More Than the Power of Two: Expanding Responsibility for School Improvement in Indigenous Australian Education

• In Event: Accepting Educational Responsibility: The Importance of Indigenous Research and Praxis 2

Abstract

This paper presents three major findings and discusses their implications from a recently completed research project about Indigenous education conducted in schools from a large educational region in Queensland, Australia. The project examined in detail the professional relationship existing between Indigenous paraprofessionals (IEWs/CECs) and that of principals. This is the first time in this context, that positive professional relationships between IEWs/CECs and principals have been linked to school improvement.
Revealed is that when strong, the IEW/CEC and principal relationship creates a ‘vorticity’ of influence, causing others to take on responsibility of supporting every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student succeed, something more than the power of two. The importance of this for the national project of reconciliation cannot be ignored

Author

• Eleanor Louise Wilkinson, James Cook University - Australia