Indigenous people in vocational education and training from a social justice perspective: an overview of international literature

ABSTRACT

Drawing on a review of international literature published between 2005 and 2021, the present article discusses interventions tailored for Indigenous people in vocational education and training. A critical analysis of this literature was carried out to gain a deeper understanding of the scope of these interventions in bolstering success among Indigenous people in vocational education. Three axes of analysis were used to examine 24 academic papers: the interventions featured in these papers, the conception of social justice in education (i.e. equality of place, equality of opportunity, equity and inclusion, and decolonisation) underpinning these interventions, and their effects on success. The findings paint a picture of the relevance and scope of initiatives that can foster Indigenous student success in vocational education and at the same time reveal the limitations of these studies. They also show which conception of social justice in education appears the most promising. The article concludes with a brief discussion of a few fundamental elements that need to be kept in mind when developing initiatives for Indigenous people in vocational education.

KEYWORDS:

• Vocational education and training
• indigenous people
• school success
• social justice
• literature review

Acknowledgment

We would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers whose constructive feedback helped improve and clarify this manuscript, and the editors for their valuable work on this important issue. We would also like to express our thanks to the translator, Marisa Panetta-Jones, and to Olivia Fasan for her editing work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).