Spot the Aboriginal teacher: Increasing the numbers and planning for the future!
Dr Tracy Woodroffe, Warumungu Luritja woman, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University; 2024 ACSES First Nations Fellow
There are currently very few Aboriginal teachers in Australia. In the 2016 census statistics, a little over 2% of fully qualified and registered teachers in Australia were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
The low number of Aboriginal school teachers is a critical issue in the Northern Territory (NT) because, according to 2022 ABS statistics, the NT had the highest percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at 39.4%. Disturbingly, many Aboriginal students are reported to achieve below expected standards. The NT’s NAPLAN performance has been described as the worst in Australia, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students performing lower than their non- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peers. There is an obvious cultural disparity aspect to academic achievement in our Australian education system.
Evidence from the evaluation of the More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI) suggests that increasing the number of Aboriginal teachers would improve educational success for Aboriginal students. More Aboriginal teachers are needed. There are some existing programs such as Remote Aboriginal Teacher Education(RATE), which has had success in providing additional training for assistant teachers in the NT, and the Federal Government’s current ‘Be That Teacher’ campaign. But, since the conclusion of the MATSITI program in 2016, there has not been a similar national funded initiative specifically targeting an increase of Aboriginal teachers. A different approach is required to achieve a greater impact on increasing Aboriginal teacher numbers.
My 2024 ACSES First Nations Fellowship has provided the opportunity to investigate
1. how to promote teaching as a career of choice to Aboriginal people, and
2. how to create the promotional material embedded with Aboriginal senior secondary student and teacher perspectives to better target an Aboriginal audience and inspire more Aboriginal people to become teachers.
Research was conducted with the approval of the NT Department of Education, which also supported the production of promotional resources. Government public schools were targeted but there was also representation from Catholic and Independent schools.
The results have been both clear and puzzling at the same time. It was clear from both students and teachers that more information about potential careers and pathways was needed, but that this should happen face-to-face with Aboriginal teacher role models talking about what it was like for them to study teaching and what they have experienced as teachers working in schools.
Several dilemmas now present themselves.
How can there be an availability of Aboriginal teacher role models to promote teaching face-to-face when there are so few Aboriginal teachers in the first place? And how will the career advisors in schools know that Aboriginal students would like for someone to have a conversation with them and ask them if they are interested in teaching?
Interestingly, the information that senior secondary students seem to need is about the intricacies of learning to be a teacher. The main reason for not wanting to be a teacher, reported by Aboriginal senior secondary students, was that they did not want to put up with negative student behaviour. Therefore, career advice and information need to incorporate what pre-service teachers learn and practice, such as behaviour management. The fact that this point rated so highly makes you wonder about student’s own experience of schooling and how negative student behaviour could be such a deterrent and impact future life choices. In responses provided by Aboriginal teachers, it was evident that their positive experience of schooling was very important in making the decision to be a teacher.
The Fellowship project is in the final stages. Promotional materials are being created, including video clips of Aboriginal teachers talking about their experience of being a teacher. A careers booklet in the form of a ‘conversation starter’ is being produced. Reporting and a journal publication will include recommendations for stakeholders. How to share these resources and who to share them with will be considered for the greatest impact.
The translation of the findings has been supported by the Northern Institute HEPPP Advisory Group. More information is also available on the project First Nations Success website.
Future research could evaluate the long-term impact of the promotional resources created.
Dr Tracy Woodroffe, Warumungu Luritja woman; 2024 ACSES First Nations Fellow; Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University.