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At Pathways in Place, we're committed to strengthening First Nations and Indigenous migrant community-controlled organisations in Logan. Our approach is grounded in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and focuses on financial sustainability, workforce development, and strong community governance.

We support community organisations through co-designed revenue-generating models like Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and micro-credentials, and by building capacity via mentoring, upskilling, and academic partnerships. Our team includes a First Nations Senior Research Fellow and Community Research Officers from Māori and Pasifika backgrounds, who are already mentoring and training others across our network.

We’re also building a PiP Consortium—a First Nations-led governance model that ensures shared strategic and financial decision-making. This is supported by a dedicated Community Connector and informed by Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the vision of communities imagining and leading their own futures.

PiP is designed to grow and uplift community services that enable individuals and families to thrive. We're expanding successful initiatives like IUIH's Health Justice Partnership, Village Connect's RTO, Gunya Meta's intergenerational early childhood model, and Mozzy's Tūhono cultural program.

We know that many community-controlled services are under-recognised, despite their proven impact. That's why we're working within Griffith University to evaluate, formalise and publish evidence about these programs—ensuring First Nations data sovereignty throughout.

Elevating these services also means developing formal pathways for recognition—like converting Village Connect's cultural training into Griffith-endorsed micro-credentials or integrating school-based programs into university admissions and alternative credential models.

Find out more about our community partners.

As a place-based initiative, PiP is deeply embedded in Logan—a community with ɫ����վ's largest Māori and Pasifika populations, alongside vibrant First Nations and culturally diverse communities. Our focus is local, but our partnerships span national and international borders.

We work alongside local organisations to address critical issues such as the disproportionate removal of First Nations infants, limited culturally safe early education, and the under-representation of First Nations and Māori and Pasifika students in higher education.

Through our First Nations-led community of practice, we foster collaboration, collective advocacy and long-term sustainability. PiP partners are united in their commitment to Logan—and to creating lasting, local change.

We believe that community knowledge should shape and improve mainstream systems. While most health, education and justice services are delivered by mainstream institutions, systemic inequities often go unaddressed.

PiP advocates for systemic change by reframing narratives—shifting the focus from 'individual deficits' to 'systemic gaps in readiness.' For example, our research into Logan's early childhood landscape has shown the mismatch between community needs and current service models. We're advocating for new quality indicators that reflect cultural relevance, staff diversity, and real community outcomes.

Our community-led advocacy has already influenced state-wide health protocols and immigration policy reforms. We'll continue translating local evidence into national policy change—driving transformation through grassroots knowledge, partnerships, and bold vision.

The impact of school streaming on growth and equity in ɫ����վn higher education: evidence from Queensland

This policy paper outlines higher education participation rates nationally, and for Indigenous students specifically. It presents data showing the extent of non- ATAR streaming across Queensland and the post-secondary outcomes of ATAR and non- ATAR students. Finally, it presents specific data from Logan.

Logan is proportionally the largest local government area in ɫ����վ for Māori and Pasifika residents, includes a substantial Indigenous population, and comprises a relatively high number of people from low SES backgrounds. Logan data reveal the strong correlations between ATAR , socio-economic status, and university participation, and underline the need for deep and structural reform within both the schools and higher education sectors.

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Strengthening university engagement with communities

This policy paper outlines principles to inform university engagement with communities, with a view to widening participation and promoting equity, diversity, and justice. An expansion of community engagement could be facilitated by measures such as the proposed mission-based compacts, or partnership agreements. However, engagement with diverse communities, and the organisations that represent them, includes a number of risks around equity, ethics, and effectiveness.

This paper articulates how universities could be encouraged to expand their community engagement, and how such work could increase student equity and diversity in ɫ����վn higher education.

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Tūhono: An evaluation of a school-based Māori cultural connection program in Logan

This report evaluates the Tūhono Youth Leadership Program, a Māori cultural initiative developed and delivered by the Mozzy Foundation, in partnership with Woodridge State High School (WSHS) in Logan, South-East Queensland. Supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation and Griffith University's Pathways in Place team, the program aims to strengthen cultural identity, leadership, and community connection among Māori and non-Māori students in ɫ����վ.

Building the foundation for lifelong learning: An analysis of early learning service provision in Logan

This report describes the methods and results of a systematic desktop data collection to identify the assets (services, programs, and interventions) that make up Logan’s child and youth development system, specifically for children aged 0–5. It provides a template for further enquiry and presents a unique opportunity to take collaborative action toward an improved future state, responsive to the needs of children and families.

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Findings snapshot: Community asset mapping in Logan

Community asset mapping explores the availability of and access to appropriate and timely services for children, young people, and their families. This snapshot describes the approach, initial findings, and learnings of our asset mapping in Logan.

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Submission to the Review to Inform a Better and Fairer Education System

The Review to Inform a Better and Fairer Education System will advise federal education ministers on what reform priorities should be included in the next iteration of the National School Reform Agreement, a joint agreement between the Commonwealth, States, and Territories to lift student outcomes across ɫ����վn schools.

This submission discusses equity implications of streaming in schools, the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Year 12 Completion and ATAR Attainment, and educational outcomes for Maori and Pasifika students along with children in out-of-home care.

