Mentoring indigenous secondary school students to raise educational aspirations

Mentoring indigenous secondary school students to raise educational aspirations

A critical topic within Australian Universities centres on improving opportunities for Australian and Torres Strait Islander people to undertake higher education. This paper examines the challenges that exist when inspiring and motivating Indigenous students to consider higher education. It discusses a University project which involved the collaborative efforts of key community stakeholders and consisted of a series of positive learning experiences for Indigenous secondary school students in a regional University. This project sought to engage the hearts and minds of individual students to broaden their educational aspirations, and explored factors which influenced their educational attainment.
The results of this research indicate the positive outcomes on students' educational aspirations. The study reveals the power of family and community in determining student success or failure at school and the implications for Indigenous students considering higher educational studies.
The research found that effective mentoring would be beneficial to focus upon achieving a balance between supporting students and educating their families about the demands of higher education for their children. In order to raise educational aspirations for Indigenous secondary school students, university mentoring programs could align and support students' connections to family and community. Recommendations for further research into mentoring programs to investigate ways to strengthen the connections between a University and the students' external support structures in order for them to succeed in higher education are suggested.

© The University of New Mexico.