Remote Australia Online

Boarding schools for remote secondary Aboriginal learners in the Northern Territory: Smooth transition or rough ride?

The Remote Education Systems (RES) project within the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) has, over the last four years, gathered and analysed qualitative data directly from over 230 remote education stakeholders and from more than 700 others through surveys. The research was designed to answer four questions: (1) What is education for in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?; (2) What defines ‘successful’ educational outcomes from the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; (3) How does teaching need to change in order to achieve ‘success’ as defined by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; and (4) What would an effective education system in remote Australia look like? Based on this data, the paper reveals how perceptions differ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from remote communities compared with people who come from elsewhere. The analysis points to the need for some alternative indicators of ‘success’ to match the aspirations of local people living in remote communities. It also points to the need for school and system responses that resonate with community expectations of education, and to develop narratives of aspiration and success alongside community views.

A lot of research in Australian schools, has focused on the important role that teachers play in educating students. Conversely, in the discourse about remote schools for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, the quality of teaching and teachers is often blamed for the relatively low academic outcomes students in remote community schools achieve. The remote teaching workforce is relatively young, inexperienced and staff turnover is relatively high. But what about the role that ancillary staff play in remote schools? Research from the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation’s Remote Education Systems (RES) project shows that ancillary staff including but not only assistant teachers (‘non-teaching staff’ on the My School website) play a vital role in facilitating children’s learning and mediating community and local cultural knowledge to teachers. The research also shows that they also act as a conduit for knowledge from the mainly non-local teachers to parents and the broader community. Beyond this, quantitative analysis of data from very remote schools with more than 80 per cent Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students suggests that higher non-teacher to teacher ratios are associated with higher levels of attendance. Further, the analysis shows that higher proportions of non-teaching staff are associated with higher NAPLAN reading and numeracy scores, particularly for years 3 and 5. The paper offers some explanations for why this may be the case. Based on qualitative findings from the RES project it also suggests some workforce development responses that could further enhance a broader range of outcomes (beyond NAPLAN scores) for very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The education system, as experienced by remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia, presents considerable challenges. While 'the system' continues to apply considerable resources to remote schools, outcomes have not, for the most part, improved. Low enrolments and attendance are indicative of a mismatch between the real needs of community education and the resources needed to support it. It could be argued that rather than focusing on learning, the emphasis is on providing an education product that mirrors the classrooms of mainstream Australia, perhaps with the desks moved around to suit the remote context. There may be a tendency to place the blame for the system's failure on communities (for example by applying sanctions for non-attendance) without questioning what the real problem is. The Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) in its Remote Education Systems (RES) project is trying to understand why this might be and is also attempting to identify local, community driven solutions to the 'problem' of remote education. The RES project is in the process of building its research program across five remote sites in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. As the project begins, the researchers involved have begun to consider what the assumptions behind the 'system' in its current form(s), are. The paper begins with an outline of the context of remote education in Australia within a rapidly changing global environment. However, the purpose of the paper is to outline many of the assumptions built into remote education and to question their validity before suggesting some alternatives to these assumptions. The authors go on to imagine a different education system in remote communities where 'success' is measured and achieved in terms of the community's imagined future for its children and young people. There are of course risks associated with trying new things, but ultimately given the apparent failure of the remote education system-measured by its own indicators of success-the authors ask' 'do we really need those desks?'.

The latest national results for the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) were released in December 2016 amid gloomy international comparisons and media messages that nothing has changed. Each year the story is more or less the same. Among the pessimistic reports and analyses, the failures of remote schooling are lamented even more. Teachers are blamed, parents are accused of not being interested in their children's education and the tests themselves are blamed for their inappropriateness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. There is however, a different story. The story I tell in this paper uses NAPLAN data from the nine reports released since 2008. It shows that for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from very remote Australia, overall trends are positive. My analysis shows, based on trends across all NAPLAN test domains, that the proportion of students from very remote Northern Territory achieving the national minimum standard has increased by 20 per cent since 2008. Nationally, the trend is similar, with an increase of 16 per cent. The paper argues against a short term, year by year review of NAPLAN results, instead suggesting a long term view of change, with less of a concern about 'gaps' between non-Indigenous and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academic performance and more of a concern about change over time.

