When it comes to Indigenous Education, Townsville Catholic schools strive to deliver an engaging education experience, through opportunity, strategic support and celebration of culture.
Students are at the centre of all that we do, whether that is supporting our students’ educational goals, providing opportunities for leadership development, or promoting positive post-school pathways.
At Townsville Catholic Education, we value Indigenous education and hold high expectations for our students. We encourage improvement, self-reflection and goal-setting across the classroom. For our Indigenous students, we offer additional support through a range of initiatives, including the Emerging Leaders program and our Pedagogy of Difference insights.
Indigenous Education
Our Indigenous Education Services team recognises and supports the diverse cultural needs of our First Nations students and families to ensure that equal access to quality education is available and that outcomes are enriching to all students.
Our Indigenous Education Services team collaborates with our leaders and teachers to ensure the curriculum affirms that First Nations cultural diversity is embedded in our schools. Our staff complete regular professional development to build cultural capacity and competency, with sessions covering topics like culturally responsive pedagogies, Indigenous spiritualities, Indigenous STEM perspective and much more.
Emerging Leaders Program 
The First Peoples Emerging Leaders Incentive Scheme, referred to as Emerging Leaders Program, is available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students within Townsville Catholic Education secondary schools. This program supports students to set and achieve goals for school attendance, academic improvement and engagement. It also offers an incentive, selected by students, to add an extra motivation when working towards goals.
We work closely with our individual schools to deliver this program. For some schools this has meant establishing a mentor program, for others it has involved implementing Indigenous Homerooms and Indigenous Study Club. More than 1500 students have transitioned successfully through the program.
Pedagogy of Difference
We believe the best way to understand how we can refine our Indigenous education offering is by asking current students and parents what works and what doesn’t. Our Pedagogy of Difference research, resources and frameworks give our staff specific insight into high-impact teaching strategies, with feedback from local Indigenous students and parents.
We use this information to shape how we deliver Indigenous Education, to stimulate conversation on this topic and promote self-reflective practices for all educators. This is part of the Catholic school difference.
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