Reimagined programming supports education in remote First Nations communities

Murrup staff gathered to design reimagined programs.

17 August 2024: Fifteen people from remote First Nations communities came together this week to design programs that will support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to get to school and thrive once they’re there.

The staff from Murrup – an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation – shared ideas and experiences, exchanged information, and drew on research and data to develop programming that will help remove some of the barriers children and young people face in their community.

Murrup CEO Shellee Strickland said the organisation’s place-based programs took a holistic approach to supporting children and young people and their families.

“We must address factors impacting children and young people in the home, at school and in the community, and at a systemic level if we’re going to see them thrive in their education journey and beyond,” she said.

NAPLAN results released this week demonstrate that students in remote and very remote areas are still lagging behind the national average across all learning outcomes and each sampled year level.

Ms Strickland said the key to addressing this persistent gap was listening to those who lived and worked in remote communities, and then combining local knowledge and wisdom with best-practice methodology.

“Where most service providers in our four partner communities are fly in fly out, or delivered by people who aren’t local, we exclusively employ local people to deliver our programs,” Ms Strickland said.

“Our staff live our work every day and offer lived experience and consistency to the delivery of our programs. So, they are the experts in what their communities need, and what’s going to work to support their children and young people.”

Murrup Chair Professor Larissa Behrendt said Murrup was well-placed to play a key role in providing solutions to some of the challenges facing Murrup’s four partner communities.

“I am very excited to lead the organisation through its next iteration. We’ve reflected on who we are, what’s been important about what we’ve done in the past and how we move forward into the future,” Professor Behrendt said.

“There’s never been a more important time to keep our culture strong, help our communities to stay resilient and invest in our children and their education.”

For more information and to arrange an interview, email rhianna.king@murrup.org.au