Education and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students

Abstract

When thinking about working with First Peoples in the field of education, there are several different aspects to be considered. Firstly, there are three tiers of education; then there is the teaching of First Nations students and non-Indigenous students; and finally there is a need to differentiate between what is taught and how it is taught. Chapter six is about teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and begins with an overview of education policy and some of the challenges faced by teachers working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. There are three case studies. The first is called Moorditj Mob and it runs at Wesley College, a secondary school with a majority non-Indigenous student cohort and a successful Aboriginal student scholarship program. The second is a primary school called Djidi Djidi that caters specifically to Aboriginal children. And the third is a university education centre called the Curtin Centre for Aboriginal Studies that operates programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.