-building strategies along with the cultural protocols that give preference for Aboriginal learning styles in workplace professional development activities. Osborne et al. explore boarding uptake by Aboriginal students from the Central Land Council region of the Northern Territory. They argue for the need for more flexible funding assistance programmes and the development of ‘both ways’ capital to increase students in a boarding school model. Theorising the concept of ‘empowerment’, Stephens and Munro explore the success of a model of adult vocational education and training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Finally, Walsh et al. examine the attitudes of young Indigenous Australians in relation to conventional political, economic and cultural domains of citizenship. Their data highlight that the local is a key site in positively shaping the democratic citizenship of young people, with an opportunity for schools and educational activities in local settings to play an important role. As Moodie (Reference Moodie, Maddison and Nakata2019, p. 108) writes ‘there is an increasing evidence base for telling a good news story about Indigenous…education’ and we hope this volume and future volumes of AJIE will continue to contribute to this dialogue about capitalising on Indigenous educational successes in its many forms.
