travelling remote

in Organizat ions,Communit ies & Nat ions

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JOURNALTHE INTERNAT IONAL

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Volume 10, Number 1

Travelling Remote: Training Indigenous Teachers inRemote Communities in Australia’s Northern

Territory

David Blair Rhodes, Debbie Prescott and Wendy Giles

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS http://www.Diversity-Journal.com First published in 2010 in Champaign, Illinois, USA by Common Ground Publishing LLC www.CommonGroundPublishing.com. © 2010 (individual papers), the author(s) © 2010 (selection and editorial matter) Common Ground Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, quotations, diagrams, tables and maps. All rights reserved. Apart from fair use for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act (Australia), no part of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact <[email protected]>. ISSN: 1447-9532 Publisher Site: http://www.Diversity-Journal.com THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS is peer-reviewed, supported by rigorous processes of criterion-referenced article ranking and qualitative commentary, ensuring that only intellectual work of the greatest substance and highest significance is published. Typeset in Common Ground Markup Language using CGCreator multichannel typesetting system http://www.commongroundpublishing.com/software/

Travelling Remote: Training Indigenous Teachers inRemote Communities in Australia’s Northern TerritoryDavid Blair Rhodes, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory,AustraliaDebbie Prescott, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory,AustraliaWendy Giles, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia

Abstract: The Charles Darwin University has entered into a partnership with Catholic Education inAustralia’s Northern Territory to train Indigenous teacher aides to become teachers. The program isunique in that the training takes place on location in the remote community, while lecturers travel, viaplane, four wheel drive and boat to reach their students. This is an important program, given the lowlevels of literacy in remote communities, high levels of school disengagement and the inablilty ofschools to maintain high quality teaching staff. Indigenous teachers are best placed to provide consistent,positive role-models to young Indigenous people, maintain educational continuity and make learningand education relevant for local students. Through profiles of two of the sites for the Growing OurOwn program, this paper will explore the models used to train the Indigenous teachers, examine theproblems encountered and celebrate the achievements of those involved.

Keywords: Indigenous, Teacher Training, Remote Communities, Learning, Education, Training

Introduction

THE EDUCATION OF Indigenous Australian children in remote communities haspresented enormous challenges for educational authorities and governments. Lowstandards of educational achievement and poor attendance reflect the nexus of disad-vantage that pervades every aspect of the Indigenous experience in remote communit-

ies throughout Northern Australia. The myriad of health problems, over-representation inthe criminal justice system and housing disparity that exists, is inexorably linked to theeducational under-achievement of Indigenous youth.Charles Darwin University (CDU) in partnership with the Catholic Education Office,

Northern Territory (CEO), has established a joint-venture approach to the implementationof measures established throughClosing the Gap¹ and the Australian Government EmergencyResponse (AGER). Growing Our Own: A two-way approach to teacher preparation for NTCatholic schools, involves the training and preparation of Indigenous teachers for remotecommunities (Elliott, 2009; Elliott & Keenan, 2009; Slee & Keenan, 2008). The project isoverseen by a Joint Steering Committee. A wide range of research indicates that:

Indigenous people, like all other Australians, expect their children to have a highquality education that meets their needs. They want it to be provided locally, to be in-

The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and NationsVolume 10, Number 1, 2010, http://www.Diversity-Journal.com, ISSN 1447-9532©CommonGround, David Blair Rhodes, Debbie Prescott,WendyGiles, All Rights Reserved, Permissions:[email protected]

clusive of their cultures and to prepare them to be happy and productive citizens(Kronemann, 2007, p4).

