NT Indigenous education researcher set for world stage

A Charles Darwin University researcher will represent Australia at one of the world’s largest Indigenous education conferences, held in Canada this year.

Indigenous Knowledges lecturer Tracy Woodroffe said she would bring the Northern Territory’s Indigenous education system to a world stage during the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Toronto.

“It is exciting for me as an Indigenous person to have this opportunity to connect and share ideas with other Indigenous people from around the world,” Ms Woodroffe said.

“The conference will be a celebration of Indigenous education.”

She said her conference presentation would be based on her PhD research into the ways that non-Indigenous educators could benefit from understanding Indigenous knowledge systems and approaches to education.

“My PhD research is starting to show that non-Indigenous pre-service teachers want to make a connection with Indigenous students, but in reality it can be quite difficult,” she said.

“One way to strengthen that connection could be to gain awareness about Indigenous knowledge systems and what is respectful in different cultures.”

Ms Woodroffe has been teaching in the NT for more than 20 years and is completing her PhD thesis at CDU. She will attend the conference in July.