The term ‘red dirt thinking’ was coined by researchers who were part of the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation’s (CRC-REP) Remote Education Systems (RES) project. The researchers, who were particularly interested in remote schools asked: “What would education look like if it was grounded in the red dirt context of remote parts of Australia?”. Red dirt is a powerful metaphor that reflects the landscapes of most parts of remote Australia and captures something about the wide open possibilities of thinking from within the places where many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live. Red dirt thinking: challenges the assumptions that underpin system thinking as it is often applied to remote Australia; encourages those who live in remote Australia to have a voice and be heard; and it demands respectful engagement between non-Indigenous and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, such that local ways of being, knowing, believing and valuing are intrinsically valued. Red dirt thinking challenges generalised notions of deficit and disadvantage while supporting strengths and aspirations of those who live in red dirt communities. How might red dirt thinking be applied to adult learning in the Northern Territory? In the first instance, it is important to understand where current strategic policy comes from. What philosophical and theoretical bases do policies designed to facilitate adult learning (including training) have? How well do they work (or not work)? What does aspiration and success look like from and adult learning or vocational training perspective in remote communities? How would systems measure these and what outcomes would we expect if we applied red dirt thinking to adult learning? What structures would be required to facilitate these contextually responsive outcomes? There are lots of questions in this, but the clues to answers to these questions are already available as we look back at the successes and failures of policies and interventions from the past. Further, as we take time hear the voices of remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult learning stakeholders, the answers will no doubt become very clear, as they were for the RES project

According to national reports on student outcomes, remoteness influences students’ ability to succeed at school. That is, the more remote students are, the more likely they will not succeed. While this holds true for the entire population, it is more noticeable for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Many education stakeholders have conspired for a long time to improve remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student outcomes. The results of these attempts is a set of strategies, programs and interventions that are designed to inspire students to lift their aspirations. It would seem, based on the publicly available data, that despite the effort applied, little has changed in remote community schools over the last seven years. One reason for this, according to data from the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation’s Remote Education Systems (RES) project, is that the strength of local views about what an education should be for, may have been underestimated or not understood by remote education strategy designers. Similarly, how students are inspired in remote community schools may not have been taken into account. Drawing on four years of RES research, this paper will firstly unpack what aspiration and inspiration look like from remote community perspectives. Secondly it will consider the impact of system-wide strategies on remote communities. Finally, the paper will consider how repositioning education in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, not as an issue of geographic remoteness, but as one of cultural distance, might help better shape a system-wide response in the future.

FAST (Families And Schools Together) is an eight-week, early intervention/prevention program, designed to strengthen family functioning and so build protective factors in children. The program targets the whole family and participation is strictly voluntary. It is conducted in the context of a local school. The core of the program involves eight weekly multi-family meetings usually held in the school during which positive interactional experiences for families are structured and facilitated by a collaborative leadership team. The collaborative team consists of at least four members: a parent partner, a school partner, a community-based agency partner, and a community-based partner. A two day FAST training program for team members allows for checking of activities against local cultural practices, and for planning the first night’s program. The training is beneficial to the team members, as it sets them up for the eight week implementation of the program. Once they have completed the eight week process and have participated in evaluation, team members receive certification and accreditation as FAST team members. Once the team experiences a successful program, the confidence of the team members is raised. In particular, parent partners are brought to a level where they gain an interest to pursue further endeavours. In 2010, FAST conducted its first program in Tasmania. Negotiations began with a number of schools in the Burnie area early in the year (and it was originally considered that the program could run in more than one school) but ultimately negotiations with Havenview Primary School were successful. The program commenced in October and was completed in November. Nine families participated in the program and all completed the program. Team training was carried out on two occasions through the year. A number of team members who completed the first training were not able to continue in the role. Therefore a second session was arranged to allow for a full complement of trained team members. The team consisted of two parent partners, two representatives from Centacare, a teacher from Havenview Primary School, a representative from the Salvation Army (who auspiced the program) and a representative from Anglicare Tasmania plus the coordinator, who was also employed by The Salvation Army. This report summarises the findings of an evaluation of FAST at the Havenview site, based on team member perspectives. The evaluation was built around qualitative methodologies and was designed to be formative and developmental. The intention is to use the findings to improve practice for future iterations of the program. It is a site-specific evaluation and does not attempt to draw conclusions beyond its immediate geographical context

