A teacher’s role encompasses far more than just imparting curricula outcomes to their students: they need to equip students with the necessary tools to experience social and academic success both inside the classroom and beyond it. Teachers need to empower students with the means to critically analyse the world around them in order to develop into critical independent thinkers. Students need to be proficient in utilising skills associated with higher levels of thinking, that will empower them with the ability to identify, analyse and evaluate the infinite volume of information available through our rapidly changing digital world. Just as teachers need to take responsibility for the various methods of teaching and instruction in the classroom, it is essential for students to take ownership of the learning process, to ensure future success in university environments, where sustained personal effort and metacognitive skills are fundamental to academic success. The object of the review of the literature surrounding the roles of teacher and student, effective classroom management strategies, and successful evidence-based teaching and learning pedagogies, is to assist new and experienced teachers in the promotion of a positive classroom experience for all.

A federal report released by the Department of Families and Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA, 2009), entitled Closing the Gap on Indigenous Disadvantage: The Challenge for Australia, highlighted the inequality that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students based on a restricted access to resources, issues of isolation, staff and student retention, and cultural differences and challenges. In New South Wales (NSW), the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) in 2003/2004 undertook their own review of Aboriginal education in NSW Government schools that revealed significant concerns about the outcomes being achieved by Aboriginal students in NSW DET schools, confirming the more recent FaHCSIA (2009) findings. In 2006 the NSW DET implemented the Enhanced Teacher Training Scholarship Program (ETTSP) to empower 20 final-year education students to successfully engage with Indigenous students in schools and their wider community during their internship period. Using themes, this article explores the experiences of 10 University of New England scholarship holders at the end of their final year of teacher training and immersion/internship experience in 2010. The article puts forward useful recommendations for both teacher universities and students intending to teach in schools with high Indigenous student populations.

T he complexity associated with reducing inequality in Indigenous education incorporates a multitude of causal factors. Issues associated with education delivery and outcomes in remote Indigenous communities are endemic nationally, yet the communities of the Northern Territory are uniquely disadvantaged due to their geographical and cultural isolation. By looking at the factors affecting the quality and continuity of teachers in remote Indigenous communities, as well as the need for institutional collaboration, targeted recruitment strategies and a reorientation of expectations, this article will consider one strategy developed in order to recruit and retain effective teachers in these communities.

During 2005, the Education Alumni Support Project (EdASP) (Maxwell, Smith, Baxter, Boyd, Harrington, Jenkins, Sargeant & Tamatea 2006) .

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