Teachers, Principals, community leaders, Indigenous education innovators and representatives of State Departments of Education were invited to the Roundtable.
There were representatives from New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
Participants were asked to think about programs and approaches that they thought had been successful in addressing attendance and engagement issues in remote Indigenous communities and what governments, communities and schools could do to support these efforts.
The following pages will give some information on the background and experience of the people who attended the Roundtable.
Christine has lived and worked in Mimili Community since 2003, beginning her career teaching a middle years class of 18 students. The following year her role changed to Coordinator in Maths and Literacy, supporting all staff with Professional Learning, modelling and observing lessons in classes and having the responsibility of student learning and assessment. In 2008 she become Principal a position she held for three years before having the position extended for another three year term in 2010.
During her teaching time in Mimili she has seen a huge change in the way education is perceived by children and the community. In her new role she has been able to build a high quality teaching and learning team, comprising of 23 staff. They have been able to implement a whole community approach to attendance for all students.
A major achievement of the school has been the retention of secondary students. When beginning in 2003 they had six secondary students at school. In 2010, 36 of the 68 students at school, were secondary. They are at the beginning of a long journey of improvement for our children here in Mimili and find this challenge very exciting.
Tony Considine is currently General Manager Pathways with The Northern Territory Department of Education. Tony has had extensive involvement in Indigenous Education working in sites as diverse as Palm Island, Cooktown and the Torres Strait. Over the last 10 years, he was the Principal of Thursday Island High School and later the Director of Taminmin College in the Darwin region before joining the DET corporate team. Tony has a particular interest in devolving partnerships between industry and schools that lead to real jobs.
Tony Dreise (pronounced 'drice) is a PhD Scholar at the Australian National University and an independent Indigenous policy and education consultant. He is currently working with philanthropic groups to study their impact in Indigenous education and training in Australia. Tony descends from the Kamilaroi (Guum-il-roy) people of north-west New South Wales and was born and raised in St George, a small town in south-west Queensland.
He has a Bachelor of Teaching degree and was one of the inaugural graduates of the Executive Masters program of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. Over the course of almost 20 years, he has served in a number of high level education and public policy positions including:
Tony currently sits on the Board of Adult Learning Australia and is a Council Member of the National VET Equity Advisory Council. Until recently, he was the President of the Northern Rivers Social Development Council and the Deputy Chair of the Northern Rivers Board of Regional Development Australia.
Darrell ran his own Building/Construction Company for 13 years in Tasmania. He went to university as a mature age student to gain a degree in education and taught in various schools in Tasmania for 10 years. He played a key role in the development of Vocational Training Programs for secondary students throughout Tasmania.
He taught at Yuendumu CEC and become acting Principal there in 2007. In 2008 he was appointed Principal of Ntaria School (Hermannsberg). Ntaria had 112 students enrolled in 2007/08 with, on average, 55% attendance. With community support and a committed staff, Ntaria School grew its enrolment to over 200 students and lifted its attendance figures to 80% plus during 2009/10. Ntaria School was awarded the Remote school of the year in 2009 for the Northern Territory and was also recognised with a National Dare To Lead Award by the then Federal Minister for Education Julia Gillard.
In 2011 he was appointed to the newly created Warlpiri College Directors position which has responsibility for Yuendumu, Larjamanu, Nyirripi and Willowra. The concept of this college model is being trialled in 3 remote locations and will be rolled out in other areas as time goes on.
His role is specifically one of community and industry engagement, with a focus on the early years 0-3yr, parenting, school readiness and the secondary pathway to employment for 15yrs plus.
Marmingee has been involved in education since 1975 when she started work as a teachers aide in Fitzroy Valley. After working here for a number of years she went back to study and completed a diploma in education and for many years was a teacher at Fitzroy Valley.
She also worked in the TAFE sector for over 13 years as the Aboriginal Education Development Officer and worked in communities to engage Aboriginal people in training opportunities. She has also completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Community Management and Development. She worked for the Karrayili Education Centre as a lecturer teaching older Aboriginal people to speak English. She was involved in working with the Western Australian State government on Education Policy and the development of 21 goals.
She is currently involved in the 'Little Ones foetal alcohol research project and is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Education, Employment and Training in the Fitzroy Valley.
In 2010 Fitzroy Valley High School appointed Marmingee as the Aboriginal Education Consultant to assist the school in the further development of School/community partnerships. Ms Hand is also the Aboriginal Languages coordinator for the school. She is currently on remote teaching service leave.
Bryan has been an educator for the past 36 years having been a Principal in three different States/Territories - SA, Qld and NT, and across all sectors of Education - Special Education, Primary and Secondary.