This paper explores the meaning of effectiveness as it relates to vocational educationand training outcomes. The findings presented are based on research being conducted into theways that education and training can be applied to tropical savanna communities for better regional planning and management. The paper explores some of the issues related to definitionsof effective training delivery before presenting findings from the research, with a particular focus on the tourism/hospitality industry. It is suggested that three foundational building blocksshould be understood before aspects of training delivery are considered in order to makeeducation and training effective: the identification of a need for training; the presence of amotivator for training; and the presence of enablers to resource training. It is argued that skillsshortages in themselves are not sufficient to ensure that training programs will be effective.

Money, culture and financial wellbeing in remote Indigenous Australia

This presentation reports the evolvement of Sharing Place, Learning Together (SPLT), an integrated, inquiry-based education project involving an interdisciplinary team at the University of Melbourne and Maningrida College, a remote community school in north-east Arnhem Land. The project commenced in 2010 with funding from an anonymous donation to support Indigenous health-related activity. It collaborates across the faculties of medicine and education, recognising education as a critical social health and wellbeing determinant. The SPLT project aims to support the development of multimodal scientific and literacy skills of remote Aboriginal students through knowledge exchange, and to deepen both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal student understanding of Australia’s biodiversity and natural resource management. This participatory, school based project aligns with Maningrida College’s operational plan that seeks to increase school attendance and halve the gap in reading and writing achievement for Indigenous students within a decade. Central to the fulfilment of this plan is the College’s Learning on Country program grounded in place-based pedagogy where learning and communication are structured around what is most meaningful to the students – their places, their culture, their experiences (Gruenewald, 2003). The SPLT project is premised on learning being two ways, a meeting of Indigenous and Western knowledge and communicative capacities. Consideration of student engagement levels with multimodal practices, and their capacity to produce their own creative literacies (Kral, 2009) shaped interventions planned by the UoM team with the school community. The project built on the ‘eight ways’ model of Aboriginal learning developed by DET staff, James Cook University’s School of Indigenous Studies and the Western New South Wales Regional Aboriginal Education Team. This model informed holistic, relationally responsive practices to working with the community that were mindful of people, land, culture, language, roles, responsibilities, spirit and the relationships between them. This presentation details the capacity and partnership building between the UoM Team and the Maningrida College Community over the project’s duration (2010-2013). The planned learning experiences that emerged from ‘on country’ visits are described, including a pocket book series (First Aid, Catch ‘n’ Cook, Animal Tracks and Bush Tucker), a student website and a student visit to Melbourne focusing on science-based activities. The presentation concludes with a discussion of how the project has embraced a pedagogy of responsibility (Martusewicz & Edmundson, 2005) engaging with questions of diversity, democracy and sustainability, which has shaped the team’s current research focus on partnership formation.

Challenging current understandings about the introduction of gambling to remote Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia

This presentation explores issues related to early childhood workforce development in remote Indigenous services in the NT. Issues include the importance of developing inclusive concepts of quality and mutual mentoring processes for managing power relations and cultivating intercultural understanding amongst Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff in remote services. Each of these issues impacts significantly on service sustainability, quality, community use and development. Early childhood services in remote Indigenous communities are receiving significant attention under the impetus created by new government initiatives designed to ensure high quality for young children's development and care. One of these includes a requirement to employ 4-year university trained early childhood teachers in early childhood services serving 4 year olds. Recruiting qualified staff in remote schools is difficult, let alone finding such staff for children's services where conditions of employment are far less appealing. When recruits can be found, they usually enter the service as the director and/or mentor to local staff. As non-Indigenous staff members, these individuals are likely to find themselves in a profoundly unfamiliar situation where their cultural values, views and expertise are not necessarily accepted or understood. Given the many other challenges of living remotely, it is not surprising that many of these recruits do not last. What is often not recognised is that there already exists a strong and remarkably tenacious local Indigenous early childhood workforce in many remote communities. However, with a few exceptions, they hold no formal qualifications in early childhood. Support for negotiating cultural expectations around what quality means and what qualifications a person must possess to ensure quality, from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, may be the key to staff retention and quality service development. The consequences of frequent staff turnover include a lack of continuity in the direction and focus of the service, fluctuations in the levels of quality and significant variation in the degree to which the families will use the service, depending on their confidence, trust and belief that the service is being run properly and in the best interests of their children. In order to develop a sustainable local workforce and increase service quality, it is critical that workforce issues are addressed appropriately. The starting point is a better understanding of the intercultural dynamics that operate in early childhood workforce development in remote NT.

The presentation aims to generate new understandings for effective teacher education around the notion of ‘building belonging' of non-Indigenous teachers to their professional identities in remote Indigenous schools and communities in Australia. Increasing mobility of teachers, internationalisation polices in higher education and a globalised knowledge economy is shaping teacher education courses in Australia in distinctive ways. These trends translate into opportunities for pre-service teachers to undertake professional learning placements beyond their local community in overseas and interstate locations. The research is located in the experiences of non-Indigenous pre-service teachers (PSTs) who undertook a professional learning placement in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory in 2012. Using understandings of place based pedagogies and professional identities, this paper explores the knowledge, skills and experiences the PST take from this professional learning placement. The experience provided PST with opportunities to disrupt and transform their understandings of history, culture, race, curriculum and knowledge that were highly valued by the PST as they build belonging to the teacher profession.

In Australia, Government agencies and not-for-profit organisations have had long involvement in the funding and provision of community disability services. Significant change has occurred over the past decade in the way funds are expended with marketplace mechanisms becoming increasingly prevalent. In 2013, a new national policy, the National Disability Insurance Scheme ( NDIS) was introduced. Under the new policy, people with a disability who may the most complex needs, such as Indigenous children living in rural and remote areas may be disadvantaged if a market is not created that encourages organisations to offer services to meet their needs. This project invesitgates the impact of the new funding model on levels of awareness, access and ultilisation, and issues experienced by families of Indigenous children with disabilities in rural and remote areas. The following research questions guided the study: How do Indigenous families conceptualise disabiliites in different communities and cultures? Do barriers exist to the utilisation of specialist services ? What is the preferred model of services? How can other ways of knowing and community values such as Aboriginal extended family relationships be incorporated into service delivery? The research participants were Indigenous families with children with disabilities in rural and remote areas of New South Wales and Queensland. The research methodology was qualitative and consisted of interviews and focus groups with Indigenous participants . The data will provide authentic rich information and lead to the development of culturally relevant protocols, strategies and resources for services for Indigenous families.