Given the ever-increasing enrolment of Indigenous students across the five IndigenousCatholic Community Schools (ICCS), the ongoing challenge for Catholic Education, indeedall educational sectors in the NT, is to attract, develop and retain skilled, experienced leadersand teachers. A high rate of staff turnover makes it difficult for any school, and in particularthose in remote communities, to deliver quality teaching by teachers with experience andunderstanding of the local environment, and to maintain the continuity of program delivery(Elliott & Keenan, 2009; Slee & Keenan, 2008).Local Indigenous teachers are best placed to deliver and plan the curriculum around Indi-

genous languages and culture for students in these schools. Additionally, these local Indigen-ous teachers are more likely to stay working at their local school than are non-resident contractteachers and therefore ensure the continuity in educational delivery and reinforce the linkswith the local community (Elliott, 2009; Slee & Keenan, 2008).Links between the school and the local community are extremely important in ensuring

continuity. Over recent years, many trained Indigenous teachers have been lost from thesystem, and in the coming years this situation will be exacerbated by the retirement of alarge cohort of teachers. To add to the problems fewer Indigenous people are enteringteacher training and the number applying for teaching positions in Catholic Education isnegligible (Elliott & Keenan, 2009). There are, however, a relatively large number of Indi-genous teacher assistants, some of whom have the very real potential of being highly com-petent teachers. There is a further untapped pool of Indigenous staff working in schools(IEWs, Administration) who are interested in teaching but find the current teacher trainingcourses inaccessible and often irrelevant (Elliott, 2009; Elliott & Keenan, 2009).This paper will adopt a case-study methodology to explore the experience, thus far, of the

Growing Our Own project at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School at Wadeye (Port Keats),and St Francis Xavier School at Nauiyu Nambiyu in the Daly River Region. Each of theseis a remote, Indigenous community school, under the direction of the Catholic EducationOffice in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Indigenous Education – An OverviewIt is difficult to staff schools in remote, predominately Indigenous communities in theNorthern Territory. There is frequently a high turn-over of staff, and many schools find itdifficult to attract experienced, high quality teachers, who are prepared to commit to long-term teaching contracts. There can be close to a complete staff turnover within a year oreven a semester. This difficulty results from a complex variety of causes. City-based teachersare reluctant to move to remote communities, many of which remain isolated during the wet-season; the distance from major services, which are usually located in town centres, manykilometres away; the cultural differences and the isolation from friends and family, ensurethat a steady change in teaching (and auxiliary) staff remains, creating inconsistencies anda lack of continuity in schools. The incentives offered to teachers to work in remote com-munities can attract candidates interested in future career advancement.The participation rate of Indigenous people from remote communities in higher education

remains low, and the completion rate of tertiary education even lower. The result is that a

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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS,COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS

small number of local Indigenous people from remote communities obtain higher educationqualifications, and therefore few become teachers or other professionals in their communities,perpetuating the cycle of non-Indigenous servicing the communities. Therefore, schools,health facilities, and legal services are too frequently staffed exclusively by non-Indigenouspeople. Where Indigenous do work in these services it is frequently in low-paid, limited re-sponsibility positions.The Federal Government’s intervention in the NT emphasised the importance of Indigenous

children of compulsory school age enrolling in and regularly attending school. Limitedachievements, however, have beenmade in resolving the serious disadvantage faced by remoteIndigenous communities in the NT. In a 2007 report commissioned by the Australian Edu-cation Union (AEU) in 2007, it was argued that 7,500 Indigenous children in the NT did notattend school. Little has changed in 2010, with rates of irregular attendance in formal educa-tion remaining alarmingly high. The AEU argues that this is the result of “many years ofneglect under the previous CLP Government” (p6). However, this is compounded by thefailure of education systems and government to engage fully with the perceptions and beliefsof Indigenous people about education and quality teaching and learning.This situation does not necessarily reflect Indigenous peoples’ perceptions and beliefs

about the value of education. However, Schwab and Sutherland (2001) argue that:

Alienation from educational processes and institutions arises for many Indigenous adultsout of powerful negative associations and experiences in their own schooling (p4).

