Paper short abstract:

Learning from Country is a university based initiative working with pre-service teachers. The Ngaramura Project, for Aboriginal young people, is run by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation. AIME's Imagi-Nation school initiatives to connect imagination in learning.

Paper long abstract:

This paper shares three projects that set out to creatively transform school learning. Learning from Country (LFC) is a long term project with collaborators Katrina Thope (Worimi) based at UNSW, and Cathie Burgess and Valerie Harwood based at USYD. The purpose of LFC is to connect pre-service teachers, most of whom are non-Indigenous, with experiences of Learning from Country, so that they are prepared for this work when they are in school and early childhood settings.

The Ngaramura Project operates from Coomaditchie United Aboriginal Corporation, Port Kembla NSW, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation. Led by Prof Kathleen Clapham, Aboriginal researcher, anthropologist and Director of Ngarruwan Ngadju First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre, our team conducted a three year collaborative evaluation with Ngaramura (2018-2020). Since 2018 the Ngaramura “See the Way” Program has provided an alternative education service for Aboriginal young people suspended or risk of suspension from school in the Illawarra region of NSW. Ngaramura provides a unique educational and cultural learning environment that meets the needs of Aboriginal students facing challenges in their school and social environments.

AIME started in Sydney, Australia in 2005, with university students mentoring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school students. AIME is focussed on mentoring and imagination, growing nationally, and internationally. This paper will present school-based work that is part of AIME's Imagi-Nation initiative. Our team of Aboriginal and non-Indigenous researchers is working with AIME on this work to creatively transform schools.