Researchers from the UNE School of Education and Oorala Centre invite our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and ex-students to complete a survey online. The survey is designed to help explore how UNE’s School of Education can better serve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, by allowing staff and fellow students to understand their stories. This project is funded by the Australian Government through the “More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI)”.

“UNE’s School of Education know we can do more to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers, who are underrepresented in the Australian teacher workforce,” said Dr Tiffany Jones, who is part of the research team.

“But we are not clear on what strategies would be most appropriate to supporting our own particular students.  We are asking our students and previous students, even those who studied for a little while but had to stop for various reasons, to help us make this difference”.

The team is committed to positive representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to uncovering any barriers or successful strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ completion of education degrees at UNE. Local Aboriginal elder Colin Ahoy has supported the project and provides a Welcome to Country on the survey website, which is found here: http://lih.une.edu.au/atsi/