This paper comes from doctoral research focusing on the low number of young Aboriginal teachers currently undertaking and completing
teacher education in remote communities in central Australia. The premise of this research was that by listening to the stories of a group of fully qualified and experienced Aboriginal teachers from these communities we might better understand the complex array of barriers, as well as supports, that Aboriginal people from remote communities encounter when they undertake to become qualified. What became clear from the research was that the biggest barrier to Aboriginal people becoming qualified teachers is the legacy of settler colonialism and the ongoing neo-colonial structures of education and knowledge systems. What also emerged is that there are powerful possibilities for co-creation of knowledge if we are willing to engage in a process of decolonising the knowledge work we do.

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2017

• Date of Conference: 26-29 June, 2017
• DOI: 10.2053/CICE.2017.0157
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-908320-83-4
• Conference Location: University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada