Page 2816 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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expand their capacity. The budget provides funding to Harrison School, Gold Creek School, Neville Bonner Primary School and Palmerston District Primary School. In addition, the new school proposed for north Gungahlin will now include a community-use oval, continuing our commitment to the role schools play in the community. The government will also continue to consider sites for a new school in east Gungahlin.
Of course, it is not just the schools themselves but the teachers and staff that provide support for our local communities. In the ACT our teachers are some of the best educated and most capable in the country. One who I had the pleasure of meeting is Cara. She is an Aboriginal/Welsh educator and a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation from Dubbo. Cara worked at the Wanniassa School until last year as an executive teacher, where, among other things, she taught languages and Indigenous studies.
During her time at the school Cara sought to align the school’s strategic plan with a vision to improve engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to provide better educational outcomes and future pathways. Cara achieved this by working with Indigenous students, their families and educators to develop a culturally sensitive curriculum and stronger understanding within the schools community. Throughout her time at the school Cara displayed an enduring commitment to establishing relationships with all the students she worked with, allowing her to successfully teach and mentor Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at Wanniassa, other schools and the broader community.
Now at Campbell high, Cara has continued this work, opening an Indigenous education centre which she hopes will serve as a resource for other schools in Canberra. The centre incorporates a mix of philosophies, allowing for different approaches for different children depending on their needs. Cara’s continued efforts in Indigenous education are driven by what she identifies as a need to find Aboriginal ways of learning that are culturally relevant to Aboriginal children.
I was recently fortunate enough to attend the ACT branch of the Australian Education Union’s annual awards night, where a number of local teachers were honoured. At those awards, Cara Shipp received the reconciliation award, awarded each year to a branch member who has worked to further the aims of reconciliation in their work and education. This commitment has led her to reach out beyond her teaching commitments, maintaining a blog about incorporating Indigenous perspectives into education and regularly presenting workshops and professional development sessions for educators and policymakers. Cara’s story is one that reflects the inclusive city we live in and the support this budget offers culturally specific initiatives for improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander outcomes.
The importance of a child’s education cannot be overstated; it might well be more important today than ever before. The global economy is already well entrenched in a sustained phase of great uncertainty and disruption. While this may seem daunting, at the same time this offers unprecedented potential. Children starting school today will face a very different world when they graduate. Many of the occupations our children
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