The current situation can therefore be seen to result in part from the western (and often alien)nature of the educational experiences that are imposed on Indigenous people. The rigid natureof educational systems in Australia, and the rhythms that they adopt, including of the structureof the school year, fail to take account of the seasonal variations of the Top End, such as thewet and the dry seasons. During the wet season, the populations of remote town communitiesincrease, as roads are cut-off and travel becomes increasingly problematic. During the dryseason, remote community populations decrease, as people go back to country. The statusquo makes no allowance for these seasonal variations, which have a significant impact onschools’ attendance. Indeed, at the time that the school-aged population is most likely toavail themselves of school, during the wet, schools are closed for Christmas holidays, andthis reflects what Schwab & Sutherland (2001) describe as systemic inertia (pp. 5-6).Despite the claims of government and education systems at both a Territory, and Federal

level – that school attendance is of paramount importance – there is little practical supportof the political rhetoric. Enrolment and attendance figures are used to determine staffing andfunding of schools. If all of the young people of school age in remote communities were toattend school, there would not be enough teachers to teach them, classrooms to house them,or furniture to seat them (Taylor, 2010). The policy of aiming for 100% school attendancerates appears to be a myth.Given the escalating rates of educational disengagement by Indigenous young people as

they progress through primary and secondary school, it is not surprising that involvementin tertiary education by Indigenous people is limited. Attending university in the NorthernTerritory for an Indigenous person from a remote community will usually only occur if theyrelocate to one of the main centres such as Darwin or Alice Springs. The complex range of

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DAVID BLAIR RHODES, DEBBIE PRESCOTT, WENDY GILES

family and community obligations and expectations faced by Indigenous people usuallymakes relocation for any extended period of time unviable.

The Northern Territory ContextAccording to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Indigenous population of Australiain 2006 was 517,000 people, 2.5% of the total population. As of 30 June 2007 the EstimatedResident Population (ERP) of the Northern Territory was 210 627. It was estimated that 64005 of this total were Indigenous; equalling 30.4% of all people in the Northern Territory.41 003 of the Indigenous population were identified as living in very remote communities.3760 of those identified as Indigenous reported having some form of post-secondary highereducation/vocational training qualification. More than half (54%) of Indigenous respondentsin the 2006 census were under 25 years of age. An Australian Indigenous language wasspoken at home by 59% of Indigenous respondents (ABS, 2009).The implications of these statistics cannot go unchallenged. Indigenous people while

comprising almost one third of the total population of the NT, the most significant percentageof any state or territory population in Australia, are chronically under-represented in post-compulsory education qualifications. The majority of Indigenous people in the NT live inremote or very remote communities, and therefore have restricted access to educational op-portunities available to the majority of Australians. Language and cultural contexts furtherdisadvantage Indigenous people in the Northern Territory from access to education.In 2004, the NT Treasury identified two populations in the Northern Territory, each with

quite different characteristics, composition and growth patterns. The Indigenous populationof the NT was identified as being considerably younger than the national average, less mi-gratory, with higher fertility, mortality and growth rates, lower life expectancy and a morewidely dispersed and permanently settled population. Taylor (2010) argues of this:

...while the nation as a whole might be increasingly focused on the means to financeand service retirees and the aged in general, Indigenous people (not just in the Territory)barely reach retirement age. Their concerns are more firmly fixed at the opposite endof the social policy spectrum to do with child development, housing for new familyformation, education, training, youth criminal justice, employment, and the means tosecuring asset accumulation and sustainable livelihoods (p 1).

The sources of Indigenous Australian’s social and educational disadvantage are complex,and arise from systemic neglect. The poor educational outcomes that exist in the NorthernTerritory, arise from a historical legacy of systemic inertia (Schwab & Sutherland, 2001),and are compounded by extreme difficulties in attracting and maintaining high qualityteachers in remote communities (Taylor, 2010; Elliott, 2009; Elliott & Keenan, 2009; Slee& Keenan, 2008). Lack of consistency in teaching staff and administrative procedures overan extended period of time, has left a legacy of educational disparity.

The Growing Our Own ProjectIn an effort to combat the status quo of Indigenous disadvantage, a partnership developedin remoteNorthernAustralia betweenCatholic EducationNT, five remote Catholic IndigenousCommunity Schools and Charles Darwin University. The Growing Our Own project is a

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customised teacher education program, designed to meet the needs of Indigenous students,and delivered in situ. The pre-service teachers are able to remain in their communities withtheir families and fulfil their obligations. It is an intensive, mentored program funded by theCommonwealth government, Charles Darwin University and Catholic Education NorthernTerritory.

