Swimming not drowning – resilience as a key determinant of success for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-tertiary students

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how one tertiary enabling programme designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students uses a specifically designed pedagogy which goes beyond a focus on discrete academic skills to help students develop the resilience and knowledge about learning they need to be successful in tertiary learning contexts. Design/methodology/approach – A narrative methodology is used to explore how graduates analysed and evaluated their experience of the course. Findings – The stories show that for these students, resilience is a dynamic and multifaceted construct. Strength, confidence and resilience for these students come from seeing and valuing the strength and resilience that already exists in Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledge systems and using this as a basis for developing their own resilience. Originality/value – This focus on resilience can provide a transformative experience for students who have largely been marginalised from the mainstream educat...