The Remote Education Systems project within the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation has gathered and analysed qualitative data directly from over 230 remote education stakeholders and from more than 700 others through surveys over the last four years. Four research questions guided the study: 1) What is education for in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?; 2) What defines ‘successful’ educational outcomes from the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; 3) How should teaching and learning look to achieve ‘success’ as defined by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; and 4) What would an effective education system in remote Australia look like? This paper reports findings that identify teacher qualities important from the perspective of remote community members and local teaching staff. Dominant themes have that emerged include community relationships, support for home language and culture, cultural safety, safety and well-being, and English as a second language pedagogy. The analysis relates these themes to system responses for remote education contexts and the mechanisms for such responses. These include policy for teacher standards, recruitment, orientation and in-servicing at level of the teacher, and school-wide practice, and resourcing at the level of schools. The paper explores the notion of a quality teacher for the remote context. It proposes policy and practice that allow systems to meet these aspirations. A key means is through recognition of remote education as a specialist area of teaching and the provision of targeted professional learning, at pre-service and induction, and in on-going learning. The second is through ways that schools respond to aspirations on the ground through the active involvement of community members in education settings.

Current national discourse presents a consensus on the importance of recognising, celebrating and maintaining Australia’s Indigenous languages as a national agenda (Australian Government, 2013), yet Indigenous languages do not enjoy a clear role in education policy (Disbray, 2015; Truscott & Malcolm, 2010). On the ground, in Northern Territory remote locations, where traditional and contemporary Indigenous languages are widely spoken, educators and community members work to develop the bilingual resources of young people in the spaces that remain, spaces or opportunities described in this paper as ‘affordances’ (Aronin & Singleton, 2012). This paper looks at language and culture learning ‘affordances’ which take place in in and out of school learning settings. In a handful of schools, language and culture teaching and learning takes place through bilingual education programs, as developed in the 1970’s. In others, Indigenous language and Culture (ILC) programs operate, with one or more classes within a school. However, in classrooms, in interactions between students and Indigenous teachers, speakers draw on their linguistic repertoires in emergent ways, in practices termed translanguaging in the ethnographic education literature (García & Wei, 2014), providing a rich affordance for language use and learning. Finally, country visits and cultural events, trips with local Ranger groups and other partnerships provide collaborations for teaching and learning. The burgeoning domains of digital technology, cultural and land management embrace and enhance local knowledge, and intergenerational learning opportunities. Such projects are increasingly linking with schools, through learning on country and cultural heritage and language projects. Here, educators and community members are creating and taking up spaces that allow innovative language and cultural teaching and learning. This paper analyses these bottom-up responses to policy (Canagarajah, 2005; McCarty, 2011; Schiffman, 2006; Shohamy, 2006) in a framework drawn from a theory of affordances (Aronin & Singleton, 2012) to explore and propose means to build on new approaches and partnerships for multilingual learning in remote Indigenous contexts.

Background: Indigenous Australians suffer a disproportionate burden of end stage kidney disease (ESKD) but are significantly less likely to receive a transplant. This study explores Indigenous ESKD patients’ views on transplantation as a treatment option. Methods: The Improving Access to Kidney Transplants (IMPAKT) research program investigated barriers to kidney transplantation for Indigenous Australians. An interview study, conducted in 2005–2006, elicited illness experience narratives from 146 Indigenous patients, including views on transplant. Interviews were conducted at 26 sites that collectively treat the majority of Indigenous ESKD patients. Key themes were identified via team consensus meetings, providing a flexible framework and focus for continued coding. Results: Four inter-related themes were identified in patient commentary: a very high level (90% of respondents) of positive interest in transplantation; patients experienced a range of communication difficulties and felt uninformed about transplant; family involvement in decision-making was constrained by inadequate information; and patients needed to negotiate cultural and social sensitivities around transplantation. Conclusions: Indigenous ESKD patients demonstrated an intense interest in transplantation preferring deceased over living kidney donation. Patients believe transplant is the path most likely to support the re-establishment of their ‘normal’ family life. Patients described themselves as poorly informed; most had only a rudimentary knowledge of the notion of transplant but no understanding of eligibility criteria, the transplant procedure and associated risks. Patients experienced multiple communication barriers that - taken together - undermine their engagement in treatment decision-making. Families and communities are disempowered because they also lack information to reach a shared understanding of transplantation. Cultural sensitivities associated with transplantation were described but these did not appear to constrain patients in making choices about their own health. Transplant units and local treatment providers should collaborate to develop user-friendly, culturally informed and region-specific patient education programs. Quality improvement cycles should underpin the development of national guidelines for patient education. Noting Indigenous patients’ intense interest in transplantation, and nephrologists’ concerns regarding poor transplant outcomes, research should prioritise exploring the predictors of transplant outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