Growing Our Own developed in 2008 with community consultations, risk analyses andplanning. The course is intensive and compacted across the whole academic year(February to December) rather than the traditional two, twelve week university semesters(March to October). While most Charles Darwin University students complete a fouryear Bachelor of Teaching and Learning over three years by using the SouthernHemisphere summer semester (November to February), the intensive program for Indi-genous students can be completed in two years using the equivalent of four ten weekteaching sessions (school terms) per year (Elliott, 2009).

This section of the paper will report on the progress of this program through profiles of twoof the sites. Each of the pre-service teachers involved in the program are Assistant Teachers(AT) in remote Catholic Schools. Each site has a small number of pre-service teachers allow-ing for flexible delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of the local context. The programseeks to build on the pre-service teachers’ experiences as Assistant Teachers, and capitaliseon their learning styles. Given that most of the pre-service teachers involved in the programspeak English as a second or additional language, English literacy skills development is anecessary focus.The Growing Our Own program operates as a partnership. The pre-service teachers live

and work in the local community as a Teacher Assistant (TA) at the local Catholic School.Each site has a School-based Coordinator. This teacher works on the staff at the school andis the regular program contact for the pre-service teachers at the school. Each pre-serviceteacher has a school-based mentor, usually the teacher that they assist in their role as AT inthe classroom on a daily basis. This mentor supports the development of the pre-serviceteacher’s teaching skills, facilitates learning through professional conversations aboutclassroomdynamics, classroommanagement, programming, curriculummaterials, assessment,reporting and evaluation and accessing school facilities and equipment.On a weekly basis a lecturer from Charles Darwin University visits the site to conduct

lectures and observe the student’s teaching development. The time spent at each site varies,although at least one full school day per week is set aside for lectures. The reason for thisvariation is the logistical differences in visiting each site. Lecturers arrive by four-wheel-drive, aeroplane, and during the wet season, by dinghy at one site. The schools are supportiveof these visits by CDU staff and the pre-service teachers are released from class so that theyare available for lectures on these days.At the CEO and at CDU there are staff assigned to managing the project and liaising with

each other to ensure the smooth running of the program. This coordination and open com-munication ensures that each of the sites operates within the guidelines established at thecommencement of the project.

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Community ProfilesThere are five sites operating within theGrowing Our Own program: two have been selectedfor profiling. Wadeye (Port Keats) is the largest Indigenous remote community in theNorthern Territory. It was first established as a Roman Catholic Mission in 1935 and sincethen has been a target for considerable media attention. It is located 350kms south-west ofDarwin in the Daly River Reserve. The second site is Nauiyu Nambiyu, which is also locatedin the Daly River Reserve, but contrasts in its small size and easy accessibility by road duringthe dry season.

Wadeye (Port Keats)Wadeye (Port Keats) is a tribal Indigenous Catholic community of approximately 2500people situated on the western edge of the Daly River Reserve in the Northern Territory.The CDU lecturer arrives at Wadeye via a twenty-seater, twin engine plane. The flight timeis approximately 50 minutes. During the wet season Wadeye is cut off by road for up to fivemonths, and flying is the only option for travel, although food and supplies are delivered tothe township each week by barge.First contact with European society started with the explorations of Captain King in 1819

but the complex and sophisticated social, economic and cultural systems of the Indigenousinhabitants of the region remained relatively unaffected up until the establishment of contactwith non-Aboriginal influences in 1935.The establishment of the town of Wadeye started with the founding of a Mission by the

Catholic Church in 1935. Called Port Keats by the non-Aboriginal administration, its Abori-ginal name was Wentek Nganayi. This area is often referred to as ‘Old Mission’. In 1938the Mission moved to the present site of Wadeye, closer to a reliable water supply. Servicesprovided by theMission attracted people from the tribal groups within the region, an increas-ing number of whom took up residence at Wadeye. These people were always consideredas visitors by the traditional owners of Wadeye, the Kardu Diminin, and had none of therights that go with the ownership of Wadeye land. This same perspective prevails today.The community of Wadeye comprises seven tribal clans, each of which speaks a different

