'We are history in the making and we are walking together to change things for the better': Exploring the flows and ripples of learning in a mentoring programme for indigenous young people

Abstract

This article explores the unique mentoring model that the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) has established to assist Australian Indigenous 60 young people succeed educationally. AIME can be described as a structured educational mentoring programme, which recruits university students to mentor Indigenous high school students. The success of the programme is unequivocal, with the AIME Indigenous mentees completing high school and the transition to further education and employment at higher rates than their non-AIME Indigenous counterparts. This article reports on a study that sought to deeply explore the particular approach to mentoring that AIME adopts. The study drew upon interviews, observations and surveys with AIME staff, mentees and mentors, and the focus in this article is on the surveys completed by the university mentors involved in the programme. Overall, there seems to be a discernible mutual reciprocity inherent in the learning outcomes of this mentoring programme; the mentors are learning along with the mentees. The article seeks to consider how AIME mentors reflect upon their learning in this programme and also how this pedagogic potential has been facilitated.

Emergency online teaching during COVID-19: A case study of Australian tertiary students in teacher education and creative arts

“…From the outset of the 2020 pandemic, educational researchers were quick to investigate and document the impact of the pandemic in a number of areas, such as: course delivery, including the use of technology; student learning; equity and learning; and the effects on school partnerships ( Burke and M., 2020 ; Chang & Yano, 2020 ; Nenad, 2020 ; O'Shea et al., 2016 ; O'Shea et al., 2020 ; Pikulski et al., 2020 ; Tinubu Ali & Herrera, 2020 ). In addition, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released three statements for schools related to the pandemic: recommendations to ensure that learning remained uninterrupted during the pandemic ( UNESCO 2020b ); advice with regard to the responses of schools to COVID-19 and disruption ( UNESCO 2020c ); and planning for equity during the school closures ( UNESCO 2020a ).…”

Lessons from the AIME approach to the teaching relationship: valuing biepistemic practice

“…The mentor and mentee are positioned, both physically and via their pedagogic relationships and activities, as the presenters' students. Reports of mentees' and mentors' significant learning from AIME support such interpretation of their co-positioning as students in this learning environment Harwood et al 2013Harwood et al , 2015O'Shea et al, 2016).…”

“…As stated above, the mentees are Indigenous high school students, the mentors are university students from the host university. While the university student mentors are mostly non-Indigenous this is representative of current university student demographics (O'Shea et al, 2016). We note that such demographics are indicative of universities failing to engage and retain Indigenous students, which leads to low participation rates.…”

“…This is of fundamental importance given the appallingly low results that mainstream education and further education is achieving with Australia's Indigenous people (e.g. ABS, 2012;SCRGSP, 2015;Purdie and Buckley, 2010;Thompson, De Bortoli and Buckley, 2013;O'Shea et al, 2016).…”

“…Although this requires some level of role modelling and coaching from the mentor, the AIME mentor-mentee relationship is not saturated with Western connotations of expert mentor transferring knowledge to an inexpert mentee (e.g. Rogers, 2009;Zeind et al, 2005;O'Shea et al, 2016). Instead, the key 'knowledge' of the mentoring (i.e.…”