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Journal articles

• Enari, D., Matapo, J., Ualesi, Y., Cammock, R., Port, H., Boon, J., Refiti, A., Fainga‘a-Manu Sione, I., Reviewers: Thomsen, P., and Faleolo, R., (2024) ‘Indigenising research: Moanaroa a philosophy for practice’, Educational Philosophy and Theory,
• Fainga’a-Manu Sione, I., (2024) “One size does NOT fit all, decolonising research with the Fala methodology”. Sage Research Methods Cases.
• Fainga‘a-Manu Sione, I. (2023). ‘The Fala methodology’, Waka Kuaka: The Journal of the Polynesian Society 132 (1/2): 237–256. https://thepolynesiansociety.org/jps/index.php/JPS/article/view/632
• Fainga‘a-Manu Sione, I., Stanley, G. and Enari, D. (2023). ‘Collective or individual—why not both?’, Waka Kuaka: The Journal of the Polynesian Society 132 (1/2): 165–180.
• Freiberg, K., Homel, R., Branch, S., Allen, J., McGee, T. R., Vasco, D., & Haskard, K. (2023). ‘The development and psychometric properties of a scalable digital measure of social and emotional wellbeing for middle childhood’, Applied Developmental Science, 1–23.
• Klepac, B., Branch, S., McVey, L., Mowle, A., Riley, T., Craike, M. (2024) “Scoping review of practice-focused resources to support the implementation of place-based approaches". Health Promotion Journal of ɫ����վ.
• Krahe, M. A., Stuart, J., Branch, S., & Gibson, M. (accepted, 2023). Supporting the health, education and wellbeing of children and families: a priority-setting study with the service system in Logan, Queensland. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. Acceptance date 29/02/2024
• Smith, J, Stahl, G., Harvey, A., Hill, B., Gupta, H., Moore, S. & Wang, J. (2023). ‘Understanding the identity work and aspirations of Indigenous males navigating elite ɫ����վn higher education’, Educational Review.
• Stahl, G., Smith, J., Harvey, A., Hill, B., Gupta, H., Moore, S. & Wang, J. (2023). ‘“I tell my brothers that it can be done”: Indigenous Males Navigating Elite ɫ����վn Higher Education’, Research in Post-Compulsory Education 28 (3): 418–438.
• Stuart, J., Krahe, M.A., Branch, S., & Gibson, M. (2023). ‘Mapping the service system that supports children and families in the context of place-based-disadvantage: Potential leverage points for intervention’, Wellbeing, Space and Society 5, 100165.
• Stuart, J., Krahe, M. A., & Gibson, M. (2023). What does the Service System Know about the Community it Serves? A Grey Literature Review of Children, Young People, and Families Experiencing Place-based Disadvantage. Urban Policy and Research, 1-20. DOI:

Book chapters

• Natapu-Ponton, V. (2024). ‘Navigating Whiteness in Education: A Pasifika Perspective’, in: Ravulo, J., Olcoń, K., Dune, T., Workman, A., Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Critical Whiteness.
• Branch, S., & Whettam, L. (2022). ‘Creating a safe space for stories: The role of process and space when facilitating the safe ethical use of stories’, in A. Rixson & C. Lloyd (eds.), Facilitating with Stories: Ethics, Reflective Practice and Philosophies, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Presentations

• Fainga’a-Manu Sione, I. (2023). The Fala Methodology: a Pacific Research Methodology. ɫ����վn Association for Research in Education Conference, Melbourne, 26–30 November
• Ponton, V. (2023). Decolonising Whiteness in Education: Making academia accessible for Pasifika learners. ɫ����վn Association for Research in Education Conference, Melbourne, 26–30 November
• Heke, D. and Harvey, A. (2023). Culture, identity, and education outcomes for Māori ɫ����վns. ɫ����վn Association for Research in Education Conference, Melbourne, 26–30 November
• Harvey, A. and McDermid, L. (2023). The effects of school streaming on student equity in higher education. ɫ����վn Association for Research in Education Conference, Melbourne, 26–30 November
• Harvey, A., Heke, D., and  Wren, R. (2023). Strengthening the University Participation of Māori ɫ����վns: policy and cultural reform. ɫ����վn Association for Research in Education Conference, Melbourne, 26–30 November
  Ponton, V. and Harvey, A. (2023). Utilising Pacific Methodologies to Empower Students. Oceania Comparative and International Education Society Conference, Apia, Samoa, 14–17 November
• Harvey, A. (2023). Invited presenter. Universities ɫ����վ Accord workshop, Parliament House, Canberra, 11 August
• Harvey, A. (2023). Invited presenter. Accord Insights Through an Equity Lens. National webinar, Equity Practitioners Higher Education Association (EPHEA), 20 July
• Harvey, A. (2022). Invited presenter. Job-Ready Graduates: impacts on participation and equity. Innovative Research Universities (IRU) webinar, 21 June
• Harvey, A. (2022). Strengthening university engagement with the Pacific. ɫ����վn Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Conference, Canberra. 26 September
• Harvey, A. (2022) The effects of immigration policy on student equity in ɫ����վn education. ɫ����վn Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference, Adelaide, 27 Nov – 1 Dec
• Harvey, A. (2022). Promoting place within ɫ����վn higher education policy. ɫ����վn Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference, Adelaide, 27 Nov – 1 Dec

Reports

• Gerace, G., Itaoui, R., Moors-Mailei, T. A., Williams, B., Patu, P., & Natapu-Ponton, V. (2023). Pasifika Communities in ɫ����վ: 2021 Census.