language, although the dominant language is Murinhpatha. This is also the language spokenby the Indigenous teachers at the school. Wadeye is a proscribed community under the NTIntervention, and as such alcohol cannot be bought or consumed unless a licence is obtained.Of the population of approximately 2500 people, 1500 are aged less than 25, 700 of whomare school age. The majority of school aged children do not attend school, despite variousinitiatives by the community and the school. There are 500 people aged 25-50 in Wadeyeand only 100 people aged over 50. Between 60 and 80 babies are born in the communityeach year. It is estimated that the population of Wadeye will double in the next 20 years.There are 144 habitable homes in Wadeye, with an occupancy rate of approximately 16persons per dwelling (Gray, 2006; Taylor, 2004).Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School (OLSH)Wadeye, is a bilingual school. Murinhpatha

and English are both used as languages of instruction at the school, although Transition isalmost solely in Murinhpatha, and English is integrated thereafter. Most people in the com-munity can speak English, including the children. The pre-service teachers at the schoolhave no problems comprehending English, provided any technical terms are explained

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carefully. Each classroom has an Indigenous Teacher Assistant (TA) to work alongside thenon-Indigenous teacher. There is a strong focus on English as a Second Language (ESL)across all learning areas and there are daily Accelerated Literacy (AL) classes. Daily religiouseducation lessons are frequently delivered by the Indigenous TAs.The Growing Our Own project commenced at Wadeye with two groups of students. One

group was in-service teachers who needed to complete a further year of teacher educationto allow them to register as teachers with the NT Teacher Registration Board (TRB). Theygraduated in May 2010. They comprised one male and three female teachers, each of whomhad been involved in teaching at OLSH for many years. The second group comprised fourlocal women who are currently employed as TAs at OLSH. One of the women has sincemoved out of the community and has withdrawn from the program. The three remainingwomen are extremely dedicated and focused on their teacher training.

Nauiyu Nambiyu Community, Daly River RegionNauiyu Nambiyu, formerly known as the Daly River Catholic Mission, is situated besidethe Daly River, 240kms south or 2 ½ hours drive from Darwin. The population of the com-munity is approximately 450. The two major traditional language groups are Ngan’gikur-rungurr and Ngen ’ giwumirri. There are another 10 minority language groups still in usein the area, however, Aboriginal English is spoken throughout the region.Jesuit missionaries arrived in the area in 1886. Believing that development was a prerequis-

ite of ‘Christianising’ the local Indigenous people, they concentrated on agricultural devel-opment, medical aid, and education for children. Poor soil, sickness, failing crops, and lackof interest from the locals however, forced the Jesuits to give up and abandon the post in1899. In the 1930s, peanuts and tobacco as well as other crops were grown on several com-mercial farms near the river, owned by new settlers to the area both Chinese and European.More and more Aboriginal people settled in the area working on these farms.In 1954 the people of Daly approached The Roman Catholic Bishop asking for a rural

health clinic and a school to be established. In 1955 the missionaries of the “Sacred Heart”built a rural health clinic and established a school, church, convent, accommodation, worksheds and an air strip. Local children were moved into the newly built dormitories and wereeducated at the boarding school established by the Catholic Church. In 1970 the Daly RiverCommunity Development Association was formed with the assistance of the Northern Ter-ritory self-government project. In 1988 the community was incorporated under the localgovernment with the name Nauiyu Nambiyu, meaning “meeting place”.Under the NT Intervention, Nauiyu is also a proscribed community. The Daly River is a

popular local and tourist destination during the dry season, from May until September forbarramundi fishing. The community is also the site of theMerrepen Arts Festival everyMay.The festival involves a large art auction for Indigenous people from all over the NT, a concertand sporting events. The St Francis Xavier School also sells student art at the festival andart lessons are conducted in each class prior to the festival. St Francis Xavier School has anenrolment of approximately 50, ranging from pre-school to year 9. There are five classroomteachers at the school, as well as a Physical Education and Technology teacher, a teachingPrincipal and the Growing Our Own Coordinator, who is also an experienced ESL teacher.The school is fully fenced, due to the threat of crocodiles during the wet season when theriver is in flood on one side of the school and the water rises in the floodway on the other

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side. During periods of high rainfall, the road to Darwin may be closed, all cars removedfrom the community to higher ground and all people movement is by dinghy in the floodway.New road works will alleviate this somewhat.TheGrowingOur Own project started with 3 students in February 2009. One of the students

was an in-service teacher and has subsequently completed her fourth year of study andgraduated in May 2010. She is now the director of the child care centre in a nearby com-munity. Another Indigenous woman joined the pre-service program mid-2009.

