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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture and university student work placements: Developing sustainable partnerships
Conference presentation

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture and university student work placements: Developing sustainable partnerships

Deborah Heck, Marnee Shay, Michael Mace, Denise Proud and Daniel Neill
Engagement Australia Annual Conference: Engage and Innovate for Sustainability, 11th (Wagga Wagga, Australia, 21-Jul-2014–23-Jul-2014)
Charles Sturt University
2014
url
http://engagementaustralia.org.au/View
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Abstract

Other Education Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture university students work placement sustainable partnerships
Recruiting and retaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers in the profession is a significant challenge. This begins with retaining students within initial teacher education programs. This is a recognised challenge with current statistics suggesting that only 30% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students graduate from their teacher education program. One of the key walking points identified in the literature is professional experience (Patton, 2012). It is this area of concern that provides the starting point for developing partnerships with schools to provide supportive spaces for retaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and engaging them with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Teachers and non-indigenous teachers to provide this support. The University of the Sunshine Coast School of Education through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education committee and connection with community Elders and students is seeking to develop a sustainable partnerships between the University of the Sunshine Coast and Schools to support student professional experience placements. The partnership will support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander initial teacher education students and their Indigenous and non-indigenous mentors to explore: identity, the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and support staff in schools and the community and ways to support initial teacher education students on placement. The aim of the development of this partnership is the recruitment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers within the Australian workforce in partnership with the community (Burton, 2012). This work has been funded by the More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative [MATSITI] based at the University of South Australia under the leadership of Professor Peter Buckskin. The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the question: How can universities in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities develop sustainable partnerships that provide culturally safe work placements for students as part of their university studies? The team will share their experience of the work undertaken to date on the project in the context of teacher education. All members of the roundtable will be invited to share their experience and suggestions about their experience of this issue including practice suggestions for the development of sustainable culturally safe student placement experiences.

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