Cultural impacts upon the learning processes of indigenous students in adult bridging courses

Abstract

The impact of cultural factors on Indigenous Australian students' learning has been the subject of debate by various educators in recent years. However, this paper analyses reflectively the experiences of a non-indigenous teacher working in an Indigenous educational environment. The paper focuses on personal observations based on a teacher's day-to-day struggle to learn how to assist Indigenous students to access knowledge and skills that they need in order to succeed in tertiary education. This small-scale exploratory research suggests that although culture has a significant impact on Indigenous children's learning, it does not exert the same effect on Indigenous adults' learning in the area of mathematics.