Some Observations from the ProjectEach of the sites presents its own challenges and rewards. One of the major points that eachof the lecturers involved with the Growing Our Own project has noted is the need to respecttraditional knowledge and culture. Time is needed to be spent building relationships whichcan be sustained over time. The curriculum cannot be pushed too quickly. Each unit that istaught in the program is customised by each of the lecturers to support student learningstyles. This determination usually occurs on a small-group basis, through individual discussionand observations of the students.There is considerable diversity amongst the Indigenous students enrolled in Growing Our

Own, and the basis for customising the content is recognition of their unique social, cultural,linguistic and cognitive characteristics (Elliott, 2009). The students have a preference forcollaboration and team work, which is a consideration in customising and personalisingcontent and pedagogy (Gardner, 1993). The Indigenous students prefer to work as a team,often speaking through the most confident person in the group. Individual learning can occurduring consolidation; however, the learning of newmaterial is best approached collaboratively.It is also important to allow time to receive an answer when a question has been asked.

Silence is not necessarily an indication of a lack of understanding. The Indigenous studentswill quite often take their time to think, then confer with each other before speaking. TheIndigenous students do not like to be singled out, so a group approach is sometimes the best.Standard, mainstream education approaches and materials do not work in these Indigenouscommunities. The CDU medium of the Blackboard based portal (Learnline) is not alwaysan effective tool with the Indigenous students.Literacy and numeracy teaching forms part of all of the units of the course. Given that

many of the students are bilingual and that English is a second or third language, achievementof the learning outcomes can take considerably longer. The small size of the classes enablesgreater opportunities for one-on-one teaching and learning, and each of the CDU lecturersat the sites profiled in this paper work collaboratively with the school-based coordinator andeach other to further enable literacy and numeracy development for the students.An important part of the customisation of the curriculum and the addressing of individual

learning styles, as identified by Gardner (1993), is a focus on assessment processes andpractices. The Growing Our Own program allows flexibility in choice of assessment tasks,to enable each student to demonstrate their learning achievements in different ways. Thedesign of assessment tasks is centred on articulating meaningful outcomes and objectives(Elliott, 2009). Assessment tasks therefore allow the opportunity for collaboration, groupdiscussion, individual consolidation of knowledge and a practical demonstration of learningachievement.

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Some ConclusionsCurrent levels of low school attendance, inadequate resource provision and high staff turnoverin remote Northern Territory schools is unacceptable. Indigenous teachers are best placedto bring relevant cultural knowledge, competence and skill to the students learning in schoolsin remote Indigenous communities. These teachers provide a conduit between the localcommunity and schools. Frequently, Indigenous teachers are the only long-term employeesof remote schools, although far too often they are only employed as Teacher Assistants.Local Indigenous teachers know their students. The live their culture and know the familiesof the children they teach.The Growing Our Own program is attempting to respond to a social need in remote Indi-

genous communities in Australia’s Northern Territory. Capitalising on existing social andkinship networks, the program seeks to create learning communities, which providementoringand peer support, while also providing mutual cultural understanding. Personal Indigenousknowledge is infused with contemporary teaching learning theory and practice. WhileStandard Australian English language literacy is developed and strengthened, local languageis nurtured and supported. Knowledge is constructed collaboratively, between students,mentors, school-based coordinators, lecturers and peers (Elliott, 2009).In the words of Alunga, one of the students at Wadeye:

Anyway the most important thing to do is to keep up our strongest link with the com-munity and not the weakest link. For example some comments came from some peoplethat made me feel strong, proud and good was by working among the people out in thecommunity for our assignments was tremendous because people saw us what we weredoing is extremely vital to our people especially our young ones who are doing nothingor just being lazy.

The program is dependent on deep and effective relationships between a diverse range ofstakeholders and partners. Mutual trust lay at the core of these relationships. The strengthsof individual students have been identified and built upon and the program promises to enablethe students to work as effective practitioners at the conclusion of the course. The shift fromthe role of Teacher Assistant to teacher is well underway.

