Both-Ways Tertiary Education and Research

Pathways to Employment Project Eva McRae-Williams

Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic

Participation

CRC-REP Goals:

1. To develop new ways to build resilience and strengthen regional

communities and economies across remote Australia.

2. To build new enterprises and strengthen existing industries that,

provide jobs, livelihoods and incomes in remote areas.

3. To improve the education and training pathways in remote areas

so that people have better opportunities to participate in the

range of economies that exist.

For more info see http://crc-rep.com/

The CRC-REP Research Projects

Regional Economies

Population, Mobility and Labour Markets

Enduring Community Value from Mining

Climate Change Adaption and Energy Futures

Enterprise Development

Aboriginal Cultural Enterprise

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Economies

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism Product

Carbon Economies in Remote Australia

Plant Business

Precision Pastoral Management Tools

Investing in People

Pathways to Employment

Interplay - Health, Wellbeing, Education and Employment

Remote Education Systems

Pathways Project Structure

• 5 Year Duration 2012 to June 2016

• PRL (part-time role)

• 1 Honours Student, UniSA

• Collaboration with the Remote Education Systems Project

Research Questions

• How do Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people who reside

in (very) remote communities navigate their way into meaningful

livelihoods?

• What kinds of work might help to support sustainable livelihood

outcomes?

• What kinds of learning could support meaningful livelihood

agendas, aspirations and pathways?

3 Case Studies

• Microenterprise development as a pathway to livelihood

• Economic participation pathways for Anangu youth

• Learning experiences & employment aspirations of inmates

Honours Project

• Dreams and Aspirations of mobile young Aboriginal people

• Census analysis in collaboration with RES project

• Participation/observation in a range of stakeholder activities

No ‘Real’ Jobs in Very Remote Australia?

Total number of jobs (place of enumeration): 106, 437

Indigenous

non-Indigenous

not stated

Very Remote Employees

Without Qualification

Up to Cert II

Cert III & IV

Diploma +

Source ABS (2011) see Guenther and McRae-Williams (2014) for

breakdowns per industry

Engagement in the Economy = Good

GO TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY

GET CERTIFICATE III OR ABOVE

EMPLOYMENT

Industry of employment for non-Indigenous and Aboriginal workers, Very

Remote Australia, 2011. Source: (ABS, 2012) based on place of enumeration

Deficit Models

A focus on barriers or gaps that need to be overcome.

• lack of English literacy and numeracy

• lack of ‘appropriate’ work behaviours

Human Capital Model

Individuals are

motivated to learn

because it will help

them to get a job so

they can get money –

which will make them

happy

Enterprise & Entrepreneurship and Entreprenering

It is from an investment in Belonging

to Family- Community –Country

that a personal and community investment in the economy

can also grow and flourish

• Learning that is voluntary and negotiated

• Learning that strengthens or extends rather than fights cultural

identity

• Learning the builds confidence for negotiating identity

transformations and builds decision making capabilities

• Work that has local legitimacy and support

• Work that is about more than turning up on time (investment)

• Work that is not separate from family life and obligation

Key Points

• Currently the system is not working well

• Different interpretations of what constitutes a real job

• Deficit models are dominant

• Cultural identity is seen as a barrier rather than an

enabler

• Client buy in to some/many pathways is limited

• What are the essential elements that really make

someone employable (in the remote context)?