His current appointment, Shepherdson College, in the community of Galiwinku, is on Elcho Island situated 560km North East of Darwin and 170km North West of Nhulunbuy. Galiwinku has a population of around 2200 people with a demographic of 1134 young people below the age of 15 and 110 babies being born a year. Shepherdson College has an enrolment of around 560 students in the Hub School and another 100 in the surrounding Homeland centres on the Island and Mainland. However, over a 12 month period their total enrolment figure will reach about 960 students, given that 200 -300 of these enrolments will not be living on the Island at any one time.
During 2011, Shepherdson College was actually officially given "College" status, making it one of two single school Colleges in NT. The reason being it now caters for student 0-100 given the range of programs it facilitates across all age groups.
His role as College Director has a dual focus on being the "Principal" of the school re management and leadership as well the "Director" engaging with the community, heads of agencies and industry re parenting for healthy children, school engagement and readiness, pathways to employment for Secondary students and re-engaging adult learners in education.
Gerard Neesham is the Chief Executive Officer of the Clontarf Foundation and has been instrumental in the coordination and sustainability of the program. After graduating from CBC Fremantle, Neesham qualified as a teacher in 1974 and worked as a teacher for 9 years which included two years at Clontarf Aboriginal College. However, his first love was sport, in particular water polo and later football. He was determined to represent Australia at the Olympic games but was 'last man cut from the 1976 National squad.
Gerard then concentrated on Australian Rules football, in both the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) and the Victorian Football League (VFL). He then displayed his leadership skills as coach of the Claremont Football team in the WAFL and as the inaugural coach of the Fremantle Dockers in the national competition. Through these coaching roles, Gerard established a connection with young Aboriginal footballers and became aware of the cycle of disadvantage and disengagement confronting many Indigenous youth. Gerard developed a vision of using football to encourage young Indigenous students to re-engage with education.
He recognised that the football environment was one in which Aboriginal people had traditionally excelled. This clearly had an impact upon the self-esteem and self-concept of the individual players, their families and the wider Aboriginal community.
The Clontarf Foundation was established in 2000. The program goes well beyond just football training and school attendance. It teaches young Indigenous men good sportsmanship and healthy lifestyle practices, and helps students to find employment or further education. The Clontarf Foundation exists to improve the education, discipline, self esteem, life skills and employment prospects of young Aboriginal men and by doing so, equip them to participate more meaningfully in society.
Chris is now the Executive Director of the Stronger Smarter Institute which is making an impact in Indigenous Education through engagement with principals, teachers, community leaders and Government.
Chris Sarra is from Bundaberg in Queensland. The youngest of 10 children, Chris experienced first-hand many of the issues faced by Indigenous students throughout their schooling.
In the late 1990's Chris took on the challenges of Indigenous education as the Principal of Cherbourg State School in South East Queensland. Through strong leadership and clear vision he facilitated many changes at the school which saw increasing enthusiasm for student learning through dramatically improved school attendance and increased community involvement in education.
In his time as principal of Cherbourg State School unexplained absences were reduced by 94% within 18 months and real attendance at school improved from 62% in 1998 to 94 % in 2004.
Under Chris' leadership the school became nationally acclaimed for its pursuit of the Strong and Smart philosophy, espousing a strong and positive sense of what it means to be Aboriginal in today's Australian society and that Indigenous students can achieve outcomes comparable to other students.
Tracey Simpson MECh, BA Dip. Ed (EC) is the Director Community Partnerships and Early Years, Western NSW Region, Department of Education and Communities. Tracey is co-leader of the Prior-to-school to Year 8 and Remote Service Delivery portfolios. Tracey works closely with the schools and communities at Walgett and Wilcannia bringing together relationships, practice, theory and management. She is also the co-chair of the Murdi Paaki Regional Engagement Education, Training Employment and Economic Development sub-group which focuses on 16 western NSW Aboriginal communities including Walgett and Wilcannia.
Tracey has over 30 years experience in the education field. She was a Senior Lecturer in Education and Associate Head of the School of Teacher Education at Charles Sturt University. Her other experience includes carrying out the role of advocate, teacher, director, coordinator, child development officer, educator, management committee member, board member, lecturer, researcher, senior manager and consultant in a range of services and locations. She has carried out these roles in schools, long day care, preschool, early intervention, family day care, TAFE, outreach and university environments in metropolitan and rural NSW and internationally. She is recognised for her commitment to education in regional and remote Australia.
Tracey is/has been involved in a range of education and community projects which include the Indigenous Child Care Choices Project, Successful Transition to School for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students Project, Child Care Choices Project Communities for Children Project (Dubbo Site), Western Region Early Childhood Strategy initiatives, Making it Happen In Murdi Paaki, and SNAICC/Early Childhood Australia- COAG Mental Health Early Childhood Project, Kidsmatter EC and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Kidsmatter EC.
Sue is the Co-Principal at Gunbalanya School which is part of West Arnhem College. She has previously led and managed a large team of literacy and numeracy coaches across the Northern Territory supporting remote schools.
She has worked extensively in the Northern Territory for over 25 years.