In the current Australian higher education context, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students continue to be significantly under-represented (Behrendt, Larkin, Griew & Kelly, 2012; Pechenkina, 2015). They are particularly and seriously under-represented in business education compared to other disciplines, and compared to non-Indigenous students. Little research has been undertaken on encouraging the study of business subjects to improve the uptake of higher education in business courses and consequential careers in business (Dang, Vitartas, Ambrose & Millar, 2016). An understanding of why the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not choose to study business at tertiary level is fundamental to improving the status quo.Against this backdrop, this paper presents the findings from a systematic review of the literature to identify key barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation and engagement in business education. The review reveals that the barriers range from financial issues, lack of university readiness to issues involving living in remote communities. Deep seated barriers to participation and engagement at university are related to cultural issues in the hidden curriculum dominated by Western practices and knowledge systems, a lack of cultural safety in higher education institutions and complex issues involving educational pathways. With regard to business education, a discipline with seriously low participation by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, further barriers specific to business as a profession and business as an academic discipline increase the burden. Identifying these barriers helped to create a framework of interrelated elements shaping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation and engagement in business education. These interrelated elements include geographic and demographic factors, financial and economic factors, curricular and pedagogical factors, sociocultural factors, and socio-political historical factors. The framework graphically depicts areas required for policy consideration and to guide further research in the area.The paper then discusses the major current strategies of Australian educational institutions to increase participation and engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Drawing on the review of the barriers and current strategies, the paper concludes with recommendations for higher education institutional policy to further improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation and engagement in business studies.

For early career teachers, the first months of teaching is a time of enormous excitement and also high anxiety. These early teaching experiences are critical as they influence early career teachers professional efficacy, job satisfaction, career length and future teaching quality (Day & Gu, 2010). Exploring ways to support and retain high quality graduates continues to be an ongoing concern for the Australian teaching profession in general, and particularly for the rural and remote schools that are often their first places of employment. Recent research indicates that early career teachers require ongoing support as they develop confidence in their own professional practice (Crosswell & Beutel, 2013) but more importantly, as they negotiate their emerging teacher identities (Morrison, 2012). This paper outlines the design of an innovative project that is exploring the professional identity formation and resilience of early career teachers. These teachers have been part of a targeted pre-service program to prepare them for rural and remote teaching. A previous paper reported on how QUT and Education Queensland have worked together with a cohort of pre-service teachers to illuminate challenges associated with early career teaching in rural and remote settings and better prepare them for it (see Willis et. al, 2012). This project has evolved to include research aimed at capturing the unfolding and formative experiences of these teachers by asking: What social and individual practices enhance early career teacher resilience and identity formation in rural and remote settings? The project called Becoming Colleagues honours the voices and experiences of early career teachers. From their first week of teaching in 2013 we have been gathering the perspectives and listening to the stories of seven beginning teachers. Five of these teachers have also been involved as co-researchers throughout research design and implementation. This paper will give an overview of the project purpose, design and progress and report on the emerging findings in relation to the negotiation of emerging teacher identify and resilience. Implications of this project include enhanced understandings of what individual and contextual factors promote early career teacher resilience and identity formation that is productive and enduring. These outcomes will contribute to how we prepare future pre-service teachers, how the profession builds capacity in rural and remote school districts and across the workforce generally.

