Dreise, Tony
Description
A multiple methods and transdisciplinary approach to improving
philanthropic investment in Indigenous Australian education
Abstract:
This study explores current and potentially future relationships
between philanthropy and Indigenous education in Australia. More
specifically, it has sought to address an overarching research
question, namely ‘how can philanthropic bodies more
successfully engage with Indigenous people and strategically
invest their...[Show more] resources to improve Indigenous education
outcomes?’ The research has involved a unique partnership
between an Aboriginal researcher, the Australian National
University, philanthropists, researchers and educators, and five
First Nations communities in urban, regional and rural-remote
localities. The study has been partly funded by the Australian
Research Council (ARC) through the ARC Linkage Projects scheme.
Supplementary funds have also been provided by the Australian
Communities Foundation, a philanthropic body based in Melbourne.
In addressing the overarching research question and in light of
the inherent complexity at the philanthropy–Indigenous
affairs–education interface, the study has adopted
multiple-methods and transdisciplinary approaches. It draws upon
history, political studies, business and commerce studies, social
sciences, and, especially, upon complexity science and emergence
theories to both make sense of the data and to influence the
future shape of First Nations education and philanthropic
partnerships.
Literature from both Australia and abroad is analysed to provide
insights and understand tensions about historical practices,
contemporary applications, and future directions in philanthropic
investment in Indigenous education. The study has also sought to
capture the voices of ‘demand’ (First Nations communities)
and ‘supply’ (philanthropic bodies). As such, both the study
and literature review examine current interventions and
investments in First Nations education, and find that
philanthropic investments in boarding school opportunities and
university scholarships have grown considerably over the past
decade. The study acknowledges this, but also argues that
philanthropic investment in Indigenous education in its current
form is too narrow, nowhere near scale when it comes to current
and projected levels of need among First Nations communities, and
tends to favour ‘fail-safe’ as opposed to ‘safe-fail’
initiatives. The study posits that improvements in Indigenous
education are unlikely to present through oversimplified, linear
and mono-dimensional interventions. It also concludes that
partners in education, philanthropy and First Nations affairs
need to think differently about problems and future possibilities
by pursuing a course of positive disruption and collective
action, where hearts of charity meet minds of clarity.
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