Educational Disadvantages and Indigenous Law Students: Barriers and Potential Solutions
| DOI | 10.1177/2322005817700202 |
| Published date | 01 July 2017 |
| Date | 01 July 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Educational Disadvantages
and Indigenous Law Students:
Barriers and Potential Solutions
Angela Melville1
Abstract
Indigenous students are under-represented in Australian universities, including in law school, and have
lower educational outcomes relative to non-Indigenous students. First, this article identifies systemic
barriers that prevent Indigenous students from enrolling in law school, including entrenched educational
disadvantage that prevents many Indigenous students from achieving the grades necessary for university
entry. Indigenous students who overcome this disadvantage and enrol in law schools then face higher
attrition rates relative to non-Indigenous law students. Indigenous students find law schools to be
intimidating, unfamiliar and alienating environments. Law schools privilege a narrow Western model of
legal education that continues to deny Indigenous understandings of the law.
Second, this article identifies potential solutions that may assist in addressing these barriers. These
include alternative entry schemes, building pathways between vocational training and universities and
engaged outreach programmes for assisting Indigenous students into higher education. Academic, social
and financial support is required to address attrition rates; however, solutions need to go deeper than
the provision of additional assistance. This article argues for the need to Indigenize legal education, and
for the curriculum to consider law as pluralistic and embedded in power relations, and to provide the
focus on social justice which motivates many Indigenous students to study law in the first place.
Introduction
In 2012, the Australian Federal Government published a review of higher education access and outcomes
for Indigenous people,2 chaired by Professor Larissa Behrendt (Behrendt Review).3 The review noted
that in 2010, Indigenous people comprised 2.2 per cent of Australia’s overall population, but only 1.4 per
cent of university enrolments. Indigenous university students face a signicantly higher attrition rate
relative to non-Indigenous students.4
1 Flinders Law School, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
2 The term ‘Indigenous’ is used in this article to refer to Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples.
3 Larissa Behrendt et aL., review of higher education access and outcomes for aBoriginaL and torres strait isLander
PeoPLe: finaL rePort (July 2012).
4 Id. at 10.
Asian Journal of Legal Education
4(2) 95–115
© 2017 The West Bengal National
University of Juridical Sciences
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2322005817700202
http://ale.sagepub.com
Corresponding author:
Angela Melville, Flinders Law School, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia.
E-mail: angela.melville@flinders.edu.au
96 Asian Journal of Legal Education 4(2)
The under-representation of Indigenous students in Australian universities is a serious problem.
Education is seen by many Indigenous people as a source of empowerment. The Behrendt Review
reported that young Indigenous people want to go to university, and then to use their qualifications to go
into professional and leadership positions. In this way, they can contribute to Indigenous communities as
well as the broader Australian community.5 Indigenous communities aspire to participate in the global
economy, including a desire for improved employment rates, the creation of business opportunities and
decreased reliance on government welfare.6
The legacy of colonialization in Australia has hampered these aspirations, and Indigenous people
continue to face disadvantages. For 2010–12, an Indigenous man lived an average 69.1 years, which is
10.6 years less than the life expectancy of a non-Indigenous man. The average life expectancy for an
Indigenous woman was 73.7 years, which is 9.5 years less than the life expectancy for a non-Indigenous
woman.7 Regardless of the measures used, Indigenous communities are the poorest in Australia.
Indigenous people have higher rates of suicide, infant mortality, low birth rates, household overcrowd-
ing, welfare dependency and unemployment than non-Indigenous people.8 There is strong evidence that
education, including higher education, can improve the health and economic well-being of Indigenous
communities.9 The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that the full-time employment rates increased
for Indigenous people by 63 per cent for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. While educational
attainment for non-Indigenous people increases the likelihood of full-time employment, this association
is stronger for Indigenous people.10
The under-representation of Indigenous people in legal education is a serious problem. Indigenous
people did not enter the Australian legal profession until the 1970s. The first Indigenous university
graduate was probably Kumantjayi Perkins who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966, and
became a highly influential activist.11 Mallenjaiwakka, who became the first Indigenous law graduate in
1972, recalls that people were sceptical of his identity: ‘People thought I was a Greek or Italian. When
I told them, they said “but you are not a real Aborigine”. They didn’t think you could have an Aboriginal
with a degree and a pin-striped suit.’12 In 1986, Pat O’Shane became the first Indigenous magistrate, and
in 1996 Bob Bellear became the first Indigenous judge.
5 Id. at ix.
6 ian anderson, indigenous austraLian and higher education: the contemPorary PoLicy agenda (2016).
7 austraLian Bureau of statistics, 3302.0.55.003 - Life taBLes for aBoriginaL and torres strait isLander austraLians, 2010–
2012 (2013), at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/832DD8C90AAC63F5CA257C230011C69A?open
document (last updated May 26, 2017).
8 Maggie Walter, An Economy of Poverty? Power and the Domain of Aboriginality, 2 int’L J. criticaL indigenous stud. 2,
3 (2009).
9 Komla Tsey, Aboriginal Self-determination, Education and Health: Towards a Radical Change in Attitudes to Education,
21 austraLian & new ZeaLand J. PuB. heaLth 77 (1997).
10 austraLian Bureau of statistics, 4102.0 - austraLian sociaL trends, mar 2011, at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.
nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features50Mar+2011 (last updated May 26, 2017). The ABS stress the need to remember that
relationships between education and socio-economic and health outcomes are complex, and that correlations may not necessarily
be causal. For instance, there may be an indirect causal relationship between higher education and increased employment
opportunities and higher income, which may in turn increase access to health services. This causal relationship may run in both
directions, and while higher education may produce better health outcomes, poor health may also lead to poorer educational
outcomes. The relationship between higher education and improved health outcomes may also be related to a number of interrelated
factors, such as housing, income and access to services, and so it is difficult to disentangle direct causal relationships.
11 Peter read, charLes Perkins: a BiograPhy (1990).
12 Michael Pelly, Black Lawyers Can Raise the Bar, the austraLian, 28 March 2008, at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/
legal-affairs/black-lawyers-can-raise-the-bar/story-e6frg986–1111115904986 (last updated May 26, 2017).
To continue reading
Request your trial