Learning with connection: Shifting teachers’ practice through authentic engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

This presentation will argue why teachers wanting to improve Aboriginal students learning outcomes need to establish productive and authentic dialogues between themselves and Aboriginal families and their communities. I will suggest that these interactions are shown to affect the needs of not just students, but of teachers themselves and that outcomes of this engagement provide teachers with 'unique' epistemic knowledge, insights pedagogic skills required to contextualize practice and to effect a sustained change in students learning.