Cultural and Natural Resource Management Feasibility Study Report 2015 Project Management: Bruce Gorring (UNDA) Research Team: Jess Clements, Gillian Kennedy, Mel Marshall and Steve Kinnane Report Authors: Jess Clements, Gillian Kennedy, Mel Marshall and Steve Kinnane Feasibility Study Into a CNRM Qualification for Northern Australia for RDA Kimberley – 2015 0 Note: This Report was supported RDA Kimberley and does not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Government, its officers, employees or agents. Cover Artwork: ‘Seeing Country’ by Yangkana Laurel. Yangkana Laurel is a Walmajarri artist and educator from the Kadjina Community in the Kimberley region of Western Australia (on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert) - part of Millijidee Station. Along with her sisters, brothers and mothers, Yangkana advocated to set up the remote Wulungarra community school. Feasibility Study Into a CNRM Qualification for Northern Australia for RDA Kimberley – 2015 1 Table of Contents LIST OF DIAGRAMS ......................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF MAPS ................................................................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF IMAGES .............................................................................................................................................. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................. 4 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................................................. 16 AIMS ............................................................................................................................................................ 17 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................... 17 ETHICAL CLEARANCE .................................................................................................................................... 19 COMBINED TECHNICAL - REFERENCE GROUP ............................................................................................... 19 EXTERNAL EVALUATOR ................................................................................................................................ 20 FINDINGS: WHAT THE LITERATURE SAYS ...................................................................................................... 21 FINDINGS: WHAT WE HEARD ....................................................................................................................... 39 RESOURCING OPPORTUNITIES ..................................................................................................................... 50 OPTIONS FOR CNRM QUALIFICATION DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................. 58 NEXT STEPS .................................................................................................................................................. 85 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................. 86 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................................. 93 APPENDIX ONE - GUIDING QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................ 94 APPENDIX TWO - OVERVIEW OF RESPONSES ............................................................................................... 95 APPENDIX THREE - KEY INFORMANTS ........................................................................................................ 105 APPENDIX FOUR- GENERAL CONSTRAINTS AND CHALLENGES .................................................................... 108 APPENDIX FIVE - LEADING PRACTICE FRAMEWORK ................................................................................... 110 APPENDIX SIX - UNDA FULL UNIT DESCRIPTIONS ....................................................................................... 112 APPENDIX SEVEN - INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL EVALUATION ....................................................................... 127 APPENDIX EIGHT - RESPONSE TO THE EXTERNAL EVALUATION .................................................................. 135 Feasibility Study Into a CNRM Qualification for Northern Australia for RDA Kimberley – 2015 2 List of Diagrams DIAGRAM 1: ABORIGINAL VERSUS WESTERN KNOWLEDGE ........................................................................ 16 DIAGRAM 2: CAREER PATHWAYS IN THE KIMBERLEY RANGER NETWORK. ................................................. 26 DIAGRAM 3: TEACHING FROM COUNTRY MODEL ....................................................................................... 35 DIAGRAM 4: PATHWAYS TO PROGRESS THROUGH THE CNRM QUALIFICATION .......................................... 64 DIAGRAM 5: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK-BASED LEARNING AND THE CNRM QUALIFICATION ..... 66 DIAGRAM 6: POTENTIAL CROSS INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIPS FOR DIFFERENT CNRM STREAMS ............. 74 List of Maps MAP 1: THE KIMBERLEY RANGER NETWORK ............................................................................................... 25 List of Tables TABLE 1: KRN ANNUAL SEPTEMBER GRADUATIONS .................................................................................... 28 TABLE 2: RANGER RETENTION 2012 AND 2014 ............................................................................................ 28 TABLE 3: CNRM QUALIFICATION LEADING PRACTICE ELEMENTS ................................................................. 38 TABLE 4: BACHELOR OF SCIENCE: CNRM...................................................................................................... 69 TABLE 5: BACHELOR OF ARTS: CNRM .......................................................................................................... 71 List of Images IMAGE 1: PARUKU RANGER COORDINATOR RECEIVES CERTIFICATE 2 ....................................................... 22 IMAGE 2: THREE KIMBERLEY RANGER GROUPS TEAM UP WITH DHIMURRU RANGERS FROM THE NT ...... 27 IMAGE 3: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE RECORDING – GOONIYANDI WOMEN RANGERS’ ........................... 36 IMAGE 4: KARAJARRI HEAD RANGER JESSICA BANGU COMPLETES SURVEY. ............................................. 36 IMAGE 5: KRN LITERACY AND NUMERACY SMACKDOWN 2014. ................................................................ 40 IMAGE 6: KRN LITERACY AND NUMERACY SMACKDOWN 2014. ................................................................ 41 IMAGE 7: KRN LITERACY AND NUMERACY SMACKDOWN 2014. ................................................................ 42 IMAGE 9: NGURRARA RANGERS PLAN REMOTE DESERT OPERATIONS. ..................................................... 63 IMAGE 10: NYUL NYUL HEAD RANGER YOSHI AKUNE PREPARES TO CONDUCT AERIAL BURNING ............... 84 Feasibility Study Into a CNRM Qualification for Northern Australia for RDA Kimberley – 2015 3 Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Regional Development Australia (RDA) for making this project possible, and for its ongoing support and advice during the life of the project. We would also like to thank the many people working in numerous capacities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural and Natural Resource Management (CNRM) development and training, particularly those working in ranger management, ranger coordination, Vocational Education and Training (VET) and training coordinators; Government facilitators and community leaders who have provided their time and advice in the completion of our research. Professional people with extensive experience in CNRM and the development of university education programmes contributed to this study through informal conversations and testing of findings. We would like to thank members of the Technical/Reference Group convened for this project who included: Julie Melbourne (Land and Sea Manager, Nyamba Buru Yawuru [NBY]); Wil Bennett (Ranger Development Programme Manager, Kimberley Land Council [KLC]); Daniel Oades (Bardi Jawi IPA Coordinator, KLC); and, Beau Bibby (Conservation and Land Management lecturer, Kimberley Training Institute [KTI]). We would especially like to thank Chris Mitchell for his advice and support in the development and execution of this project, and also the members of the RDA Board for their feedback and engagement on our presentation. Finally, we would like to thank all participants of the workshop convened in Broome in October 2014 for providing valuable direction and insight that has informed the findings of this study and options for development of a CNRM qualification for Northern Australia. Feasibility Study Into a CNRM Qualification for Northern Australia for RDA Kimberley – 2015 4 Summary Background Cultural and Natural Resource Management (CNRM) is a growing cross-sectoral discipline which integrates human cultural