The Northern Territory Government established an Office or Aboriginal Affairs in 2015, tasked with fostering economic development and job opportunities for Aboriginal communities. The Office of Aboriginal Affairs (OAA) guides and coordinates Aboriginal affairs through innovative policy development and supports Aboriginal Territorians to participate in the economy, while maintaining their links to their lands, language and culture. The OAA provides an integrated and coordinated approach to service delivery, program and policy development and supports Aboriginal Territorians to participate in the economy, while maintaining their links to their lands, language and culture. The OAA provides an integrated and coordinated approach to service delivery, program and policy development. This is in partnership with Aboriginal people, businesses, government and non-government organisations. The key priorities for the OAA include: - implementation of a Northern Territory Aboriginal Affairs Strategy - promoting the Remote Contracting Policy - managing a Grants Program, the Remote Aboriginal Economic Development Fund - managing the First Circles Engagement Group, made up of 26 Indigenous community representatives Chief Executive Mike Chiodo will present on the OAA and their key policy, the NT Aboriginal Affairs Strategy and outline the cross-government approach, targets, challenges and successes to date.

High prevalence of preventable chronic and infectious diseases in the Indigenous population is a major public health concern. Existing research has rarely examined the role of built environmental factors in relation to remote Indigenous health. This study engaged stakeholders to examine their perceptions of built environmental factors in relation to the development of chronic and infectious diseases in remote Northern Territory communities. Built environmental indicators (n=1,120) were consolidated from publicly available community and regional planning documents. Representatives from the Indigenous and non-Indigenous public and environmental health workforce were engaged to further consolidate, sort and rate a final set of indicators (n=84) based on their experiences working in remote communities. The indicators and perceived importance ratings were displayed using concept maps, outlining 9 built environmental domains. ‘Facilities for health/safety’ and ‘essential services’ were the highest ranked domains in mean importance ratings for both chronic and infectious disease. Within these domains, adequate housing, housing infrastructure maintenance, water supply, storm water and drainage system, access to health services, reliable sewerage system and power infrastructure were identified as the most important contributors to the development of these diseases. These results can inform public health planning efforts to improve living conditions in remote Indigenous communities.

Engagement keynote address: A proven methodology to solicit the views of people living in remote Australia

Panel presentation: Evidence and wellbeing (the Interplay Wellbeing Framework: Building the evidence on pathways to wellbeing with community indicators from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote Australia)

One of the key challenges for education in Northern Australia is attracting and recruiting teachers who can respond to the challenges of the region at the start of their careers through a pre-service professional experience in the region. For pre-service teacher education students in regional locations such as the Northern Territory these challenges include coping with the distance and isolation, the diverse and profound learning needs of students and the dynamic schooling environments with high staff and student turnover. In response to these challenges there are initiatives to improve teacher quality and promote remote and regional areas as options for study to employment pathways. These initiatives have to be able to provide adequate mentoring and support to students in such a challenging environment and respond to newly developed professional standards. This paper describes and discusses the Teaching Schools Partnership, developed in 2006, involving teacher employing authorities in the Northern Territory and Charles Darwin University to provide professional experience. Utilising Wenger and Lave's notion of 'Communities of Practice' as a theoretical framework this paper analyses the challenges of offering professional experience in a regional setting in a pre-service teacher education partnership. The partnership has in particular, mutual engagement and joint enterprise of both parties. The paper will explore the following questions. · What benefits do Teaching Schools bring to the partners? · How is Teaching Schools to be sustained in the context of change? · What features of the communities of practice are evident in Teaching Schools and how do they promote professional experience in remote northern Australia? · How do participating schools and their teaching staff benefit from being a partner in Teaching Schools? In answering these questions, the paper briefly describe the efforts of the partnership that looks beyond the conventional constraints of university and school-based placements requirements and explore what has worked to develop effective and sustainable practices. The paper will outline the current theoretical and conceptual principles and the framework of the Teaching Schools Partnership and describe practices that have made this collaborative successful between communities, schools and universities. Close examination of this partnership reveals a current need to extend the present strategic outlook and potentially engage at a broader scale with increased focus on community.