ReferencesCharles Darwin University. (2008. April). Assessment Rules. Darwin, NT: Charles Darwin UniversityEbbeck, M. (2009). Evaluation of Growing Our Own – A two way approach to teacher preparation

for Northern Territory Catholic schools. Mid term evaluation.Elliott, A. (2009). Learning styles and curriculum customisation for higher education delivery in remote

Australian communities. In Z. Charlesworth, C. Evans & E. Cools (eds). Learning in highereducation: How style matters. Pp 221-231, Tribuen EU, Gorkeho, Czech Republic.

Elliott, A. & Keenan, B. (2009). Growing Our Own: Teacher Education for remote Indigenous com-munities in the Northern Territory. ISFIRE Conference, Armidale, NSW, February 11 to13, 2009.

Elliott, A. & Sanagavarapu, P. (1995) Cultural Connections for Learning. Every Child, 1(4), 7-9.Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple Intelligences. The Theory in practice. NY: Basic BooksKronemann, M. (2007). Education is the key: an education future for Indigenous communities in the

Northern Territory. Australian Education Union.

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Ngabe, U. (2009) The Great Surf Life of My Life. (unpublished journal entry)Schwab, R.G. & Sutherland, D. (2001). Building Indigenous learning communities, Centre for Abori-

ginal Economic Research.Slee, J. & Keenan, B. (2008). Culturally responsive assessment strategies to inform a pilot program

for Indigenous teacher education in remote communities of the Northern Territory of Aus-tralia. Symposium on Tertiary Assessment and Higher Education Student Outcomes. VictoriaUniversity, NZ, 17-19 November 2008.

Taylor, J. (2010) Demography as Destiny: Schooling, work and Aboriginal population change atWadeye. CAEPR Working Paper No. 64/2010

About the AuthorsDr. David Blair RhodesDavid Rhodes is a Lecturer with the School of Education at the Charles Darwin Universityin the Northern Territory, Australia. He was a full-time secondary school teacher for anumber of years and has submitted his PhD for examination. He currently lives in Darwin.He is actively involved in Indigenous Teacher Education. His research interests include di-versity and inclusion in education.

Debbie PrescottDebbie Prescott is a Lecturer in Education at Charles Darwin University.

Wendy GilesWendy Giles is Associate Professor of Education at Charles Darwin University.

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EDITORS

Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. Paul James, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Australia EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Ien Ang, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Joanna van Antwerpen, Research and Statistics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Samuel Aroni, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Susan Bridges, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Duane Champagne, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Guosheng Y. Chen, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Jock Collins, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. Heather Marion D’Cruz, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia. James Early, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA. Denise Egéa-Kuehne, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA. Amareswar Galla, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Grethe van Geffen, Seba Cultuurmanagement, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Barry Gills, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Jackie Huggins, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Andrew Jakubowicz, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Paul James, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Ha Jingxiong, Central University of Nationalities, Beijing, China. Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. Jack Levin, Northeastern University, Boston, USA. Cristina Poyatos Matas, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. Peter McLaren, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Joe Melcher, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, USA. Greg Meyjes, Solidaris Intercultural Services, Falls Church, USA. Walter Mignolo, Duke University, Durham, USA. Brendan O’Leary, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. Aihwa Ong, University of California, Berkeley, USA. Peter Phipps, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Ronald Prins, Bos en Lommer Neighbourhood Council, Amsterdam-West, The Netherlands. Peter Sellars, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Michael Shapiro, University of Hawai’i, Manoa, USA. David S. Silverman, Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina, USA. Martijn F.E. Stegge, Diversity Platform, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Geoff Stokes, Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Terry Threadgold, Cardiff University, Wales, UK. Mililani Trask, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the Economic Council of the UN Assembly, Hawai’i, USA. Marij Urlings, Inholland University, Amsterdam-Diemen, The Netherlands. Rob Walker, Keele University, Keele, UK. Ning Wang, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Owens Wiwa, African Environmental and Human Development Agency, Toronto, Canada.

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