There are a range of national initiatives and projects that are designed to support improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, including ensuring the inclusion of Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in the curriculum.
Start making links in your own area by researching some of the projects. Speak with families, community groups and individuals, and make connections in your own school and neighbouring schools to discover what is happening in your area. Find out who the Indigenous education officers are in your region or directorate. Enquire about state-wide and nation-wide initiatives.
Building relationships takes time. Find new ways of creating communities in your local school and district.
Protocols of engagement
Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA)
The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority's (QCAA) protocols outline the roles and relationships expected of teachers and students working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and Indigenous knowledges within an educational context.
National initiatives
Indigenous Schooling - Australian Government Department of Education
The Australian Government is committed to reducing disadvantage for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in schools. Their Indigenous Schooling site directs schools to national programs, and has information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, parents, families and students.
Indigenous Schooling - Australian Government Department of Education
What Works: The Work Program
The Work Program is available to all schools with Indigenous students. At no cost to schools, trained facilitators can share materials and processes to develop an action plan to create the best possible opportunities for Indigenous students at your school.
The website has a wide range of materials to support the three-phase process:
- building awareness
- forming partnerships
- working systematically.
The site also includes case studies of successful school processes across Australia.
What Works also offers a community partnerships program to facilitate connections between schools and their local communities, and the development of community partnership agreements.
Contact What Works to link up with a facilitator in your area to support you through these programs.
Dare to Lead
Dare to Lead is a national program that focuses on improving outcomes for Indigenous students, with a focus on school leadership. The program is about building networks of support for schools and encouraging initiatives that can ensure sustainable change in Indigenous education.
All schools are encouraged to become members of the Dare to Lead coalition. All member schools have access a wide range of resources and activities, including:
- school clusters or 'action areas' that are lead by experienced and interested leaders to identify professional development needs
- professional development workshops and resources
- networking opportunities
- information about funding and access to other programs
- collegial school snapshots to identify opportunities for improvement
- videos explaining good practice in schools.
Indigenous Education Resource Update
The Indigenous Education Resource Update is a newsletter that's circulated regularly and covers emerging resources that are available nationally.
Indigenous Education Resource Update
Queensland initiatives
Queensland Indigenous Education Consultative Committee (QIECC)
The Queensland Indigenous Education Consultative Committee (QIECC) is an independent body that provides advice to government. They:
- hold regular conferences to ensure consultation across the community
- develop newsletters, reports and publications about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities with a focus on education and training.
Queensland Indigenous Education Consultative Committee (QIECC)
Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in Schools (EATSIPS)
Education Queensland's Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in Schools (EATSIPS) projects provides contacts in each region to support work in schools. Find your closest EATSIPS officer.
Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in Schools (EATSIPS) officers
Indigenous Schooling Support Unit (ISSU)
Indigenous Schooling Support Units (ISSU) cater specifically for Indigenous students in Education Queensland schools. They provide a range of products, services and projects, as well as acess to a library with an online cataloge of resources that can be sourced across Queensland.
Each unit has highly qualified staff and important local connections, and is an important link for all Education Queensland staff.
Central Southern Queensland
Indigenous Schooling Support Unit - Central Southern Queensland (ISSU-CSQ) services the Education Queensland regions:
- Central Queensland
- Darling Downs South West
- North Coast
- Metropolitan
- South East.
Indigenous Schooling Support Unit - Central Southern Queensland (ISSU-CSQ)
Northern Queensland
Northern Indigenous Schooling Support Unit is based in Cairns and services:
- Far North Queensland
- Cape York
- Torres Strait.